Opera "The Great Wave"

Dai Fujikura & Harry Ross

©Scottish Opera

DATE

thu. Feb 12, 2026
19:15

Door open 18:30

VENUE

Glasgow/Theatre Royal Glasgow

PROGRAM

Music by Dai Fujikura / Libretto by Harry Ross: Opera "The Great Wave"

Scottish Opera / KAJIMOTO
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan / Japan Arts Council

DATE

sat. Feb 14, 2026
19:15

Door open 18:30

VENUE

Glasgow/Theatre Royal Glasgow

PROGRAM

Music by Dai Fujikura / Libretto by Harry Ross: Opera "The Great Wave"

Scottish Opera / KAJIMOTO
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan / Japan Arts Council

DATE

thu. Feb 19, 2026

Door open 18:30

VENUE

Edinburgh/Festival Theatre Edinburgh

PROGRAM

Music by Dai Fujikura / Libretto by Harry Ross: Opera "The Great Wave"

Scottish Opera / KAJIMOTO
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan / Japan Arts Council

DATE

sat. Feb 21, 2026
19:15

Door open 18:30

VENUE

Edinburgh/Festival Theatre Edinburgh

PROGRAM

Music by Dai Fujikura / Libretto by Harry Ross: Opera "The Great Wave"

Scottish Opera / KAJIMOTO
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan / Japan Arts Council

The Great Wave
an opera in 5 acts
(based on the life of the artist formerly known as Hokusai)

Music by Dai Fujikura
Libretto by Harry Ross

Join us for the world premiere of a new opera by Japanese composer Dai Fujikura and Scottish librettist Harry Ross, The Great Wave, based on the life of the iconic Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) and his famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

The production will be directed by Satoshi Miyagi, the Artistic Director of SPAC (Shizuoka Performing Arts Centre) who is known internationally for his visionary works across theatre and opera.
Baritone Daisuke Ohyama will take on the lead role of Hokusai. Acclaimed both as a singer and actor, Ohyama will bring a powerful and distinctive presence to the stage, along with soprano Julieth Lozano Rolong as Ōi, Hokusai’s daughter. Stuart Stratford conducts The Orchestra of Scottish Opera – with the unique addition of the rich historic sounds of a Japanese shakuhachi-flute. The opera also features a cast and creative team of internationally active artists from the forefront of contemporary opera.

CAST & CREATIVES

Conductor: Stuart Stratford
Director: Satoshi Miyagi
Set Designer: Junpei Kiz
Costume Designer: Kayo Takahashi Deschene
Lighting Designer: Yuka Hisamatsu
Props Designer: Eri Fukasawa
Choreographer: Akiko Kitamura

Katsushika Hokusai: Daisuke Ohyama
Katsushika Ōi: Julieth Lozano Rolong
Mr Tozaki / Nishimura Yohachi: Shengzhi Ren
Eirakuya Tōshirō / Takai Kōzan: Edward Hawkins
Koto: Chloe Harris
Hokusai’s Grandson: Luvo Maranti
Dr Philipp Franz von Siebold: Collin Shay

The Orchestra of Scottish Opera
The Chorus of The Great Wave

Commissioned by KAJIMOTO – World Premiere
Co-produced with Scottish Opera

Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan / Japan Arts Council

Running time:
Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes including a 20-minute interval

Language:
Sung in English with English supertitles

Dai Fujikura, Composer
Born in Osaka, Japan, Fujikura moved alone to the UK at age 15 to study under Sir G. Benjamin and others. In 1998, he became the youngest winner (at the time) of the Serocki International Composers’ Competition. He has received the Royal Philharmonic Composition Prize, Internationaler Wiener Composition Prize, Paul Hindemith Prize, the 57th, 63rd, 67th and 70th Otaka Prize, the 19th Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Composition, Kenzo Nakajima Music Award, Exxon Mobil Award, Silver Lion Award for Music from the Venice Biennale (2017), Arts Award from Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2019) and others.
He is also highly esteemed internationally as an opera composer. His opera Solaris, co-commissioned by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Lausanne and Opéra de Lille, had its world premiere in 2015. In 2020, A Dream of Armageddon, his third opera, was world premiered at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. Since 2017, he has served as the Artistic Director of the Born Creative Festival at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. He became the Music Director of the Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, Japan in 2024.
His wide-ranging activities in recent years include the composition of an ensemble piece to be played remotely by musicians in different locations as well as music for many TV programs. His works have been recorded and released mainly on Sony Music Japan International and his own label Minabel Records, and his scores are published by Ricordi Berlin.
https://www.daifujikura.com/

Harry Ross, Libretto
Harry Ross is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and producer working across opera, public realm projects, and socially engaged performance. He collaborates with Dai Fujikura as librettist and lyricist (A Dream of Armageddon, The Great Wave) and has directed or produced work for ROH2, Spoleto Festival (Italy), Shakespeare’s Globe, The British Council, The National Archives, National Trust and Secret Cinema. From 2021-24 he led the British Army’s Art and Engagement programme in Scotland, earning a Fringe First and the Scottish Arts Club Award. He currently serves in the British Army as a Specialist Advisor in Creative Production and is Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Veterans and Families Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Society of Scottish Antiquaries, and Royal Society for Public Health. He volunteers as a member of the City of Edinburgh’s Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Implementation Group and sings in his local parish church choir.
He runs the creative studio, O’NeillRoss, with his wife Helen, and he has three grown-up children: Charlie who is studying fine art, Eugenia who is studying environmental geoscience and Theo who is studying music and filmmaking. He is proud to have followed in the footsteps of his parents Rowan and Ian, contributing to both education and defence.

Stuart Stratford, Conductor

Satoshi Miyagi, Director

Daisuke Ohyama, Hokusai Katsushika

Scottish Opera

*This project is supported by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs / Japan Arts Council / Grants for Artistic Activity Infrastructure Reinforcement Program (Projects to Nurture Creators and Artists). It aims to actively engage young Japanese artists and creators and support their international development.