About the work
"Lady Sarashina" is an opera by Péter Eötvös after the "Sarashina Nikki," the eleventh-century diary of the Japanese court lady Sugawara no Takasue no Musume; Mari Mezei wrote the English-language libretto. It premiered on 4 March 2008 at the Opéra National de Lyon.
Plot
Across nine scenes, the title character relives memories and visions between dream and reality: grief for her late nurse, an encounter with a palace guard, a pilgrimage, and a mystical meeting with a cat. The first, fifth, and ninth scenes are monologues for Lady Sarashina, centred on a scene set beneath the moon.
Cultural significance
The nine-part structure follows a magic 3×3 square echoing the layout of the historic Japanese capital Heian-kyō. The Paris critics' association for music and dance named it best new musical creation of the 2007/2008 season.