Historic Context of Our Production
In 2008 we celebrated 150 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and the United Kingdom. On 26 August 1858 fully-fledged diplomatic relations between Japan and the United Kingdom were established as a result of the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce in Edo (the present Tokyo).
Japan-UK 150, was a series of events, in the UK, to celebrate the 150 years of friendship between our two countries and ran from autumn 2008 until the end of 2009. It featured a wide range of activities designed to encourage exchange in such fields as culture, the arts, sport, education and science.
It was with this background in mind that 'Kuroda' was written and it is very appropriate that the first concert performance was held at the Lansdowne Club. Appropriate, because it was in this very building, that, in January 1902 Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, the Japanese Minister in London, signed the Anglo Japanese Alliance of 1902.
'Kuroda' is set in the early part of the 17th Century, our central character - Kuroda - is the Daimyo of Chikuzen, the regional governor of modern-day Fukuoka, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu. It is the beginning of the Edo period, a time of peace and stability following many centuries of factional war.
