(Sung in Italian with English subtitles)
Cast: Asmik Grigorian, Joshua Guerrero, Lauri Vasar, Hongni Wu, Ya-Chung Huang, Jeremy White, Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, Veena Akama-Makia,
Directors: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Conductor: Kevin John Edusei
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Recorded Live
For all the beauty and romance of the music, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly remains a deeply moving – and troubling – story, fatally bound up with the destructive forces of imperialism. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s poignant, painterly production stars Asmik Grigorian as Cio-Cio-San with Joshua Guerrero as Pinkerton.
Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese bride of American naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, finds her romantic idyll shattered when he deserts her shortly after their marriage. She lives in hope that one day he will return.
Three years later, Cio-Cio-San and her son, Dolore, see Pinkerton’s ship in the harbour. She excitedly awaits his visit – but when Pinkerton and his American wife Kate arrive and learn about Dolore’s existence, they ask to take the boy away, and raise him in America. Cio-Cio-San bids her son farewell and takes her own life.
(3hrs 15mins, including one interval)