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 August 29, 2015

Puccini's Madama Butterfly - September 5, 2015

San Francisco Opera

Madama_Butterfly_09-05-2015

San Francisco Opera broadcasts continue on Classical 90.5 at noon this Saturday, September 5, with a performance of Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. The performance will be sung in Italian and will run approximately two and one-half hours. Nicola Luisotti conducts.

This beloved opera, which premiered in 1904, has at its heart a Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, known as "Madama Butterfly." In a traditional Japanese ceremony arranged by marriage-broker Goro and in the presence of the American consul Sharpless, Cio-San marries a lieutenant in the U. S. Navy, B. F. Pinkerton. But he doesn't take the marriage seriously and soon returns to America, promising to return "when the robins are nesting." Three years pass, with Cio-Cio-San – along with her maid Suzuki and her little son – waiting for Pinkerton to come back. When he finally does, accompanied by his American wife, Kate, his wish to take his son to America leads to catastrophe for Cio-Cio-San.

THE CAST
Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly): Patricia Racette
Lt. B.F. Pinkerton: Brian Jagde
Suzuki: Elizabeth DeShong
Sharpless: Brian Mulligan
Goro: Julius Ahn
Kate Pinkerton: Jacqueline Piccolino
Prince Yamadori: Efrain Solis
The Bonze: Morris Robinson
Commissioner: Hadleigh Adams

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