Orphée et Eurydice: week 4 - week 3 - week 2 - week 1
La Traviata: week 3 - week 2 - week 1
Tea: A Mirror of Soul: week 4 - week 3 - week 2 - week 1
Madama Butterfly: week 4 - week 3 - week 2 - week 1

Madama Butterfly - Week Three

A look at the empty set of Madama Butterfly, just one element of Jun Kaneko’s contemporary design, which he combines with his costumes and projections to create a unified vision, one he describes as “a painting with movement.”

The cast of Madama Butterfly runs through the opera at the first dress rehearsal. It is the first time that they are all on stage in costume with the various elements such as lighting and projections coming together to form Kaneko’s vision.

From left to right, Sharpless, baritone Troy Cook, is skeptical when Pinkerton, tenor Roger Honeywell, tells him of his plans to marry the geisha Cio-Cio San.

Pinkerton, tenor Roger Honeywell, meets with the marriage broker Goro, tenor David Portillo.  Goro helps Pinkerton plan his marriage to Butterfly.

Butterfy, soprano Ermonela Jaho, and Pinkerton, tenor Roger Honeywell, are married in front of her family.  She tells him that she has visited the American mission to renounce her ancestral religion and embrace his.

Bass Kirk Eichelberger returns to the Academy of Music, after his portrayal of Don Fernando in last season’s Fidelio, this time in the role of the Bonze, Butterfly’s Uncle and a Buddhist Priest, who appears at the wedding and curses Butterfly for dismissing her religion.

Goro, tenor David Portillo, is determined to arrange a new marriage for Butterfly after Pinkerton’s departure.