After the huge success of Vocek, leading French director and Avignon Festival director Olivier Py returns to the National Opera to direct one of Puccini's most popular masterpieces, Madama Butterfly, this time on the stage of the Herodeo. The production is implemented with the support of the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to strengthen the artistic extroversion of the National Opera.

In-demand theater director and performer Olivier Pi, who has directed over forty operas around the world, will take on Madama Butterfly for the first time, bringing the Orchestra to the Herodian stage and bringing her aesthetics and colors to the Roman conservatory. of Japan, through his own recognizable directorial identity. He is joined by his constant partner in sets and costumes, Pierre-Andre Weitz.

Giacomo Puccini's "Japanese tragedy," which premiered at Milan's La Scala in 1904, tells the story of fifteen-year-old geisha Cho-Cho-San's fatal love for Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the United States Navy. "The young geisha "Miss Butterfly" was rented for $39 a month by an American officer. Of this, $4 was for the government license that allowed her to be his mistress and access to the public baths, $25 for the residence, and another $10 dollars a maid He enjoyed the comforts of a "marriage" with an expiration date and she had a house and a maid. The officer, leaving for America, promised her that he would return to her when the robin had rebuilt his nest. Instead he left her penniless with a baby in her arms." With this account by his sister who lived in Nagasaki of the true story of the young geisha Cho-Cho-San, author John Luther began writing his short story, which formed the basis for Puccini's play and later opera.

Butterfly does not escape the logic of verism, with its strong confrontations and love for theatrical solutions. So the score chooses with great care the way it invests each moment. The influences of the orchestration from the musical universe of Debussy and Ravel, the special elements from the Japanese musical tradition, the scales, the qualities of chamber music, but also the outbursts with the whole orchestra, give the opera its special pulse, its particular her life.

Music director: Vassilis Christopoulos
Directed by: Olivier Py
Sets – Costumes: Pierre-André Weitz
Lighting: Bertrand Killy
Choir director: Agathangelos Georgakatos

Performed by: Cellia Costea (Cho-Cho Shan), Alisa Kolosova (Suzuki), Andrea Carè (B. F. Pinkerton), Dionysis Sourbis (Sharpless)

With the Orchestra, Choir and Soloists of the National Opera

As part of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival 2023.

When:

JUNE 1, 2023 THURSDAY 21:00
JUNE 4, 2023 SUNDAY 21:00
JUNE 7, 2023 WEDNESDAY 21:00
JUNE 10, 2023 SATURDAY 21:00

Tickets:

Ticket prices: €25, €45, €55, €60, €85, €100
Student, child: €15
Disabled: €15