Opera Online - Madama Butterfly2

Welcome to Opera Online!

We continue 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 another excerpt from a theatrical film version of the opera that we saw last week. Chinese soprano Ying Huang as Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) and tenor Richard Troxell as Lieutenant Pinkerton.

Butterfly's uncle, a Buddhist monk, interrupts Butterfly's wedding to Pinkerton and tells her family that she has converted to Christianity. Her family scorns and rejects her. Pinkerton orders the family to leave. Pinkerton is the only family Butterfly has now.

In this scene Butterfly and Pinkerton have just been married. They are alone and declare their love for each other.

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 internationally renowned ceramic artist Jun Kaneko. If you click on the Studio then Artwork then Performance links, you'll find photos of his Madama Butterfly production online. You'll also want to visit the Opera Company's website to learn more about Philadelphia's city-wide celebration of Jun Kaneko's art.

You're Invited to a Free Event!

We'll be doing a free preview of Madama Butterfly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, 128 N. Broad Street in Philadelphia on the corner of Broad and Cherry Streets. As part of the Opera Company's A Taste of Opera series, the event includes a recital of music from the opera as sung by soprano Evelyn Santiago and others. The event is on Sunday, October 4, 2009 from 2-3 PM at PAFA. All you need to do to reserve your spot is to email your name, address, and number in your party to outreach@operaphila.org. Hope to see you there!

Opera on the Radio this weekend

This weekend WRTI, 90.1 FM features the Russian masterpiece Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky in a production from San Franciso Opera. This performance stars American bass Samuel Ramey in the title role. So tune your radio to 90.1 FM or listen online at 1:0oPM on Saturday, September 12th.

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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