Based on a commission from the Wiener Festwochen, chelfitsch and Dai Fujikura are taking up the challenge of creating a “new music theater” in what is their first collaboration with each other. After its premiere in Vienna, the work will tour Europe, followed by performances in Japan in 2024.

Okada and Fujikura, who have both continued to create ambitious works in their respective fields of theater and music, and posted brilliant achievements particularly in recent years, have finally come together.
The two have repeatedly engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration thus far, and fully exercise their collaborative powers in this project of joint work. Through it, they are generating an unprecedented new genre in which neither theater nor music plays the main role, and which is both a theatrical and a musical performance.
What will take shape before the eyes of the audience when the script of Okada, the music of Fujikura, the acting by the performers, and the performance by the musicians appear on the same stage at the same time, on equal footing?

This work will be presented by six actors from chelfitsch and seven musicians who are members of Klangforum Wien, a contemporary music ensemble.
It begins with the story of a family who are suddenly on the verge of being driven out of their home. However, the problem is resolved when the house itself disappears without a trace due to the workings of an enormous power beyond human comprehension. Then, an overwhelming existence extending outside the human world dominates the performance, and an entirely new world appears on the stage.

Like the preceding chelfitsch work Eraser Mountain, this work depicts a world freed from anthropocentrism. In the former, Okada explored a new relationship between people and objects together with Teppei Kaneuji, the artist and sculptor. This time, he is striving to generate a new relationship between theater and music together with Fujikura.

Comment by Toshiki Okada
The music of Dai Fujikura is powerful and beautiful. In this production, I am striving to put together a theatrical work that will coexist with it. This will naturally turn out to be a piece of musical theater in an overwhelmingly new form.
I say “overwhelmingly new form,” because I think the shape of the relationship and balance between musical and physical expression will be overwhelmingly new.
This work that will soon be created juxtaposing music and theater on the basis of a new relationship and a new balance is bound to be something really awesome that can clearly not be encapsulated in the term “musical theater.” I am applying myself to its creation with this kind of audacious ambition.

Comment by Dai Fujikura
In this work, I aspired to the creation of musical theater in which music and theater would be on equal footing, together with Toshiki Okada. What does it mean for music and theater to be on equal footing? Thus far, I have often been asked to compose music for films by the film-making side, and have always been fired when the demo was finished, because they thought the music was too powerful. With Okada, in contrast, there was a perfect collaboration that was constantly peaceful, calm, and open.
After my experience of being fired from film jobs, I initially asked Okada if he thought that the music might be too powerful. He replied with words of encouragement, telling me that such a thing was absolutely impossible and to make music in the way I liked. I believe he wrote the text upon the repeated workshops we held, dozens of times, by Zoom. He would watch the performances of actors while listening to the music I had created at the studio, and make exclamations such as, “Oh, the music comes on like this. If so, the script and the direction…let’s try it this way!” In composing the music, I too strove to avoid exerting any kind of control over the acting. This is completely different from opera, in which music dominates the whole performance. But there is also a decisive difference from film music that is always in the position of being a servant to the screen.
I think we managed to discover a completely new kind of storytelling based on the fusion of the visual and aural senses.
Our collaboration produced a new stage music and score. I am already eagerly looking forward to seeing what kind of chemical reaction will occur in the performance with the actors and musicians.

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Wiener Festwochen
Wiener Festwochen is a festival of the arts held in Vienna, the capital of Austria. In it, audiences can see theater, dance, opera, and other performing arts from around the world.
Wiener Festwochen has invited creators such as Philippe Quesne, one of France’s foremost theatrical directors and visual artists, and Marlene Monteiro Freitas, a choreographer attracting worldwide attention, to show music theatre works in collaboration with Klangforum Wien. In 2023, chelfitsch and Fujikura are going to perform a new “music theatre” work commissioned by Wiener Festwochen.
WEB：https://www.festwochen.at

Comment by Christophe Slagmuylder (Artistic Director of Wiener Festwochen)
After collaborating with Toshiki Okada for years, I'm eager to witness how his singular style of writing and staging will go into a dialogue with new music. Specifically, I'm intrigued to see how his productions, where he incorporates bodies, languages and speeches with specific qualities of rhythm, silence and sound fluctuations, will interplay with a musical score, written in close collaboration. To explore this, I introduced Toshiki Okada to Dai Fujikura, one of the leading
Japanese composers of his generation. Fujikura's appreciation for traditional aspects of music, paired with a keen openness for an experimental approach, make him an ideal match for Okada's pioneering artistic vision. It is a compelling experiment to witness how the interpretation of musical and theatrical scores interact and eventually blend into each other on stage.

Language｜Japanese
Subtitle｜German, English

Performance
Wiener Festwochen *world premiere
Date｜May 13 (Sat), 2023 - May 15 (Mon), 2023
Performance Schedule｜
May 13, 2023 (Sat) 20:30
May 14, 2023 (Sun) 20:30
May 15, 2023 (Mon) 20:30
Venue｜Halle G im MuseumsQuartier
Detail | https://www.festwochen.at/en/verwandlung-eines-wohnzimmers

KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen
Date｜May 19 (Fri), 2023 - May 20 (Sat), 2023
Performance Schedule｜
May 19, 2023 (Fri) 19:30
May 20, 2023 (Sat) 19:30
Venue｜DHC Halle Hannover
Detail | https://kunstfestspiele.de/programm/veranstaltungen.html#./programm/veranstaltungen/details/verwandlung-eines-wohnzimmers.html

Holland Festival
Date｜Jun 7 (Wed), 2023 - Jun 8 (Thu), 2023
Performance Schedule｜
Jun 7, 2023 (Wed) 20:30
Jun 8, 2023 (Thu) 20:30
Venue｜Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Detail | https://hollandfestival.nl/en/ribingurumu-no-metamorufuoshisu