Opera

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

The young geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as »Butterfly«, forms the emotional heart of Giacomo Puccini’s tragedia giapponese, set in Nagasaki at the beginning of the 20th century. The US-American naval lieutenant Pinkerton marries Cio-Cio-San, intending to divorce her shortly after, a fairly common practice in Japan at the time.

He rents a suitable cottage for his stay in the city. For Pinkerton the liaison is just an erotic flirtation. Cio-Cio-San, on the other hand, sees the American not merely as a means to escaping poverty, but as the love of her life ... First performed at Milan’s La Scala in 1904, »Madama Butterfly« still touches our hearts today. We are shaken by the realism with which Puccini depicts the cultural misunderstandings and deadly consequences of this tragic love story. Together with star designer Kenzo Takada, Japanese director Amon Miyamoto offers a unique oriental perspective on this Japanese-American liaison.

Tragedia giapponese in three acts
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Performed in Italian with German and English supertitles

Premiere
6. April 2022,

No further performances in the current season.

Premiere cast

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
 Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Co-production with the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation, Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen, and the San Francisco Opera

Project Partner: Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen, Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden, Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen, LBBW


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Stücktrailer

Madama Butterfly

The young geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as Butterfly, forms the emotional heart of Giacomo Puccini’s tragedia giapponese, set in Nagasaki at the beginning of the 20th century. The US-American naval lieutenant Pinkerton marries Cio-Cio-San, intending to divorce her shortly after, a fairly common practice in Japan at the time. He rents a suitable cottage for his stay in the city. For Pinkerton the liaison is just an erotic flirtation. Cio-Cio-San, on the other hand, sees the American not merely as a means to escaping poverty, but as the love of her life ... First performed at Milan’s La Scala in 1904, Madama Butterfly still touches our hearts today. We are shaken by the realism with which Puccini depicts the cultural misunderstandings and deadly consequences of this tragic love story. Together with star designer Kenzo Takada, Japanese director Amon Miyamoto offers a unique oriental perspective on this Japanese-American liaison.
Making-of

Madama Butterfly – Making-of (2)

The First Guest Conductor of the Semperoper, Omer Meir Wellber, takes over the musical direction of the new production of Madama Butterfly: In this score I can’t change much because there is a strong energy and everything is so precise, for example in the dynamics he says about Puccini’s composition. In the second part of the making-of Wellber talks about the strong and sensitive production, staged by Amon Miyamoto.
Making-of

Madama Butterfly – Making-of (1)

In his production of Madama Butterfly, Japanese Stage Director Amon Miyamoto tells the story of Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton from their son’s point of view. After the son receives a letter from his dying father at the beginning of the opera, he embarks on a journey of discovery that reveals the love of his parents.
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