Enrico Cossutta

The story of Cio-Cio-San, called Butterfly, a young Nagasaki geisha who, abandoned by her American lover after giving birth to their son, ultimately kills herself, continues to impress audiences today. In this outstandingly authentic and elegant production from the Sferisterio Opera Festival, Puccini's highly emotional music is expertly delivered. The superior cast is headed by Raffaella Angeletti, "certainly one of the best Butterflies of our time" (ForumOpera.com), who has performed this role in many Italian theatres, as well as in Madrid and at the Vienna Staatsoper.

Puccini’s La fanciulla del West opened the 2017/18 opera season at Naples’ Teatro di San Carlo, returning to the theatre after more than four decades. Set in the California Gold Rush, this Western drama follows Minnie, the resourceful owner of a miners’ saloon, whose love for the mysterious Dick Johnson challenges the authority of Sheriff Jack Rance. The new production, directed and designed by Hugo De Ana, combines expansive stage scenery and atmospheric lighting to evoke the rugged world of the American frontier. Juraj Valčuha conducts the Teatro di San Carlo Orchestra and Chorus, with Emily Magee as Minnie, Roberto Aronica as Dick Johnson and Claudio Sgura as Jack Rance.

Live from La Scala Saturday 07 July 2007. In this live performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Violetta, a courtesan much wooed by Parisian society, organises a grand party that is attended, amongst others, by the young Alfredo Germont. He confesses his feelings to Violetta, who is already suffering from consumption. She vacillates between genuine affection and a realistic assessment of her situation as a "fallen woman", which precludes any lasting relationship with a man.