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1

Giacomo Puccini, Madama Butterfly

I: Introduction

I: "E soffitto... e pareti..."

I: "Questa è la cameriera"

I: "Dovunque al mondo"

I: "Quale smania vi prende!"

I: " Quanto Cielo! "

I: "Gran ventura"

I: "L'Imperial Commissario"

I: "Vieni, amor mio!"

I: "Ieri son salita tutta sola in segreto alla Missione"

I: "Ed Eccoci in Famiglia"

I: "Viene la sera"

I: "Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia"

I: "Vogliatemi bene"

II: "E Izaghi ed Izanami, Sarundasico e Kami"

II: "Un bel dì vedremo"

II: "C'è. Entrate"

II: "Non lo sapete insomma"

II: "A voi però giurerei fede costante"

II: "Ora a noi"

II: "E questo? E questo?"

II: "Che tua madre dovrà prenderti in braccio"

II: "Io scendo al piano"

II: "Vespa! Rospo maledetto!"

II: "Una nave da guerra"

II: "Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio"

II: "Or vienmi ad adornar"

II: "Coro a bocca chiusa" (Humming Chorus)

II: "Oh eh, oh eh"

II: ""Già il sole!"

II: "Povera Butterfly"

II: "Io so che alle pene"

II: "Addio fiorito asil"

II: "Glielo dirai"

II: "Che vuol da me"

II: "Come una mosca prigionera"

II: "Con onor muore... Tu, tu? Piccolo Iddio"

Puccini's Madama Butterfly

Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier (stage directors), Antonio Pappano (conductor) – With Ermonela Jaho (Cio-Cio-San), Marcelo Puente (Pinkerton), Scott Hendricks (Sharpless)

Opera
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Cast

Moshe Leiser — Stage director

Patrice Caurier — Stage director

Christian Fenouillat — Stage design

Agostino Cavalca — Costume designer

Christophe Forey — Lighting designer

Ermonela Jaho — Cio-Cio-San

Marcelo Puente — B.F. Pinkerton

Program notes

One of the most beloved operas of all time, Madama Butterfly was born in an age when Europe was coming into closer contact with distant lands. Previously closed cultures like Japan fascinated westerners in ways that the Near East had fascinated their forebearers: the fascination portrayed in Madama Butterfly is a direct descendant of 17the century “Turkish Marches”, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, Pierre Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème (which heavily inspired Puccini), and Mascagni’s Iris. This universe at the crossroads of East and West is encapsulated well by the minimalist staging of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, which brings to mind traditional Japanese dwellings and waterways.

Like with La Fanciulla, Gianni Schicchi, and in particular Turandot, the success of a production of Madama Butterfly is heavily dependant on its protagonist: in this case, Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese wife of the dashing American lieutenant Pinkerton. The Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho assumes this responsibility with great professionalism, giving an intimate and nuanced portrayal that concentrates all the opera’s dramatic intensity. Antonio Pappano, musical director of the Royal Opera House and celebrated Puccini specialist, leads the orchestra in a performance of rare expressivity.

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