Madama Butterfly The Met (1994)

With CioCioSan the young Japanese geisha at the heart of his Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini created one of the most commanding soprano roles in the operatic repertoire In this telecast from the Live from Met series acclaimed American soprano Catherine Malfitano rises to the challenges traversing a wide emotional range and delivering a vocal performance that is as dramatic as it is beautiful Tenor Richard Leech is Lt Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton the callous American sailor who takes advantage of CioCioSans trusting naiveté with baritone Dwayne Croft as the stern yet compassionate US consul Sharpless Daniele Gatti takes the podium to conduct Giancarlo Del Monacos production with its picturesque depiction of turnofthecentury Japan