Madama Butterfly

The tragic story of a Japanese geisha in love with an American naval lieutenant has been stirring up the emotions of viewers for years. The most famous woman in the history of opera, and at the same time an incredible vocal and acting challenge, because the singer who plays the role of Butterfly has to face a whole range of extreme emotions and without leaving the stage, sing for a total of almost 90 minutes. The dramatic story of the union of two people representing different cultures is set in the bustling modern Tokyo. The Szczecin performance, referring to the poetics of Lars von Trier's films, is enriched with the figure of the dancer — the alter ego Butterfly, as well as multimedia projections. “East is East and West is West, and they will never meet,” says the old saying... The composer studied the sources of Japanese music, which inspired him to write sophisticated instrumentation with a characteristic timbre of sound. All this makes his “Japanese tragedy” one of the most moving operas in history. “Madama Butterfly” is a universal story, it could just as well happen today. Cultural differences are still relevant, people still fall in love the wrong way, that just happens to never change. The production revolves around many contemporary pop culture themes, says director Pia Partum.