ROH: Live Screening – Madama Butterfly

‘Love cannot kill: it brings new life.’ 

On a starlit night in Nagasaki, these are the words spoken by American soldier, Pinkerton, to young geisha, Cio-Cio-San. But as they both learn, words and promises carelessly spoken can have indelible consequences.

With a score that includes Butterfly’s aria, ‘Un bel dì, vedremo’ (‘One fine day’) and the ‘Humming Chorus’, Giacomo Puccini’s opera is entrancing and ultimately heart-breaking. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s exquisite production takes inspiration from 19th-century European images of Japan.

Music: Giacomo Puccini 
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Directors: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Set designer: Christian Fenouillat

Costume designer: Agostino Cavalca
Lighting designer: Christophe Forey

Conducted by: Nicola Luisotti

Cio-Cio-San: Maria Agresta
Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton: Joshua Guerrero
Sharpless: Carlos Álvarez
Suzuki: Christine Rice
Goro: Carlo Bosi

Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Sung in Italian with English subtitles

Running time: 3hrs 15mins (including one interval)

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