Organization

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Katharina Kammerloher

Suzuki

Bass

Grigory Shkarupa

Uncle Bonze

Tenor

Adam Kutny

Prince Yamadori

Stage director

Eike Gramss

Set designer

Peter Sykora

Costume designer

Soprano

Latonia Moore

Cio-Cio-San

Stefan Pop

B.F. Pinkerton

Baritone

Arttu Kataja

Sharpless

Andrés Moreno García

Goro

Conductor

Diego Matheuz

Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein

Kate Pinkerton

Samantha Britt

Zilvinas Miskinis

The imperial commissioner

The official registrar

Aleksandra Kurzak

State Opera Berlin

Orchestra

Staatskapelle Berlin

Others

Staatsopernchor Berlin

Italian

Madama Butterfly -  (Madame Butterfly)

Berlin

Germany

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Madama Butterfly Puccini

Public

Madame Butterfly

German

English

Approved

​Lieutenant Pinkerton hat sich in Geisha Cio-Cio-San, genannt Madame Butterfly, verliebt und will sie nach japanischer Sitte heiraten, ohne damit eine dauerhafte Verbindung eingehen zu wollen. Butterfly liebt Pinkerton jedoch wirklich und bekommt ein Kind von ihm. Vergeblich wartet sie jahrelang auf die Rückkehr des Lieutenants. Als Pinkerton dann mit seiner neuen amerikanischen Ehefrau zurückkommt, um das Kind abzuholen, erdolcht sich Butterfly.

»Madama Butterfly« geht auf eine Novelle zurück, die angeblich eine wahre Begebenheit schildert. Seit um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts die amerikanische Flotte die Öffnung der japanischen Häfen erzwungen hatte, begann auch umgekehrt der Einfluss der japanischen Kultur im Westen. Bald spielten Opern und Operetten in diesem neu zu entdeckenden Land, das trotz seines rapiden technologischen Fortschritts durch die Bewahrung seiner eigenen Kultur eine ganz andere Moderne versprach. Die Exotik des Milieus brachte Giacomo Puccini zu weit mehr als einer bloß kolonialistischen Anverwandlung ferner Musik: Er studierte Quellen zur Musik Japans, baute originale Melodien ein und ließ sich zu einer raffinierten Instrumentation und besonderen Klangfarben inspirieren. Sie machen die »japanische Tragödie« zu einer der berührendsten Opern der Geschichte. Eike Gramss’ Inszenierung zeigt behutsam das Aufeinandertreffen zweier Kulturen in einer schillernden japanischen Welt.

Deutsch

The American naval lieutenant Pinkerton is spending three months in Nagasaki on business. He meets the geisha Cio-Cio-San, whom everyone calls Butterfly. He finds her so fascinating that he immediately decides to marry her. Japanese law permits him to end the marriage at any time. ACT I Pinkerton has Goro, the marriage broker, show him the house he has rented for Butterfly and himself. The American consul Sharpless warns Pinkerton not to take Butterfly’s love lightly. Pinkerton ignores his advice and drinks with Sharpless to his future marriage to an American woman. – Butterfly brings her friends and relatives with her, and the wedding ceremony is performed quickly and without fuss by the registrar. Suddenly the priest appears and curses Butterfly for wanting to convert to Pinkerton’s faith. – Pinkerton sends the wedding guests away.He tenderly attempts to comfort Butterfly. ACT II Butterfly has been waiting unwaveringly for three years for Pinkerton to return from America. She is indignant that Suzuki, her maid, does not share her certainty. Sharpless visits Butterfly. He has received a letter from Pinkerton, who has asked him to prepare Butterfly for the fact that he will be returning to Japan but not to her, since he is now married. Butterfly is beside herself with joy to hear that there is news of Pinkerton and repeatedly interrupts Sharpless. He is unable to inform her of the letter’s true contents. – Goro brings Prince Yamadori to Butterfly; the prince wants to marry her. She mocks him for the many marriages he has entered into and then ended; she then rejects him. – Sharpless advises Butterfly to become Yamadori’s wife and to stop waiting for Pinkerton.She then shows Sharpless the child she bore after Pinkerton’s departure, insisting that he will come to his son and to her. Sharpless promises to tell Pinkerton about the child. – Suzuki pushes Goro into Butterfly’s house. He has been telling people that no one knows who the child’s father is. Butterfly wants to kill him. Suzuki stops her. – A cannon is fired, signalling the arrival of Pinkerton’s ship in the harbour. Butterfly and Suzuki decorate the house. ACT III Butterfly has spent the entire night waiting in vain for Pinkerton. Exhausted, she retires. While Butterfly is sleeping, Sharpless enters with Pinkerton and his wife, Kate. They have decided to take the child to America and to have it raised there. They want Suzuki to help them to convince Butterfly that this is the right decision. Pinkerton finds the situation unbearable and leaves.– Butterfly wakes up. She understands what they want of her. She asks that Pinkerton pick up his son himself. – Butterfly bids farewell to her child and then kills herself. When Pinkerton returns, he is not able to take the child with him. Sharpless leads the child away.

Madame Butterfly by Puccini, From (2023/2023), Directed by Eike Gramss,, Conductor Diego Matheuz, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany

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