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Opera Online - Madama Butterfly 1

Welcome to Opera Online!

This week we start our look at Giacomo Puccini's tragic Madama Butterfly, the first opera in our Sounds of Learning program for the 2009-2010 Season.

In our Clip of the Week, we'll see an excerpt from a theatrical film version of the opera which stars Chinese soprano Ying Huang as Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) and tenor Richard Troxell (who happens to live in New Jersey) as Lieutenant Pinkerton.

The mariage broker Goro enters to tell Pinkerton and his friend Sharpless that Madame Butterfly has arrived for her wedding to Pinkerton. The two have never met and they fall in love instantly.

There are several other moments from the first act shown in this clip that are well worth viewing. Before you watch this clip, you'll want to read pages 16-19 in the Sounds of Learning student guide.



Our Website of the week is that of Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho. Ermonela will sing the role of Cio-Cio San in our production of Madama Butterfly.

Opera on the Radio this weekend

This weekend WRTI, 90.1 FM features Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's dramatic opera seria Idomeneo in a production from San Franciso Opera. This performance stars American tenor Kurt Streit in the title role. So tune your radio to 90.1 FM or listen online at 1:0oPM on Saturday, September 5th.


Don't forget to invite your friends to sign up to receive these alerts by emailing their name, school, and age to us at outreach@operaphila.org. Again, if you have suggestions of things you'd like to see, please let me know and I'll find a few clips as well.

Enjoy!

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