Opera on Screen: Madama Butterfly (La Scala, 2016)

It is well known that the Madama Butterfly‘s première at La Scala in 1904 is one of the most celebrated fiascos in operatic history. For the first time since that fateful evening, conductor Riccardo Chailly restores Puccini’s original two-act version to the La Scala stage.

“We all think we know this opera”, he writes, but this new edition of the original score “offers continuous discoveries.” Drawing inspiration from Japanese Kabuki theatre, this magical new production features an international star cast.

Latvian director Alvis Hermanis delivers here what seems a perfect place between traditional realism and “kitch orientalism” to present the mood, the drama, the romance and the tragedy of this opera. “Nothing short of a masterpiece.” (Opera Journal)

“This was a performance endowed with abundant detail, an impressive depth of sound and a suppleness in lyrical passages that was nowhere more luxuriant than in the glittering evocation of a Nagasaki dawn. The unbroken Act II, later split in half by Puccini, hurtled inexorably towards Cio-Cio-San’s demise.” (Financial Times)

Sung in Italian.