[caption id="attachment_8028" align="alignright" width="405" caption="Kussharo Lake Tree, Study 8, Kotan, Hokkaido, Japan, 2008 © Michael Kenna"][/caption] World premiere of contemporary opera Matsukaze commissioned by La Monnaie, Brussels with music by Japanese contemporary composer Toshio Hosokawa, choreography and staging by Sasha Waltz. Two sisters, Matsukaze and Murasame, are smitten with a noble exile. Years later, after their death, their souls continue to wander and lust after him. Matsukaze dances like a lunatic, wearing the hat and coat of her lover, and believes that she recognises him in the silhouette of a pine tree. Following Hanjo in 2004, Toshio Hosokawa returns once again to the tradition of nô theatre for his new opera. The same intimist approach and dreamlike atmosphere set the tone for this new composition in which Hosokawa stages four characters and a small chorus, accompanied by approximately fifteen musicians. As with Hanjo staged by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, La Monnaie has confided another talented choreographer, Sasha Waltz, with the staging of this world premiere. She is returning to La Monnaie after the productions of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and Dusapin’s Médée presented during the last seasons. Matsukaze is among the best-loved classics of Japanese Noh-theatre.  Outstanding contemporary Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa wrote the music to the reworked libretto of the Noh-theatre classic Matsukaze. Together with soloists Barbara Hannigan and Charlotte Hellekant extraordinary singers unite once more with dancers from Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Vocalconsort Berlin on the opera stage. Toshio Hosokawa's 2004 production of Hanjo returns to La Monnaie, Brussels in April 2011. Following the premiere of Matsukaze in Brussels, the opera will tour to Luxembourg, Warsaw and Berlin in 2011. Production Sasha Waltz & Guests, La Monnaie Co-production Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa (Warszawa)