When in the mid-19th Century, the American fleet had forced the opening of Japanese ports, the influence of Japanese culture started to spread into the Western world – and soon plots of operas and operettas were set in this country yet to be discovered.

»Madama Butterfly« is based on an novella that allegedly depicts a true story: Lieutenant Pinkerton has fell in love with geisha Cio-Cio-San, called Madama Butterfly, and wanted to marry her according to Japanese custom. Such a connection, however, can be repealed in America any time. Butterfly loves Pinkerton and gets pregnant with his child. She waits in vain for years for the return of the lieutenant, who has already married an American back home. When Pinkerton eventually returns to Japan to collect his child, Butterfly stabs herself to death.

Puccini describes the exoticism of the milieu with sophisticated instrumentation and with outstanding sound colors that make this work – premiered in 1904 – one of the most popular and most touching stories in the operatic world. Eike Gramss' staging carefully shows the clash between two cultures in a dazzling Japanese world. read less