Cincinnati Opera Presents 'Madame Butterfly'

June 11th 2008

Wednesday, 7:30 PM

Cincinnati Opera will open its 88th season with Puccini's Madame Butterfly, one of the most popular Italian operas. Based on the play Madame Butterfly by David Belasco, dramatizing a true incident, the gorgeous score and tragic story of love and betrayal have captured the hearts of audiences around the world. Madame Butterfly remains one of the most frequently performed operas; it was last presented by Cincinnati Opera in 2001.

Chinese soprano, Liping Zhang brings her "pure, lustrous lyric tone" (Opera News) to her Cincinnati Opera debut in the role of Cio-Cio-San. Ms. Zhang has gained international attention for her portrayal of Cio-Cio-San, which she has sung in the most prestigious opera houses of the world. Frank Lopardo returns with his "effortless, virile, Italianate sound and seamless acting ability" (Cincinnati Enquirer) to sing the role of Pinkerton, following a stellar performance as the womanizing Duke in Rigoletto (2005).

Baritone John Hancock, "an intelligent singer who's made a commanding impression" (The New Yorker), debuts in Cincinnati in the role of Sharpless. Also debuting is Japanese mezzo-soprano Mika Shigematsu, singing the role of Suzuki. Returning to Cincinnati after clever performances as the four servants in The Tales of Hoffmann (2006) is American character tenor Steven Cole singing the role of Goro.

Cincinnati favorite Edoardo Müller, who "led with a sure hand and straddled the worlds of light and dark impressively" (Cincinnati Enquirer) during A Masked Ball (2006), will conduct.