Irish Soprano Celine Byrne Steps into MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Opera Ballet Flanders

World renowned Irish soprano Celine Byrne will take over the role of Cio-Cio-San from Elena Guseva.

Opera Ballet Flanders opens the new 2024-2025 season with one of the most popular opera titles ever: Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini in a new production directed by Argentine theatre maker Mariano Pensotti.

Mariano Pensotti is hardly an unknown name in the international theatre world and a regular guest at important festivals such as Ruhrtriennale, Festival Automne or Kunstenfestivaldesarts. He will be a guest at DESINGEL in Antwerp in January with his new performance La Obra

Madama Butterfly however, is the first repertory opera he will direct together with his regular scenographer and costume designer Mariana Tirantte.

They strip Cio-Cio-San's tragic love story of its exotic anecdotal aspects and focus on the theme of identity. After all, Cio-Cio-San gives up everything to become an American woman, and thus becomes a distorted reflection of herself.

Their approach provides a completley new view of the figure of Cio-Cio-San that is fully in line with a young generation looking for their place in a rapidly changing world. Parallel to the libretto, they tell the story of Maiko Nakamura, a contemporary reflection of Cio-Cio-San.

Maestro Daniela Candillari leads the internationally acclaimed Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Chorus and Symphony Orchestra. The Irish soprano Celine Byrne and the Albanian-Belgian Ana Naqe alternate as Cio-Cio-San. The Romanian tenor Ovidiu Purcel and his Polish colleague Łukasz Załęski perform the role of Pinkerton. The young Belgian mezzo-soprano Lotte Verstaen will be back on our stages as Suzuki. Another well-known singer in our house is German-Italian baritone Vincenzo Neri whom will play Sharpless. Finally, the Swedish Mathilda Sidén Silfver is Kate Pinkerton.

General director Jan Raes and artistic director Jan Vandenhouwe cordially invite you to the premiere Sunday 8 September at 3 pm at Opera Antwerp or the premiere on Friday 4 October at 7.30pm at Opera Ghent. 

The audience can choose from no fewer than fifteen performances, but you'll want to be quick to book tickets. Madama Butterfly is the opera that everyone should experience at least once. Did you also enjoy the Madama Butterfly scene in the second season of White Lotus? Now anyone who has never been to the opera can experience their own Tanya moment.

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