Palace Opera And Ballet Screens Royal Opera’s “Emotionally Shattering” Madame Butterfly
Soprano Ermonela Jaho thrilled Sydney’s opera audiences last summer with her performance as Violetta in Opera Australia’s revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s La traviata. She is now enthralling in the role of Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s Madam Butterfly at London’s Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
The Guardian’s Tim Ashley said “The whole evening is, in fact, outstanding. Ermonela Jaho, one of the great verismo interpreters, brings uncompromising veracity to the title role, and the combination of vulnerability and torrential emotion just tears you in two.” The Financial Times describes Jaho’s performance as “emotionally shattering.”
Watch out also for Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds as Kate Pinkerton. Edmonds is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium and was on the Young Artists Programme with Pacific Opera Company before joining the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artist’s Programme in 2015.
Palace Opera and Ballet will screen this production of Madame Butterfly in Sydney in April/May, filmed during the performance on March 30, 2017 and sung in Italian, with English subtitles.
Antonio Pappano, acclaimed for his interpretations of Italian opera, conducts an impressive cast led by much-loved soprano Ermonela Jaho in Puccini’s ravishing, deeply poignant opera.
An intense and gripping journey from light and excitement to darkness and self-sacrifice, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s stunningly beautiful production is set in exotic Nagasaki. Puccini’s music brings alive the birdsong of the morning, the ritual of a wedding and the seduction by callous US naval officer B.F. Pinkerton (sung by exciting young tenor Marcelo Puente) of his young, innocent bride Cio-Cio-San (Jaho in the title role at Covent Garden for the first time).
The Cast and Creatives: Conductor: Antonio Pappano/ Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/ Director: Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier/ Set Design: Christian Fenouillat
Cast: Ermonela Jaho (Cio-Cio San)/ Marcelo Puente (Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton)/ Scott Hendricks (Sharpless)/ Elizabeth DeShong (Suzuki)/ Carlo Bosi (Goro)/ Jeremy White (Bonze)/ Emily Edmonds (Kate Pinkerton)/ Gyula Nagy (Imperial Commissioner)/ Yuriy Yurchuk (Prince Yamadori)
PALACE NORTON STREET
Friday 28 Apr 11:00am
Saturday 29 Apr 1:00pm
Sunday 30 Apr 1:00pm
PALACE VERONA
Saturday 29 Apr 11:30am
Sunday 30 Apr 11:30am
Wednesday 3 May 11:30am
