150 participants in the semi-staged performance of the famous opera
Final preparations are underway for Friday’s spectacle of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and semi-staged performance of Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly, under the baton of the BPO’s chief-conductor Gabriel Feltz (Friday, June 7, and Sunday, June 9 at Kolarac, 7 PM). Renowned soloists such as Zarina Abaeva, Hyona Kim, Eduardo Aladrén, and Mandla Mndebele will be joined by local talent in supporting roles, as well as the RTS Choir, ballet dancers, and a total production team of nearly 150 participants.
This grandiose Philharmonic jubilee will be crowned by an extravagant production that also intimately tells the tragic story of a mother, wife, and lover. The iconic role of Cio-Cio San will be performed by Zarina Abaeva, a lyric-dramatic soprano who is considered by critics to be one of the most outstanding artists of her generation. The Philharmonic audience and opera enthusiasts will have the opportunity to enjoy for the first time in the performance of an artist who regularly takes the stage at venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Cologne Philharmonic.
Aleksandar Nikolić’s unique direction will once again turn minimum staging conditions into a maximum experience, evoking the atmosphere of early 20th-century Japan. The audience will get in the center of the story as the action and the depiction of the clash between two worlds, East and West, will unfold around them.
Opera is the true art of synthesis – the magical intertwining of music, text, movement, light, darkness, and space. It is a ritual that takes us into a spiritual and emotional trance. With Madam Butterfly, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will offer its audience an experience instead of a performance. In traditional theater productions, we cannot feel the sea over which Pinkerton’s ship sails, we cannot sit in Cio-Cio San’s garden where the Moon Goddess descends, we cannot see the orchestra creating a magical atmosphere, nor can birds fly around us in the Nagasaki harbor. The Beograde Philharmonic Orchestra will provide an experience that is not an attempt at reality, but is more real than reality, the director Aleksandar Nikolić said.
A large team participates in the production of these two musical events, including set designers, pyrotechnic engineers, wardrobe assistants, costume designers, makeup artists, and many others who help make Madam Butterfly a real spectacle worthy of the Philharmonic season’s finale. As the semi-staged performance of Puccini’s masterpiece is in high demand, an additional performance has been added on the program for June 9, with tickets available for purchase at the Belgrade Philharmonic box office and online.
