Madama Butterfly

by Giacomo Puccini Japanese tragedy in three acts Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica in Italian language

"The forceful pressure of the hand of America, offered in a friendly spirit but extended with an energy that could both strike and embrace, shattered the isolation of the Japanese and made them sensitive to the relationship with the rest of the world," recalled Captain M. C. Perry, commander of the US battle fleet that forced Japan to open its ports and trade with America in 1853. Puccini was never in Japan. But his "Japanese Tragedy" about the geisha Cio-Cio San, who breaks with her traditions out of love for Navy Officer Pinkerton and adopts the "American way of life", only to be abandoned pregnant, is a moving testimony to the violent consequences of one-sided cultural transfer. General Music Director Cornelius Meister takes over the musical direction of the revival of Puccini's moving masterpiece.