New York, NY (August 30, 2006) – Academy Award-winning film director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley) returns to his theater roots with a new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, to open the 2006-07 Metropolitan Opera season on September 25, 2006, at 6:30 p.m. At the English National Opera (ENO) last season, the production became the hit of the London opera world, playing to sold-out houses and winning the coveted Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. The Met’s gala opening, conducted by Music Director James Levine, features Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domâs as Cio-Cio-San and Sicilian tenor Marcello Giordani as Pinkerton.
New General Manager Peter Gelb chose Minghella’s highly theatrical staging to usher in his first season as head of the company; it is the Met’s first opening night in twenty years to feature the premiere of a new production. Gelb’s many initiatives to connect the Met to a broader audience include a dramatic increase in the number of new productions: Madama Butterfly is the first of six new stagings in the 2006-07 season, the most the Met has had in a single season in fifteen years.
Minghella makes his Met debut with Puccini’s heart-rending tale of betrayal and colliding cultures, a co-production with the ENO and the Lithuanian National Opera. The creative team includes associate director and choreographer Carolyn Choa, Minghella’s wife, whose work has encompassed extensive experience with classical dance and movement. International fashion designer Han Feng, noted for her distinctive flair for color and texture, creates the costumes for her first theatrical production, while set designer Michael Levine, who designed the Met’s productions of Eugene Onegin and Mefistofele, makes unique use of mirrors, sliding shoji screens, and a lacquered floor to create the stark dramatic framework. Also making his Met debut is distinguished British lighting designer Peter Mumford. The production incorporates elements of Japanese theater, principally Bunraku-inspired puppets by Blind Summit Theatre, an avant-garde troupe based in London. The puppet representing Cio-Cio-San’s young son is one of the production’s most notable and unusual elements.
The Opening Night gala marks Maestro Levine’s first complete Met performance of this repertory standard, and conductor Asher Fisch takes over the baton for subsequent performances. Gallardo-Domâs’s critically-acclaimed interpretation of the tragic title heroine has been seen at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, where it won her the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in 2004. Joining her and Mr. Giordani, for whom Pinkerton will be the twelfth leading role at the Met, are American baritone Dwayne Croft as Sharpless and American mezzo-soprano Maria Zifchak as Suzuki.
For a complete release about Opening Night gala activities, please contact the Met press office.
Madama Butterfly
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica after the play by David Belasco
Performances
Monday, Sept. 25, 6:30 pm
Saturday, Sept. 30, 1:30 pm
Thursday, Oct. 5, 8 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Oct. 21, 8 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 7:30 pm
Friday, Oct. 27, 8:00 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 8:00 pm
Saturday, Nov. 4, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 8:00 pm
Saturday, Nov. 11, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 15, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Nov. 18, 8 pm
Conductor: James Levine (Sept. 25)/Asher Fisch
Production: Anthony Minghella*
Associate Director/Choreographer: Carolyn Choa*
Set Designer: Michael Levine
Costume Designer: Han Feng*
Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford*
Puppetry: Blind Summit Theatre*, Mark Down and Nick Barnes
Cio-Cio-San: Cristina Gallardo-Domâs
Suzuki: Maria Zifchak
Pinkerton: Marcello Giordani
Sharpless: Dwayne Croft
Goro: Greg Fedderly
Bonze: James Courtney
Kate Pinkerton: Edyta Kulczak
Yamadori: David Won
Commissioner: Keith Miller*
Registrar: Craig Montgomery
Cio-Cio-San’s child: Mark Down, Nick Barnes, Finn Caldwell
Production is made possibly by a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass.
Co-production with the English National Opera and the Lithuanian National Opera.
*Met debut
For prices and ticket information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit www.metopera.org.
Other Highlights of the Met’s 2006-07 Season
The world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor takes place on December 21, 2006, directed by Zhang Yimou, with the composer conducting and Plácido Domingo in the title role. Four more new productions feature Met directorial debuts: Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Peter Mattei with Maurizio Benini conducting and Bartlett Sher directing his creative team from the acclaimed musical The Light in the Piazza; Puccini’s Il Trittico starring Maria Guleghina, Salvatore Licitra, Juan Pons, Barbara Frittoli, Stephanie Blythe, Olga Mykytenko, Massimo Giordano, and Alessandro Corbelli with Maestro Levine conducting and Jack O’Brien directing; Strauss’s Die Ägyptische Helena starring Deborah Voigt with Fabio Luisi conducting and David Fielding directing; and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice starring David Daniels and Lisa Milne with Maestro Levine conducting and Mark Morris directing. An abridged, English-language version of Julie Taymor’s hit production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute inaugurates a new annual series of winter holiday family entertainment beginning December 29.
Under the leadership of new General Manager Peter Gelb, the Met has launched many initiatives to connect the company with a larger audience. They include: a free Open House event on September 22 that will offer the general public an opportunity to attend the final dress rehearsal of Madama Butterfly and enjoy a full day of events and exhibits in the opera house; new $15 tickets (formerly $26) to the Family Circle section; the new Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met to exhibit contemporary art; plans for dramatically increased media distribution of Met performances, such as live high-definition audio-visual transmissions to movie theaters; a greater commitment to presenting more contemporary opera; a groundbreaking commissioning program in partnership with the Lincoln Center Theater that provides renowned composers and playwrights the resources to create and develop new works at the Met and Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater; and dynamic new content on the web site, the house program, and the radio broadcasts.