Order Tickets On-line Back to the Season Next Previous

Madame Butterfly London City Opera Saturday, February 22 at 8:00pm Main Stage - Tickets: $36 The London City Opera returns to Staller with one of the world’s most popular operas, Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, which almost rivals his La Boheme in the hearts of opera lovers. Puccini’s inspiration came from an American play by David Belasco which immediately captured the composer’s interest when he saw it in London. In addition to its powerful story line (the heartbreak of Madama Butterfly, a 15-year-old Japanese girl, who abandons her people and her religion in a marriage to Pinkerton, a United States Naval Lieutenant), the solos in the opera achieved unprecedented fame. During the three year wait for her husband’s return from the United States, Madame Butterfly sings what has probably become the most popular soprano aria ever written, “Un bel di vedremo” (One day he will come back). When he does eventually return, but with an American wife, Butterfly commits suicide, bringing the opera to a dramatic close. Written in 1904, the work undoubtedly had greater meaning for American audiences following the occupation of U.S. troops in Asia during the mid- and late twentieth century. The performance will be sung in Italian with English supertitles and be performed with a live chamber orchestra.