Name: Madama Butterfly
Start: 2016-05-20T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2016-05-29T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Lucie Stern Theatre

Admin

Organization

Conductor

José Luis Moscovich

Stage director

Eugene Brancoveanu

Costume designer

Claire Townsend

Set designer

Peter Crompton

West Bay Opera

Singer

Soprano

Olga Chernisheva

Cio-Cio-San

Mezzo-soprano

Kristen Choi

Suzuki

Baritone

Igor Vieira

Sharpless

Bass

Kiril Havezov

Uncle Bonze

Tenor

Ryan Bradford

Prince Yamadori

The imperial commissioner

Carolyn Bacon

Kate Pinkerton

Silent

Zoe G. Lai

Sorrow

David Gustafson

B.F. Pinkerton

Lighting designer

Edward Hunter

Makeup artist

Lisa Cross

Sound designer

Tod Nixon

Italian

Madama Butterfly -  (Madame Butterfly)

Palo Alto

United States

Lucie Stern Theatre

Madama Butterfly Puccini

Public

Private

Madame Butterfly

English

Approved

Act 3, Scene 2 of West Bay Opera's production of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. Recorded live at the Lucie Stern Theater on 5/29/16.  José Luis Moscovich, conductor; Eugene Brancoveanu, Director. Tenor David Gustavson as Pinkerton; baritone Igor Vieira as Sharpless; mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi as Suzuki; soprano Carolyn Bacon as Kate. More info at wbopera.org

World Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan - Feb 17, 1904
WBO Premiere:  May 15, 1959
Pictured: interior of the Teatro alla Scala

In early 1900’s Nagasaki, an American naval officer weds a young Japanese woman. Months later he leaves her, unaware that she is pregnant with his son, and promises to come back. Three years later, she is nearly destitute and shunned by her family for becoming a Christian, but she is steadfast in her conviction that he will return. He does return, with a new American wife, remorseful but ready to take his son back with him. Devastated, Butterfly gives up the child and commits suicide.  Madama Butterfly is based on the play by David Belasco, which was very popular when it premiered in 1900. The play's success reflected the shock waved sent around the world by the American triumph in the Spanish-American war, as a result of which the once mighty Spanish Empire lost Cuba and the Philippines. The young and socially awkward Pinkerton serves as an allegory for the nascent American empire, well meaning but not fully aware of its impact on the ancient cultures with which it came into contact.  This is considered Puccini's dramatically most effective and powerful score.  It is one of the 10 most performed operas in the repertoire.

Madame Butterfly by Puccini, From (2016/2016), Directed by Eugene Brancoveanu,, Conductor José Luis Moscovich, Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto, United States

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