Madama Butterfly – Giacomo Puccini Programme – Season 2020/21

Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is a milestone work for the Greek National Opera, as it is the first opera ever staged by it as a newly-founded organization, on 25 October 1940, three days prior to the declaration of the Greco-Italian war. That historic premiere, held on the National Theatre’s main stage, was attended by the composer’s son, Antonio Puccini, and the Italian Ambassador in Athens Emanuele Grazzi, who, a few hours later, would deliver to the Greek government the Italian ultimatum threatening war.

In year 2020, which marked the 80th anniversary of the Greek National Opera, Butterfly returned to the GNO’s new home, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, not only to celebrate the anniversary, but also to signal the GNO’s return to action after the pandemic, and to show that art and culture not only survive in the most adverse conditions, but also constitute the driving force for man and society.

Famous for its wonderful arias, strikingly melodic music and dramatic theatricality, Madama Butterfly offers timeless emotion and triggers intense feelings. Puccini does not hesitate to describe it as his favorite opera, and through his later modifications he makes his heroine’s alabaster figure a symbol of inexhaustible patience and eternal, constant love.
The direction, sets and costumes of the production, which premiered in 2013 at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and is now revived in a new version tailored to the stage of the Stavros Niarchos Hall, bear the stamp of famous Argentinian director Huge de Ana.