Palermo (gro) Italy’s largest opera house is opening its 2016/17 season with a radical repositioning of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.” Nicola Berloffa, the director, has moved the action to the post-World War II era, to a Japan occupied by U.S. Americans. The occupiers from across the Pacific are brutal, the Teatro Massimo in Piazza Verdi becomes a house of girl trafficking, run by American military. Premiere is next Friday, September 16, at 8:30 pm (dress rehearsal on tonight, Wednesday). The “Butterfly” is embodied by the great Chinese soprano Hui He.
Piazza Verdi becomes a meeting place for three evenings.
Not only the premiere on Friday, but also the two following performances on Saturday and Sunday, will be broadcast on a giant screen in front of the Massimo (Image: Wiki Commons), so that not only the visitors of the long sold out first performances get to enjoy the “Butterfly”, but many more opera lovers of the island capital. To keep the rush at least a little in check, the outside visitors of the opera spectacle will be charged a contribution towards expenses in the amount of 1 euro. In any case, the piazza Verdi will be the meeting place of the city for three evenings.
Leoluca Orlando speaks to the opera friends.
The Teatro Massimo ensemble dedicates the performance to Daniela Dessì, the soprano who was acclaimed for her interpretation of “Butterfly” in Palermo four years ago. Daniela Dessì recently succumbed to cancer on August 20 at the age of only 59. Leoluca Orlando, Mayor of Palermo, will remember the great singer and actress and as President of the Teatro Massimo Foundation will draw attention to the fact that the “Massimo”, its ensemble, its musicians and artists are among the important resources from which the cultural prestige of the city of Palermo is fed.