November 21, 1988: Madama Butterfly in Oslo

1988-11-21 Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Den Norske Opera (Oslo)

Cio-Cio-San = Keiko Kamegawa
Suzuki = Marit Osnes Aambø
Kate Pinkerton = Gro Hundvin
B.F. Pinkerton = Caj Ehrstedt
Sharpless = Jan Sødal
Goro = Rorald Rørvik
Prince Yamadori = Knut Gullerud
Uncle Bonzo = Svein Carlsen

Per Åke Andersson, conductor

How irritating it is to hear/see this heart-wrenching opera and to have people sitting there finding it ludicrous the marriage contract for 999 years. But poor Butterfly she is going to die because she takes it seriously love, marriage but Pinkerton see every thing Japanese as a joke as this custom of leasing houses for 999 years. The clash West/East.

That bloody Pinkerton. Even the American consul who is normally quite cold-blooded tries to warn Pinkerton.

This is a great opera!

OD Travel

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com
If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com

October 13, 2011: Madama Butterfly in Vienna

2011-10-13 Madama Butterfly (G. Puccini), Wiener Staatsoper

Cio-cio-san, aka Butterfly = Daniela Dessi
B.F.Pinkerton = Marian Talaba
Sharpless = Eijiro Kai
Suzuki = Juliette Mars
Goro = Herwig Pecoraro
Yamadori = Peter Jelosits
Kate Pinkerton = Jeanine De Bique
Onkle Bonze = Alexandru Moisiuc
Der kaiserliche Kommissär = Marcus Pelz
Der Standesbeamte = Martin Müller
Mutter Cio-Cio-Sans = Arina Holecek
Base = Denisa Danielová

Patrick Lange, conductor

Regie - Josef Gielen
Bühnenbild - Tsugouharu Foujita
Kostüme - Tsugouharu Foujita

I really liked Eijiro Kai as Sharpless. Marian Talaba was even from front row a weak Pinkerton. He struggled with the singing. He was clearly not at ease. He was a great Stewa in JENUFA so why not in Madama Butterfly. Daniela Dessi was really good in act 2+3, I guess maybe it took me almost the act 1 to get it. The love duet was almost all Dessi, Talaba was too weak.

I loved my seat and that I could see what happened in the orchestra. They seemed to enjoy themselves, those men and women in the orchestra. I loved to watch the female first violinist. It gave depth to my understanding of the music of Giacomo Puccini.

OD Travel
Original blog post


For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com

1983/1984 Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Rådhusteatret (Kongsvinger)

1983/1984 Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Rådhusteatret (Kongsvinger)

Cho-Cho-San (Butterfly) = Anne Bolstad
Suzuki = Siv Sjöberg
B F Pinkerton = Ulf Björkegren
Sharpless = Stig Tysklind
Goro = Bo Johan Leinmark
Prince Yamadori = Lars Martinsson
Bonzo = Kurt Lantz
Kate Pinkerton = Sylvia Harvvell

Ole Wiggo Bang, conductor


Karlstads Teater
Regie - Britt-Marie Schott
Scenography - Bemd Schmigalla

As usual in Kongsvinger, my birth-city, the newspaper is slow to tell about cultural events, football is more important. But since Kongsvinger and Karlstad was friendship-cities we got to see Madama Butterfly with Norwegian soprano as Butterfly the rest, of course, were Swedish opera singers.

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com