JAPANESE conductor Seiji Ozawa will lead the Vienna State Opera in a three-hour rendition of Mozart's much-loved comic opera Le Nozze di Figaro, or The Marriage of Figaro, in Singapore next month.

Ozawa, who sports a bushy head of greying hair that makes him look a little like a mad scientist, is a pillar of the Japanese opera scene.

In 1984, he founded the Saito Kinen Opera and the Saito Kinen Festival, which has since grown into Japan's pre-eminent music and opera festival. He also founded the Ozawa Ongaku-Juku, an academy where aspiring orchestral musicians play alongside established professionals in both symphonic concerts and fully-staged opera productions.

For its part, the Vienna State Opera has a history that dates to 1869, after Emperor Franz Joseph I decided to tear down old inner-city defences and erect in their place a broad boulevard with buildings dedicated to the arts.

Today, the opera chorus consists of 100 permanently engaged professional singers who perform about 250 evenings a year in up to 55 operas.

The opera's orchestra has links with the Vienna Philharmonic, and its musicians are thus experienced in playing symphonies and chamber music, besides opera.

Ozawa has been music director of the Vienna State Opera for about four years. He first worked with the company in May 1988, on a production of Eugene Onegin. Since then, he has led the opera through revivals of a variety of classics, from Cosi fan tutte to Don Giovanni and Wozzeck.

Ozawa and the Vienna State Opera performed Le Nozze di Figaro during the opera's tour to Japan in 2004.

The opera is based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais, part of a trilogy known as the Figaro plays.

The hero, Figaro, is a valet in the service of the Count Almaviva, and is engaged to Suzanne, who plays the Countess' chambermaid. The amorous Count is entranced by Suzanne, and decides to revive the right of primae noctis, a mediaeval practice where the lord of a castle gets to deflower a newly-wed before she consummates her marriage. Figaro is understandably upset by this, and must find a way to thwart his powerful master.

The Vienna State Opera performs Le Nozze di Figaro on Sept 26 at 7.30 pm at the Esplanade. Tickets are available through Sistic from $80 to $500, with VIP Box seats going for $650.