Production & Cast
Honna, Tetsuji (General Director)
Born in Fukushima Prefecture in 1957, Honna started his partnership with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) in 2001 during its Asian tour with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2009, he became the music director and chief conductor of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, the commemorative performance Relocation of the Capital to Hanoi at the Millennium Anniversary Festival, where Maestro Honna conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand. It led the VNSO under the baton of a Japanese maestro to a successful tour of the United States, Italy, and Russia. On the 40th Anniversary (2013) and 45th Anniversary (2018) of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Vietnam, he toured Japan and has grown in popularity.
Honna started conducting while studying at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Since then, he has conducted numerous orchestras, such as the Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala and the Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra, both in Milan, and the Symphony Orchestra in Prague.
Honna has won many awards, such as first prize at the Tokyo International Music Competition, the Budapest International Conducting Competition, and second at the Toscanini International Conducting Competition. In 2012, he was awarded the Cultural Achievement Award by the Vietnamese government for his long-standing contribution to the music world of Vietnam. In 2018, he received a special award from the Vietnam Peace and Friendship Organization and the Watanabe Akio Music Fund Special Award in 2019.
Tran, Manh Hung（Composer）
Born in Hanoi in 1973, Hung is a composer and a music producer.
He graduated from the composition department and completed his graduate studies at the Hanoi Conservatory (now the Vietnam National Academy of Music).
In 2008 in cooperation with Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Manh Hung created a rock opera titled Dream and Reality. In 2009, he composed a symphonic poem titled Le Chi Vien for the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany. In 2020, he composed Khai Xuan Mo Hoi (meaning “a festival held at the beginning of spring”).
For three consecutive years since 2007, Hung has won the Best Composition Award from the Vietnam Musicians Association. He has also received the Ho Chi Minh City Television Best Composition Award (2011), the Vietnam Composition National Award (2017), the Music Award of the Vietnam Film Festival for Golden Lotus (2019), and the Music Award of the Vietnam Cinema Association for Golden Kite (2020).
Oyama, Daisuke (Producer, Librettist, and Japanese Lyricist)
Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1982, Oyama is an opera singer, director, and scriptwriter. His many acclaimed performances as an opera singer include The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow. He also fascinated the audience by playing the lead in various stage shows, including the role of The Phantom in Shiki Theatre Company's The Phantom of the Opera, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro directed by Noda Hideki, and Black Jack in BLACK JACK, composed by Miyagawa Akira and based on the manga by Tezuka Osamu. An eclectic theater artist, Oyama has been drawing on his experience to work as a director and scriptwriter for several stage productions. In 2019, he directed Puccini's Madama Butterfly in Phnom Penh, contributing to the success of the first Cambodian opera performance. Oyama graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts at the top of his class.
Ha, Quang Minh (Vietnamese Lyricist)
Born in Hanoi in 1977, Quang Minh is a journalist, writer, composer, and art curator.
Among his works are a variety of poetic prose, and journalistic publications.
He is an editor of famous newspapers in Vietnam: The Thao Van Hoa (culture and sports newspaper) and Bong Da (soccer newspaper), and he has appeared on various social and cultural talk shows. Currently, he works for the Public Security Weekly Newspaper. He is also active as a composer, producing music for Ho Ngoc Ha, Anh Khang, Pham Anh Khoa and others, in addition to being an art curator for artists such as Le Thiet Cuong and Tran Trung Linh.
Ando, Saeko (Key Visual Artist)
Born in Aichi prefecture in 1968, graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1992. Saeko Ando is a lacquer artist based in Vietnam since 1995. Saeko studied son mai lacquer painting and Vietnam's ancient craft of using son ta natural lacquer under the guidance of artist Trinh Tuan, lacquer master Doan Chi Trung, and lacquer artisan Lam Huu Chinh.
In 2000, her mastery of this art form led to her acceptance as the first foreign member of the Hanoi Art Association.
In a career spanning nearly three decades, Saeko has gained international renown as a contemporary artist who merges traditional Vietnamese lacquer-craft skills and son mai painting techniques learned from past generations of lacquer masters with original methods she developed through decades of experimentation.
She is also known as a researcher in the field of natural lacquer and shares her findings via lectures, conventions, and symposia in the international arena.
Saeko now lives and works in Hoi An.
- General Director
- Honna Tetsuji
- Composer
- Tran Manh Hung
- Story by
- Princess Anio Opera Project
- Producer, Librettist, and Lyricist (Japanese)
- Oyama Daisuke
- Lyricist (Vietnamese)
- Ha Quang Minh
- Cast
- Dao To Loan (Princess Anio), Bui Thi Trang (Princess Anio), Kobori Yusuke (Araki Sotaro), Yamamoto Kohei (Araki Sotaro), Pham Khanh Ngoc (Fortune Teller), Dao Mac (King Nguyen), Nguyen Thu Quynh (Queen), Nguyen Huy Duc (Minister), Ito Takayuki (Nagasaki Magistrate), Kawakoshi Miharu (Yasu), Nguyen Truong Linh (Interpreter), Nguyen Anh Vu (Captain)
- Co-producers
- Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam National Opera and Ballet
- Production Collaborator
- Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera
- Production Advisor
- Tran Ly Ly
- Key Visual Artist
- Ando Saeko
- Stage Director and Manager
- Koizumi Hiroshi
- Set Designer
- Ito Masako
- Costume Designer
- Hibino Kodue
- Hair and Makeup Artist
- Akamatsu Eri
- Lighting Designer
- Saito Shigeo
- Technical Stage Management
- Art Creation Co., Ltd.
- Historical Consultants
- Phan Hai Linh, Tomoda Hiromichi, Fukukawa Yuichi, Kikuchi Seiichi, Ando Katsuhiro, Honma Sadao
- Executive Producer
- Furukawa Naomasa
- Co-executive Producers
- Trinh Tung Linh, Phan Manh Duc, Le Ha My, Tani Makoto, Sasaki Shinji, Adachi Nobuhiko
- In Cooperation with
- Embassy of Japan in Vietnam
- Partners
- Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall (Yokohama Arts Foundation), Kajimoto, Roygent Parks Hanoi, GMO-Z.com RUNSYSTEM
- Public Relations and Advertising
- Sato Emma, Luong Gia Kien, Tran Thi Kim Lien, Tran Van Vuong, Baba Yuka
- Website Producers
- Yokota Kohei, Sugimoto Yo, Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, Nguyen Duy, Vu Huy Chung
- Video Producers
- Ochiai Yozo, Kai Gensuke, Noguchi Ayako, Shioi Takeshi, Kashimura Shinya
- Editor
- Shoyama Chinatsu
- Designers
- Daigo Yuki, Harada Yoko, Nguyen Huynh Quoc Trung
- Translators
- Nguyen Minh Hien, Nguyen Hong Bich Tram, Fushihara Hirota, Anna Litvinova, Silvia Telloni, Ben Soonthornwacharin, Willem Toft, Thuong Hue Man, Nakatani Mari, Sakai Shem, Hando Reina
- System Administrators
- Huynh Thi Kim Xuyen, Yoshida Minoru, Tran Duc Tam, Sato Masahiko
- Production Manager
- Kimura Chikara
- Production Support
- Miyashita Norio, Ogura Mikiko, Do Mai Lan, Nguyen Thi Minh Mung
*as of May 8, 2023