Madama Butterfly

Collaboration with : La Monnaie / De Munt Opera in Brussels, Kirsten Delholm ( Hotel Pro Forma ) & Ulrike Quade Company - a choreography for 12 dancers

As a choreographer, Kenzo has been invited by Royal Opera Theatre de La Monnaie ( Koninklijk Schouwburg De Munt ) in Brussels / Belguim and Kirsten Delholm ( the artistic director of Hotel Pro Forma ), to collaborate and make choreographies for 12 dancers for Puccini’s classic and beloved opera MADAMA BUTTERFLY, under the direction of the prominent Danish artist Kirsten Delholm ( who has been the founder and artistic director of the renowned transdisciplinary visual performance collective Hotel Pro Forma, based in Copenhagen Denmark since 1985~ ).

Together with Kenzo Kusuda as a collaborating choreographer, very powerful Amsterdam-based puppet-theater company ULRIKE QUADE COMPANY ( directed by Ulrike Quade ) is as well in this very exciting creation team of Kirsten Delholm’s brand-new take for MADAMA BUTTERFLY at La Monnaie / De Munt Opera in Brussels.

La Monnaie / De Munt Opera MADAMA BUTTERFLY will be having its world-premiere on Tuesday 31st January 2017, then 11 shows will be performed until 14th February 2017 at Palais de La Monnaie ( Tour & Taxis ) in Brussels.

SHE FLUTTERS BRIEFLY / UP TO AN UNRULY FLAME / ON INTO THE DARK

If I am not moved, if the libretto does not touch my heart...then it’s not for me. Puccini knew what he was looking for in an opera libretto...and the fact that the story of a delicate Japanese ‘butterfly’ moved him deeply is apparent in every note of the score. The young geisha Cio-Cio-San has been waiting for years for the return of her American ‘husband’, the naval officer Pinkerton. When she finally grasps the truth, her fate is sealed and she takes the action that her code of honour imposes. Madama Butterfly marked a new phase in Puccini’s development, in which he enriched his musical palette with the exoticism of the Far East. The fact that his direct emotionality contains a universal dimension is clear from the lasting worldwide popularity of this work. Hotel Pro Forma, known to us for their performance of Rachmaninov Troika in 2015, brings East and West together in a theatrical ritual for our time. Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, a master of the Italian repertoire, makes his La Monnaie debute.

Madama Butterfly

conductor: Roberti Rizzi Brignoli / Bassem Akiki | director: Kirsten Deholm ( Hotel Pro Forma ) | co-director: Jon R. Skulburg | collaboration staging: Marie Lambert | set design: Maja Ziska | costume: Henrik Vibskov | lighting: Jesper Kongshaug | dramaturgy: Krystian Lada | collaboration choreography: Kenzo Kusuda | collaboration puppets: Ulrike Quade | chorus master: Martino Faggiani

Cio-Cio-San: Alexia Voulgaridou, Amanda Echalaz | Suzuki : Ning Liang / Quilin Zhang | Kate Pinkerton : Marta Beretta | F. B. Pinkerton : Marcelo Puente / Leonard Caimi | Sharpless : Aris Argiris | Goro : Riccardo Botta | Il Principe Yamadori : Aldo Heo | Lo zio Bonzo : Mikhail Kolelishvili | Il commisario / L’ufficiale : Waird Witholt | Yakuside : René Laryea | Madre di Cio-Cio-San : Birgitte Bønding | Zia di Cio-Cio-San : Rosa Brandoa | Cugina di Cio-Cio-San : Adrienne Visser

puppeteers : Suze van Miltenburg, Tim Hammer, Joris de Jong, Ruben Madulier (Ulrike Quade company)

dancers : Hippolyte Bohouo, Johann Fourriere, Ghislain Grellier, Maya Kawatake Pinon, Barthelemy Manias-Melaye, Gabriel Molina, Rosandra Nicoletti, Marion Rhety, Sophy Ribrault, Maude Rieder, Christine Sollie, Paula Isiegas

La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

produced by : La Monnaie / De Munt co-produced by : Ulrike Quade Company with the support of : Belfius

websites: lamonnaie.be and hotelproforma.dk and ulrikequade.nl

photography: © Baus

* note: The name of photographer is also mentioned in the jpeg title for each picture.