ana ButterflUMaine of Performing Arts OPERA WORKSHOP Friday Dec. 6 & Saturday, Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m. Minsky Recital H MAINE COLLINS ~ ( CENTER FOR THE ARTS MADAMA BUTTERFLY Satu 16, 2019 1:00-4:45 p.m.Synopsis. Act I Japan, at of the 20th of the US. Navy inspe leasing from Goro, age broker. The and a geisha wife named Cio-Cio-San, kn Pinkerton her few posse: nission and rejecting her -onsole Butterfly 10 before the couple meats in the gar Intermission PROXIMATELY 158P¥) ier than in Pin er from Pinkerton, bi kerton of the lett Intermission \x Act IIT ;eaks, and Suauk’ i ists that Butterlly get some sl s appears with Pinkerton rican woman is and agrees le house. Butterfly rushes Grasping the sit About the C.0.0.C.s ‘The Collins Opera Outreach Committee provides free public talks (titled Learn Before You Go!), les and reviews, and special features on Met Live in HD operas before they are broadcast at the Collins Center. More information about the “Leam before you go” sessions and the C.0.0.Cs can be found at collinscenterforthearts.com or on Facebook @collinscentermetlive. ome with guilt and runs from the seIn Focus Giacomo Puccin Madama Butterfly lla Scala, Milan, February 1904 (original versio , May 1904 (revised version g Japanese geis 1e defining roles with the fact that tural and sexual a house, Film, theater, and \ese aspects of the story, focuses more on the characters as real people than fed issues of power. The opera survived a disastrous Milan opening ini reworked it in feat success in nearby Bi soon all aver the world. it has re ce, and the lyric beauty of the music for the thoroughly believab has made Butterf ‘The Creators (1858-1924) was immensely p Audiences and critics alike celebrate his operas for the y 10 everyday subj cessfull. The o and producer David Balasco (1853 fase foversial, character whose ity to the not unusual, While other time periods have been used in the issues of East/West cultural confict as they existed in 1900 cannot be eas! ed in this opera, regardless of when its set, ious productions, ‘The Music Puccini achieved a new level of sophisticat opera, with subtle colorings and sonorities throughout the so fe and imaginative, though used very sparingly, notably in the entrance of the relatives in Act | an nforgettable a Chorus in Act il, The opera, however, rests squarely on the performer singing : She is onstage most of the time and is the t experiences true (and tragic] development. The soprano the title role as in few other only char aste to sensual (the Act | love duet) to 9 with other Japanese characters) to dreamy-bordering-on-insane (the famous aria “Un bel ci”) to resigne: to complex character are Met History Madama composer in the audience and Geraldine F: inthe lead roles. Puccini always maintained that Farrar's voice was for the part, yet she 5: the company to great audience approval 139 times over the next In 1922, Joseph Urban designed 2 production that last 36 yea off the boards during World War I, Madama Butterfiy retuned to the Met stac by Licia All performances) and Dorothy Kirsten (68 performances) for the following decade th Antoni lain the title role), director ner Yoshio Aoyama and Motohiro Nagasake far Fice-paper walls that were specified in the libretto for Act ly un-Japanese.” This production showcased such stars as Renata Tebald, Renata Scotto (debut, 1965), Teresa Str Martina Arroyo, Raina Kabaivanska, Leontyne Price, and Diana Soviero. A new taging by Gia! naco opened in 1994, featuring Cathe: no as the title heroine. The current production, by Anthony Minghella, opened the Met’s 2006-07 season with Cstina Gallardo-Domas and Marcello Giordani in the leading role was servedProgram Note 1@ Dead, which was dramatic thrust. It’s a long tor who provided Puccini \cugh] itis not possible to discuss business Italian who has tears in his eyes and both arms Belasco was born in San Francisco to @ Jewish-Portuguese family. As a child, he ran away ‘cus, ended up on Broadway, and became the Steven Spielberg of h stage effects to dress up his plays—most of them derivative, some of them plagiarized, Belasco invented a remarkable series of lighting and scrim effects, which later would be ontage” and become basic to the way stories are told in ms. Pucini instinctively grasped the emotional power ofthe story of ‘musical gifts. The ° Butterty—cul impossible love, the connection between forbidden love and death, the inevitable dislocation as modern internationalism sweeps away “traditional values"—remain remarkably potent and contemporary. Such prescience was perhaps as much a part of Puccin's genius as anything else. gain West Luther Long, a lawyer from Philadelphia, iad a missionary and lived tianity. Later, the geisha g harackiri when her American hu deserted her Belasco (who would inspire Puccini a a short story by John the story, 19 called Butterfly doesindeed killer a knife betwean the nerve: not very bloody, Bela chose to use the original met r iticized by the genteel for its poor taste, the scene gave Pucc! hays needed: an overwhelming fal image ter ive full-length opera ding to that fl scene with dell that accumulate rather than distract Wrestling with this were librettist Li to the novel Madame Chysanthéme by Frenc! material. To portray Japanese c ica and Giacosa raided Loti for a range cf characters, including a drunken uncle (who got his own theme) and the monstrous little son