Speranza Scappucci

Poor Madame Butterfly! The 15-year-old geisha, who has renounced her family and Japanese traditions for the love of an American naval officer, finds herself abandoned in favour of a Western wife.

Puccini’s bittersweet love story returns to cinemas, with soprano Angel Blue starring as the French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess. Maestro Speranza Scappucci conducts Nicolas Joël’s Art Deco–inspired staging, which transports audiences from the heart of Parisian nightlife to a dreamy vision of the French Riviera. Soprano Emily Pogorelc and tenor Bekhzod Davronov complete the sterling cast as Lisette and Prunier.

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and their forbidden love has inspired countless versions, from opera to cinema. Among the most evocative is that by Vincenzo Bellini, one of the most infrequently performed bel canto composers. I Capuleti e i Montecchi returns to La Scala in a new production conducted by Speranza Scappucci and marking the debut of Adrian Noble, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirteen years. The cast features some of the most outstanding contemporary Bellini voices.