The Butterfly effect

In 1900, New York theater mogul David Belasco staged a play that later rocked the world of opera. Based on a true story, a handsome US navy officer marries a Japanese girl when he is stationed in Nagasaki but finally abandons her. The play was a huge success.

When it moved on to London, Giacomo Puccini was in the audience. The drama was performed in English and Puccini did not understand much of the dialogue. But he knew a good opera when he saw one.

In 1904, Puccini's Madame Butterfly, adapted from that story, premiered at Milan's La Scala. It wasn't an instant hit, but Puccini reworked the score for a production in Paris two years later and it has since become one of the most popular operas of all time.

Now China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and The Central Conservatory of Music are co-producing a new Madame Butterfly production, which will run at the NCPA's opera hall on May 8, 9 and 10.

"With a heart-rending love story and a brilliant score, Madama Butterfly is one of the most beloved opera classics," says Guo Shuzhen, director of the vocal department of Central Conservatory of Music who serves the artistic director of the production.

Three Chinese sopranos plays Madame Butterfly Cho-Cho-San on three different nights and American opera veteran Gary Burgess directs the production.

"It's very challenging, because most of the productions of Madame Butterfly I directed were in traditional settings. But this setting designed by Dai Yannian is pretty contemporary. It has inspired me to do something new," says Burgess. "I love these singers. The three Cho-Cho-San, two are professional opera singers and one is a student, but all have an impressive performance on the show.

"Honestly, China has many talented singers and I had known it when I came here for the first time some 20 years ago."

Burgess has been a professional musician for the past 40 years. As a tenor, he has performed in most of the major opera houses in the world.

As the director of the Opera Department at the Stage University of New York at Buffalo for 23 years, he conducted and staged more than 60 productions.

He has held the position of musical director of the Bermuda Philharmonic Society since 1998. In January 2003, Burgess received the National Opera Association Legacy Award for his contribution to music and opera.

Young Chinese conductor Li Xincao will take the baton of the Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music to play the opera. "While much of this success is due to the dramatically conceived play, much more is due to Puccini's music. For the sake of local color the composer has introduced a number of genuine Japanese melodies," says Li.

Sopranos Zhu Ailan, Yao Hong and Ke Luwa perform Cho-Cho-San on each of the three shows.

The Spanish tenor Vicente Ombuena Valls sings the navy Pinkerton on the first and third nights while Chinese tenor Xie Tian is Pinkerton on the second night.

(China Daily 05/03/2008 page6)