BOSTON LYRIC OPERA OPENS 2012/13 SEASON
WITH AN ALL-NEW PRODUCTION OF
PUCCINI’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY
November 2 – 11, 2012
High resolution photos available on request
(BOSTON – Oct. 3, 2012) Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) opens its 2012/13 Season with a new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Nov. 2 – 11, 2012, starring soprano Yunah Lee in her BLO debut in her signature role of Cio-Cio San. (Press night is Nov. 2. Please reply to this email with requests.) Performances take place at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre (265 Tremont St., Boston) with evening performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 3 p.m. Tickets, starting at $30, are on sale now at blo.org. For more information, call 617-542-6772.
Madama Butterfly, one of Puccini’s most compelling works, fusing soaring musical lyricism with deep psychological and emotional depth, opens the 2012/13 Season on a passionate note with a brand new look at one of the most devastating love stories ever told on the opera stage. Directed by Lillian Groag (Agrippina, 2011; Idomeneo, 2010) and conducted by Andrew Bisantz (Tosca, 2010), the production stars soprano Yunah Lee in her BLO debut as Cio-Cio San, a role for which she has received widespread critical acclaim and which Opera News recently declared her “signature role.” The new BLO production features new scenery by renowned designer John Conklin that evokes a delicately beautiful traditional Japanese setting, in which the tragic tale of love destroyed by a clash of cultures unfolds. A young geisha turns her back on all she has known and experienced and recreates herself in search of a new path, an escape, and a way towards love. She destroys herself in the process. The psychology of Cio-Cio San is shown through scenes of visionary insight and moments of frozen beauty that reveal her obsessions, her delusions, her fragility, and her endless capacity for passion and love. Tenor Dinyar Vania makes his BLO debut as Lieutenant Pinkerton. Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, seen recently in Opera Boston’s Béatrice et Bénédict, makes her debut as Suzuki, while baritone Weston Hurt debuts as Sharpless.
Boston Lyric Opera opens its new season on strong fiscal footing. In June, BLO surpassed its 2011 record for the most contributed funds in its history, with over $5 million raised last fiscal year. Three hundred fifty new donors helped push BLO well over its goal.
Performance Schedule:
Friday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 4, 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 3 p.m.
RELATED EVENT
Signature Series: Broken Blossoms
Explorations on Madama Butterfly
Western artists at the turn of the last century were mesmerized by Japanese culture. Enjoy performances and readings of works by Puccini, Stravinsky, Pound, and the Belasco play that became the opera’s source. Immerse yourself in the beauty, ambiguity, and sometimes disturbing complexities of the Western perception of Japanese aesthetics.
These provocative preludes to the operas in BLO’s season take place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and employ a variety of art forms such as film, visual arts, theater, and music in one imaginative presentation. The Signature Series is enjoyed by opera fans as well as people who are simply curious.
Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, The Museum of Fine Arts
Program at 2 p.m., Remis Auditorium
Reception at 3 p.m., Bravo Restaurant
$18 – BLO subscribers, MFA members, seniors and students
$22 – Non-Members
Add $50 for reception with BLO presenters and performers
To purchase tickets visit the MFA’s website here, or contact Heather Coulter at hcoulter@blo.org or 617-542-4912 x229.
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Upcoming
NEW OPERA ANNEX PRODUCTION
Feb. 6, 7, 9, 10m, 2013
Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, 100 West 2nd Street, Boston
CLEMENCY – North American Premiere
New BLO production
Co-commissioned by BLO, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Scottish Opera; and Britten Sinfonia
Sung in English
Music by James MacMillan │Libretto by Michael Symmons Roberts
Preceded by
HAGAR’S LAMENT
Sung in English
Music by Franz Schubert │Text by Clemens August Schücking ___________________________________________
COSÌ FAN TUTTE
New BLO production
Sung in English with projected titles
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart│Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
March 15, 17m, 20, 22, 24m, 2013
Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
New BLO production
Sung in German with projected English translation
Music and libretto by Richard Wagner, after an episode in Heine’s Memoiren des von Schnabelewopski
April 26, 28m, May 1, 3, 5m, 2013
Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre
Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is New England’s largest opera company. Founded in 1976, BLO is recognized for its artistically excellent productions of a diverse repertoire that entertain and inspire audiences and feature emerging operatic talent. BLO produces four productions each season: three at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Shubert Theatre in Boston and an Opera Annex production in a found space. BLO’s programs are funded, in part, by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. blo.org.