Lawrence Renes

An opera in a prologue and two acts by John Adams, with a libretto by Alice Goodman, inspired by the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Conducted by Lawrence Renes, directed and designed by Luca Guadagnino. A new production by the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

The European premiere of the opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars, in a co-production of the San Francisco Opera (where the work premiered), the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and De Nederlandse Opera. The plot focuses on the great stress and anxiety experienced by those at Los Alamos while the test of the first atomic bomb (the "Trinity" test) was being prepared.

A guileless Japanese girl gives up everything to marry a lieutenant in the US Navy. But when he suddenly leaves the country, she is determined to wait patiently until he sails back into harbour. The last of Puccini’s ‘big three’ operas, Madama Butterfly is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian sings the title role in this colourful production from the Royal Swedish Opera set amongst the glitz and kitsch of postwar Japan.