East meets West with devastating consequences in Puccini’s tragic romance.

When an innocent young Geisha (Olga Busoic) meets and American naval officer, she falls instantly and deeply in love. Giving up her family and her faith, she risks all in marriage to the dashing Lieutenant Pinkerton (Joshua Guerrero) – but her fragile happiness cannot last. Soon love turns to abandonment and betrayal, and Butterfly is forced to make one final, agonising sacrifice.

Bursting with exotic colour and memorable melodies, Puccini’s seductive score conceals a dramatic blade that cuts to the heart. Compressing ‘great grief into small souls’, as the composer himself described it, Madama Butterfly is a classic love story that never fails to move, a tragic romance that sweeps you along in the intensity of its action. Blending authentic Japanese music with luscious European harmonies and orchestration, the opera is an irresistible fusion of East and West.

Puccini’s opera makes its Festival debut in Annilese Miskimmon’s thought-provoking production that updates the original turn-of-the-century setting to the 1950s, confronting the darker political and emotional currents of a work that acknowledges that there are some barriers too great for even love to conquer.

“Annilese Miskommon’s breath-taking Madama Butterfly… the most sensitive and satisfying retelling” – The Independent ★★★★

“…subtlety of detail combined with striking performances allows the drama fully to hit home.” – The Guardian ★★★★

“It's easy to get sucked into the sentimentality of Madama Butterfly. Puccini's luscious score, infused with Japanese pastel colours, showers the audience in orchestral cherry blossom and the story of Cio-Cio-San's blind devotion to the man who's abandoned her is a real tear-jerker. But the plot is deeply troubling and Annilese Miskimmon, in Glyndebourne Festival Opera's first production, doesn't pull her punches.” – Bachtrack

“At the heart of it is a very fine interpretation of the title-role by the Moldovan soprano Olga Busuioc” – The Telegraph ★★★★

“Olga Busuioc brings gravitas to Butterfly from the first moment – serious and thoughtful, never a fragile flower… the London Philharmonic sounds glorious.” – The Stage ★★★★

Extra features: Madama Butterfly: Metamorphosis

Cast:
- Cio-Cio San: Olga Busuioc
- Pinkerton: Joshua Guerrero
- Sharpless: Michael Sumuel
- Goro: Carlo Bosi
- Suzuki: Elizabeth DeShong
Director: Annilese Miskimmon
Designer: Nicky Shaw

Duration: approx. 140 minutes
Audio: LPCM 2.0 & DTS Digital Surround 5.1
Original language: Italian
Subtitles: Eng, Fr, De, Jap, Kor