Bellagio Residency: July 2022
Project: “4711—a chamber opera for Japanese and Western Instruments”
Hiroya Miura is a composer working with Western and Japanese instruments, toys, and other noise-making objects. Miura came to Bellagio in July 2022 to work on a chamber opera based on the writing of Franz Kafka and Milena Jesenská. The multilingual libretto (in German, Czech, English, and Japanese) consists of selections from Jesenská’s journalistic writings, Kafka’s Letters to Milena, and his novella, Stoker. The ensemble consists of three singers, shamisen, shakuhachi, a string quartet, and percussion. The work will be a contemplation on the impossibility of communication, on separation, and longing. Miura is Associate Professor of Music at Bates College and the Artistic Director of Columbia University’s IMJS/Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives.