Noh Theater and Sumidagawa: The Japanese Roots of Britten’s Curlew River
Sunday, January 11, 2026
to Sunday, January 11, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: (via Zoom)
Presented by University of Pittsburgh Professor Elizabeth Oyler, Associate Professor of Premodern Japanese Literature, learn about the work that sparked Britten’s imagination and fascination with the genre of Noh drama, the oldest continuously performed theatrical genre in the world.
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A specialist in medieval Japanese narrative and performance, Elizabeth Oyler’s forthcoming book projects focus specifically on the noh drama: Imagining Other Worlds in Japanese Noh Drama (forthcoming, 2026, Cambridge University Press Elements Series) and The Apparitional Capital City: Landscape in Noh Plays of the Genpei War (forthcoming, 2027, Harvard East Asian Monograph Series). An Associate Professor of Japanese and Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh, she is also author of Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions: Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan (2006) and articles concerning medieval war tales, travelogues, and poetry, and co-editor and contributor to Like Clouds or Mists: Studies and Translations of Nō Plays of the Genpei War (2013) and Cultural Imprints: War and Memory in the Samurai Age (2022).
Elizabeth is a proud Pitt graduate and Pittsburgh native, and very excited that the Pittsburgh Opera is bringing Curlew River to Pittsburgh!