of Butterfys cousin ‘This approach raised questions among Puccini associates. Was the incident: filled first act too long? More crucially, where would they find a who wanted to play a part as unsympathetic as Pinkerton? In the opera's first version, he did have an aria, Work was delayed when Puccini had a serious car accident. His broken leg failed to heal, and the composer was diagnosed with diabetes. He never entirely fecovered, walking with a limp for the rest of his life 1a Butterfly was given its world premiere at La Seal was one of ‘of opera. Ricordi, Puccini's isher, described how the of greeted by "roa, laughter The noise began rot unlike the debacle suffered in 1913 in Paris by Igor tenor Jn February 17, greatest scandal nediately and virtually non f 8 crowd tha Butterfly had Rosina Storchio, the f hich billowed up at one point. "She's pregr 18. "By Toscanini!” someone answered, 6 he was in on the backstage gossio (true, in fect) about the soprano and the ids name was “Dol lost. One of the headlines following this premiere sums it up: “Butterfly, Diabetic Opera, Result of an Accident.” The opera v the boards after one performance. A shattered Puccini covered La Si With Ricordis encouragement, Puccini and his collaborators set about revising the score. They softened Pinkerton’s character, making him 3 sive and, ly ing him an aria ("Addio, ail"), Kate was reduced to little more than 3 walk-on, Much of the “local color” that had boggad down Act | was cut he opera's second premiere, at Brescia on May 28, 1904, was 2 triumph. I or tenors), “away success in Buenos Aires that same year and Toscanini cond 1905, when Caruso sang a8 Asian orchestral sounds like bells, gongs, and high woodwinds, The combination immediately creates an utterly conerete and convincing ambience. With thePuccini invented melodies in "Japanese" style so that the ial in opera can occur without contradicting that precise famous entrance in Act cof many examples. Puccini moves effortlessly and with seeming inevitabi a use of the "Star-Spangled Bar nin Act Il, us jestern gestut phrase on the words color. Butterfly er"). Butterfly, thinking in her famous aria, herself an nbel di end of the one final ss thunder Puccini uses mary at least in the commercial medium of opera. One ostinato—the obsessive repeating of a note or rhythm. As Bu! Sharpless's question in Act |I—-"What will you do if Pinkerton does the insistence encourages her to forget heartbeat into a death knell. The crushing terror 1e most kerton, fanced harmory (unmatched by ps that’s why he has gotten so litte cred ters is the use made of these techniques, and there have been very few opera composers as skillful as Puccini, There are two remarkable uses of the added sixth in Butterfly final chord of Act I 2 clear harmonic resolution sinks into our consciousness te G toa 0 the drama, but brilliantly t the tragedy will continue, as Butterflys young son faces likely ostracism and big fly stantly memorable melodies; the jugular; and, worst ofall ing doctrinaira in Puccini's 2 s Italian contemporaries}; pet nly is shocking as a conc! 's writing unaba: overwhelmingly effe stage works of any description that are as su ive. There are few other —Alber raurato prominent American playwright and director works appeared both on and off Broadway. He also contributed to the Met's Jato 1990s, The Cast Pier Giorgio Morandi conaveron (Hew, TAL?) Th season Madama in Frankl c ns He 5 ly at the Met and Opera Au fad Simon Boccanegra in Turi 2010. a, Tosca in Rome, Rigoletto | oboist at La Sela, where he wae also io Muti and Giuseppe Patan. In 1989, he became 112, and fram 1991 to 1995, he He has also served asp Barbier Elizabeth DeShong tue2z0-s0PRANO (SELNEGROVE,FENNSLYVANIA) ” letand Covent Gard atthe concert withthe Malaourne Symphony Orchestra, Paul ‘Chicago, and Faliero in Rossi und Gi Spades at race in Semiramide, the Wardrobe Mistress / Schoolboy / Page in nia in The Enchanted Island and A Mi Suri the Fist rung, the Priestes in Aida, and Suny in La Rondine (debut, 2008) cateen nicnucits Recent perfoemances include Suzuka Juno in Handel's Ser ncert in Pari, Sesto in La Cle AAdalgisa in Norma in concert at North Carolina Opers Norn in Gatter urme Festival, Ino Tito at LA Opera, ‘and Ruggiero in Handels Alcina at Wa i at the Bavarian State o Opera, and Santa Fe Opera: Ado [Night Oream at the Giyndebs ere ci Svigi at LA Opera, 19 at Lyric Opera of Chicago: He 1 Festival and in Aix-en-PThe Cast conn ot in Bologna; Teeca in ‘Andrea Caré eNO (TURN, ALY) Kabaivansks, rerformance pany and Savon The Cast Paulo Szot BARONE (SHO PAULO, BRAz) Scena in M appearances withthe Borce Ieancts Dr Falke in Dia Fledermaus, the Captain in John Adams's The Dei Opera, and concer argo Philharmonic Orchestra, of K Kovalyor in ‘and Eseom Carmen, ER He made his 8 Pct for which he won in nce 0 Paulo and Mexico City, Frank ‘Opera, He has aso sung Alexander Hi le Dariloin The Merry ere Australia, Gecmont in La Traviata Opera ‘John Adams's Nixon in China ‘Sharpless in Mar or Raskatov's A Dog) COMING SOON Glass's Akhnaten Saturday, Nov. 23, 1 pm Director Phelim MeDermott tackles another one of Philip Glass's modern masterpieces, fh star countertenor ony Roth Costanzo as the revolutionary tte ruler who transformed ancient Egypt. Learn before you go! Now. 19 ~ Dirigo Pines 4-5:30 pm. | Nov. 20 ~ Brewer Public Library 4- 5:30 p.m. | Nov. 21 — Orono Public Library 5 - 6:30 p.m.