ARTE Opera Season - The European opera season

Gustave Charpentier: Louise
Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
Gustave Charpentier: Louise
Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
Directed by Christof Loy, a new reading of Gustave Charpentier’s opera with soprano Elsa Dreisig performing in the title role.
171 min
Concert
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Jean-Philippe Rameau: Platée
Czech National Theatre, Prague
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Platée
Czech National Theatre, Prague
A staged wedding to assuage the jealousy of the goddess Juno: Rameau's Platée in a new production at the Czech State Opera
114 min
Concert
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Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
Teatro Real, Madrid
Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
Teatro Real, Madrid
Maria Stuarda by Donizetti conducted by José Miguel Pérez-Sierra and directed by David McVicar.
142 min
Concert
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Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2024
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Leevi Madetoja: The Ostrobothnians
Finnish National Opera Helsinki
Leevi Madetoja: The Ostrobothnians
Finnish National Opera Helsinki
A tale of love, murder and oppression – Finland's national opera turns 100!
129 min
Concert
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Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2024

140 min

Available until 11/01/2027

Seduced by a visiting American soldier, the geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama Butterfly, awaits his return... In a production by Andrea Breth and under the musical direction of Daniele Rustioni, the Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho brings Puccini's Japanese tragedy to life at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence.

Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. The American naval lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton stops in Nagasaki. In the traditional Japanese house where he rents a room, he meets Cio-Cio-San, a young 15-year-old geisha known as "Madama Butterfly", whom he quickly marries. Three years have passed. Pinkerton has returned to the United States and Cio-Cio-San, who has remained faithful to him, has given birth to their son. She anxiously awaits his return...

A tragic destiny

When it premiered at La Scala in Milan on 17 February 1904, Giacomo Puccini’s "Japanese tragedy” — he had never set foot on the Japanese archipelago but had done extensive research after being inspired by David Belasco's play — was such a fiasco that it was immediately withdrawn from the programme. Reworked several times by the Italian composer, who refused to have it performed at La Scala during his lifetime, Madama Butterfly is now one of his most performed operas in the world. After adding Tosca to its repertoire in 2019, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence will mark the centenary of Puccini's death in 2024 with this new production, directed by Andrea Breth, a leading figure on the German-speaking stage, and conducted by Italian maestro Daniele Rustioni, music director of the Opéra de Lyon. Following her triumphant performance in the title role at the Paris Opera in 2015, the Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho reprises it here, setting a high standard with her masterful juxtaposition of tenderness and bravery, right up to the heroine's final sacrifice.

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