Opera Idaho’s Madama Butterfly will have two performances at the Velma V. Morrison Performing Arts Center in Boise on Friday, February 16 and Sunday, February 18. Madama Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini is a staple of the operatic repertoire since its first performance in 1904. Although sung in Italian, the story is readily understandable and very moving. The opera, which is based originally on a short story by author John Luther Long, who based that on two other accounts of the events that the opera is based on. The opera tells the story of Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton, only to be abandoned by him. Her loyal servant Suzuki and Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul, do all they can but are unable to avert tragedy.
Vanessa Isiguen, soprano, stars as Cio-Cio-San, a 15-year old geisha in Nagasaki, Japan 
in 1904 who falls in love with an American sailor. Vanessa is a seasoned opera veteran who is making her debut with Opera Idaho. Vanessa is happy to be doing the role, as she told The Boise Beat, “It’s such an emotional roller-coaster. The music, the score, the composition is absolutely stunning. It’s one of my favorite pieces of music. It’s also really fun to see the costumes. It’s just a beautiful piece”. She has played Mimi in La bohème and Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio. This is not Vanessa’s first time as Cio-Cio-San, having portrayed her in the Florida Grand Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly in 2014. She brings a marvelous voice to Opera Idaho’s Madama Butterfly.
Chaz’men Williams-Ali portrays B.F. Pinkerton, the American Naval Lieutenent who marries and then almost immediately deserts Cio-Cio-San, only to return years later with his new American wife. Starting with singing in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, he went on to debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as Pinkerton. Opera Idaho’s Madama Butterfly willl mark his Opera Idaho debut.
Kenneth Overton, baritone, is cast in the role of Sharpless, the American Embassy Consul who does all he can to avert a needless tragedy. He works to do this with Suzuki, Cio-Cio-San’s loyal servant.
The role of Suzuki is played by mezzo-soprano Michele Detwiler, a Boisean who made her Opera Idaho as Siebel in Faust in 2007. she has performed as Suzuki several times before and has had almost a dozen roles in Opera Idaho productions. She has also performed in many musical programs doing works by Mahler, Berlioz, Strauss and many more. Michele said of the opera, “Butterfly is a well-rounded opera. You get to experience different dramatic relationships: being left by a lover, being divorced, being in love, having somebody die … and the music is of course is so amazing. A first-time opera-goer is going to get sucked into the art-form of opera, without even knowing it”.
Madama Butterfly has been a favorite of opera-goes ever since its debut. It has been made into motion pictures many times, starting with early silent movies. Later movies used the melodies and songs from it as a background. Cary Grant even played Pinkerton in a 1932 non-singing version. The movie Fatal Attraction made several references to Madama Butterfly, while the play M. Butterfly did a version of it with a somewhat different attitude towards Butterfly. Finally, Miss Saigon, the hit Broadway musical was based upon the core elements of Madama Butterfly, moving the story to Vietnam and setting it against the backdrop of the VietnamWar.
Dean Williamson is the conductor who is bringing the music of Madama Butterfly to life. He felt this is a great opera for those who might never experienced one, saying “Madama Butterfly is essentially a play set to music. Everything flows at the tempo of the words, the text and the drama. For somebody who’s never been to an opera before, this is an ideal first one, because you feel like you’re watching a play. Everything happens in real time and it’s very little ‘stand and sing’. It’s just so beautiful and exciting, that it will just sweep you on till the very end”. Dean had his Opera Idaho debut in 2000 and has conducted for the New York City Opera in Lincoln Center. He has been nominated in 2015 for an Emmy Award and is currently the Music Director for the Nashville Opera.
This production of Opera Idaho’s Madama Butterfly follows in the path of many stellar performances put on by Opera Idaho in the last 40-some years. By bringing accurate period costumes, beautiful sets and glorious voices to their productions, they have set high standards for opera in Idaho.
Madama Butterfly
Performed by
Friday, February 16, 2018—7:30pm
Sunday, Ferruary 18, 2018—2:30pm
Velma V. Morrison Performing Arts Center
2201 W. Cesar Chavez Lane
Boise, ID 83725
