The National Opera “opens” the events of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival (June 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th) at the Herodes Atticus Conservatory, with a new major production by “Madame Butterfly” by Puccini, musically directed by Vassilis Christopoulos and directed by Olivier Py. Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 5 at 12:00 at the Athens Festival offices and online at aefestival.gr & viva.gr.

Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Japanese tragedy’, which premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1904, tells the story of fifteen-year-old geisha Cho-Cho-Shan’s fatal love for Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the United States Navy.

The leading French director Olivier Py returns to the National Opera after the great success of “Voček” (2020) to direct, this time on the stage of Herodion, Puccini’s masterpiece. Py, who recently took over as artistic director of Paris’ Théâtre Châtelet after a successful nine-year stint as artistic director of the Avignon Festival, has directed over forty operas around the world. Now, at the invitation of the National Opera, he is going to take on “Madama Butterfly” for the first time, bringing the Orchestra to the stage of the Herodeus and presenting the political dimension of Puccini’s work through his own recognizable directorial identity.

“We hope that the power of Puccini’s political message will be seen in the staging and that this absurd work will no longer be seen as a sad sentimental story against a salty backdrop, but a powerful political discourse and the premonition of the death of a world.“, notes the director. The impressive stage installation and costumes are signed by his constant collaborator Pierre-Andre Weitz.

The distinguished tenor Anna Son performs Cho-Cho-Shan, while the role of Pinkerton is held by the distinguished tenor Andrea Carré. Suzuki, the distinguished mezzo-soprano Alisa Kolosova, and Charbles, the excellent baritone of the ELLS, Dionysis Sourbis. With them are the members of the ELS Diamantis Kritsotakis, Yiannis Kalyvas, Haris Andrianos, Petros Magoulas, Petros Salatas, Christos Lazos, Vasiliki Petrogianni, Vagia Kofou and Vicky Athanasiou. With the Orchestra and Choir of the National Opera.

The production is implemented with the support of the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to strengthen the artistic extroversion of the National Opera.