Madama Butterfly

Tragedy as a masterpiece of opera – "Madama Butterfly" touches the heart as an intense opera chamber play.

Giacomo Puccini had a unique ability to express realistic emotions. Inspired by his curiosity about all things exotic and driven by his fine sense of human nature, he wrote an opera of immortal beauty.

In this slightly shortened version, the masterpiece is performed as the composer Giacomo Puccini himself originally presented it, with piano accompaniment – directly and intensely before the audience. A powerful, unforgettable experience.

As Austria's smallest opera theater, Opera in the Crypt impresses with its directness and quality. The ensemble represents authentic, honest opera theater, with the guarantee that the piece will be recognized.

The crypt is comfortably temperate throughout the year.

Plot:
Pinkerton, an American lieutenant, enters into a marriage with the young geisha Cio-Cio-San during his leave in Japan, a marriage he can annul at any time, while her love for him is sincere. The consul Sharpless warns Pinkerton about plunging the girl into misfortune. She changes her religion for him and is cursed by her family for it. Only her newlywed husband remains her support.

Three years have passed since Pinkerton's return to his homeland. However, Cio-Cio-San still waits faithfully and patiently for him in her small house. Sharpless visits her to read her Pinkerton's letter, in which he announces that he has married an American woman and plans to visit Japan with her. Horrified, Cio-Cio-San presents their child, whom no one knew about. A cannon shot announces the arrival of Pinkerton's ship. Full of anticipation and hoping that her husband will find his way back to her, she and her servant Suzuki decorate the little house with flowers. She waits all night for her lover.

The next morning, Pinkerton hesitantly arrives with Sharpless. When Suzuki calls Cio-Cio-San, she discovers his American wife and learns that they have only come to adopt their child, as Sharpless had already informed him. Pinkerton is too cowardly to face his temporary wife. When Cio-Cio-San sees the foreign woman, she realizes the terrible truth. She agrees to hand the child over to his father and says an emotional farewell to her little one. With her father's dagger, upon which are engraved the words "Die honorably, who can no longer live in honor," she takes her own life.

Program and cast

Cio-Cio-San: Maria Kahry
Suzuki: Eli Our
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton: Sergio Tallo-Torres
Sharpless: Florian Pejrimovsky

Musical Direction – Ekaterina Nokkert