VIDEO: Dallas Opera Returns With MADAME BUTTERFLY, February 18

The Dallas Opera returns to presenting fully staged works after an almost two-year hiatus with its production of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, reminding audiences that grand opera endures. The production, filled with some of the most beautiful operatic music of all time, opens at the Winspear Opera House on Friday, February 18, 2022, at 8:00pm, with subsequent performances on Sunday, February 20 (2pm), Wednesday, February 23 (7:30pm), and Saturday, February 26 (7:30pm).

The distinguished cast of Dallas Opera favorites and debuts includes 2005 "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year" Latonia Moore (Cio-Cio-San), Evan LeRoy Johnson (Lt. B.F. Pinkerton, TDO debut), Kirstin Chávez (Suzuki), Michael Adams (Sharpless, TDO debut), Martin Bakari (Goro, TDO debut), Hyung Yun (Prince Yamadori), and Adam Lau (The Bonze). Music Director Emmanuel Villaume leads The Dallas Opera Orchestra, Laurie Feldman directs, Michael Yeargan is set and costume designer, and Duane Schuler is lighting designer. Alexander Rom, chorus master, leads The Dallas Opera Chorus.

"It's such a joy to to be able to bring fully staged productions back to the Winspear Opera House," said Ian Derrer, The Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO. "We are also eager to share TDO Connections with our audiences and community as we work towards ensuring that these great pieces can be presented in less stereotyped and more inclusive ways. We are grateful to our partners in this collaboration, and look forward to sharing our discoveries."

Introducing TDO Connections

The Dallas Opera acknowledges that the stories we present on our stages have an impact on our audience, staff, artists, and communities. We invite our audiences and communities to join us in exploring the richness of opera as we work to do a better job of telling stories as authentically and respectfully as possible through TDO Connections-our intentional process for human-centered, operatic storytelling designed by Education and Company Culture Manager Quodesia D. Johnson.

Each opera season, The Dallas Opera will explore thematic elements relevant to our communities through select opera productions. Through a collaborative effort, practitioners work closely with our staff and stage directors to align the intention and impact of our storytelling while participating in panel discussions and community conversations for collective learning.

This season, TDO Connections explores representation and Orientalism in opera through Madame Butterfly and The Pearl Fishers in partnership with Asian Opera Alliance. While Asian Opera Alliance was not part of the original process in choosing these productions for the stage, they have been working behind the scenes with our stage directors to make these pieces more respectful. The public facing component will begin in February with a pre-recorded panel discussion with Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, the Asian Opera Alliance, and the Black Opera Alliance, available now on The Dallas Opera website. The production season concludes with a panel discussion with the stage directors, Asian Opera Alliance, and The Dallas Opera team.

In addition, TDO also offers these engaging and informative pre- and post-opera discussions:

• Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talks are interactive 30-minute lectures one hour before the start of each opera held in Margaret McDermott Performance Hall. Admission is free with your ticket to a Dallas Opera performance. Hosted by Hank Hammett, Director of Opera at Meadows School of the Arts (SMU).
  Note: There is no Pre-Opera Talk on Opening Night, February 18, 2022.
• New! Post-Opera Talkbacks will immediately follow the Sunday matinee performances from the stage. These brief and casual Q&A sessions with members of the cast give audiences an opportunity to ask questions about the performance. Hosted by Kristian Roberts, Director of Education at The Dallas Opera.

In Nagasaki, Japan, a young woman, Cio-Cio-San, falls in love with a U.S. Naval Lieutenant, B.F. Pinkerton. For Cio-Cio-San, also known as "Madame Butterfly," their impending marriage is one of longevity and love, but for Pinkerton, she is no more than a woman to pass the days until he finds a "real" American wife. Three years later, Pinkerton has left, and Butterfly continues to wait, holding on hope for her husband's return. Not only has Pinkerton abandoned a wife, but now a child. Cio-Cio-San is thrilled to see that after all this time, her husband's naval ship has finally returned to the harbor. Butterfly prepares to reunite with her love, however it's a woman she sees-Pinkerton's American wife. Filled with grief for what was, Butterfly is asked to give up her child. Quietly agreeing, she regains her composure and retrieves her father's dagger, reading the inscription: "To die with honor when one cannot live with honor." Cio-Cio-San bids her son farewell and stabs herself, dying as Pinkerton's voice is heard outside.

Madame Butterfly

• Program book available here
• Four performances: February 18 (8pm), 20 (2pm), 23 (7:30pm), 26 (7:30pm)
• 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission
• Sung in Italian with English translations projected for each performance.
• Location: Winspear Opera House (2403 Flora St., Dallas, TX)
• Tickets start at $19 and can be purchased online at dallasopera.org or by calling 214.443.1000 (Monday - Friday from 10am - 5pm)
• $15 advance student tickets are available for the Wednesday, February 23 performance of Madame Butterfly.
• $15 student rush tickets are available at the Winspear Opera House 90 minutes prior to any Dallas Opera performance and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
• One valid Student ID required for every two tickets purchased.

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