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Vol.184 / “Modern Coffee Cantata” Will Be Performed Again
Next month, Spoken Opera “Solanote” will be performed after a long time.
The main piece this time is “Modern Coffee Cantata (Imadoki Coffee Cantata)”.
This work was first performed at the debut show of Solanote in 2016, and this will be its first revival in nine years.
For those who may not know what Solanote is—
it’s a small theatrical group that aims to combine storytelling and music.
There are three members: Megumi Hidaka, who handles narration and singing; Yoshika Harada, our in-house writer; and myself, the producer.
We may be a small team, but our passion is always strong.
When we start discussing what to perform next, each of us has different ideas, and the conversation always gets very animated.
The idea of performing Modern Coffee Cantata again has come up several times within the group.
Unlike film or video, stage performances change every time they are presented.
Each revival helps a work grow, and in turn, helps the group itself develop.
This time, we changed the instrument lineup and added more musical pieces.
In the end, I rewrote all the music—including the pieces from the original version—and the script also went through many revisions.
Thanks to our nine years of experience as Solanote, we were able to gather everyone’s opinions and reach a shared vision during just a few rehearsals.
By coincidence, I recently watched another stage performance that was also a revival of a piece I had seen before by the same troupe.
The cast and direction were completely different, but afterward, one of the performers told me that neither the script nor the score had been changed.
It made me realize that every group has its own unique way of evolving a piece through revival.
For a performer, a work feels like one’s own child.
I feel lucky to have another chance to “raise” this child, and I’ll keep rehearsing with full energy until the day of the show.
See you on November 24th at Cocopalm in Nishi-Ogikubo!
＝ November 14, 2025 / MoTet ＝
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