For the next few months I’ll be keeping an eye on the activities of our cast for Cosi fan Tutte before they arrive in Madison.
Mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier, our Dorabella in Cosi, just finished up a run of Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann with Boston Lyric Opera, where she’s garnered some really wonderful reviews for her portrayal of La Muse and Nicklausse:
Michèle Losier impressed with her consistently warm and lustrous tone as La Muse and Nicklausse. -The Boston Globe
…mezzo Michèle Losier nearly steals the show… -The Boston Herald
Up next for Michèle is a concert in Belgium and then Beethoven’s 9th with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, followed by her run here in Madison!
Butterfly has come and gone, and now it’s time to start thinking of Cosi fan Tutte, our next production on March 13 & 15. In the meantime, I thought I should take a minute to point out the rave reviews Madison Opera’s Artistic Director John DeMain has been getting for his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut with Porgy and Bess. The Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein raves:
Not the least of the show’s strengths is the conducting of John DeMain. His easy authority tells in every bluesy turn of phrase, in the smooth melding of stage and pit. What a luxury it is to hear George Gershwin‘s great score so sumptuously played by full orchestra.
Read more reviews here:
Congratulations are due to Maestro DeMain, “the definitive ‘Porgy and Bess’ maestro.” Performances run until December 19; more information can be found on the Lyric website.
Maria Kanyova as Cio-Cio-San. (Credit: Jamie Young)
…the wonder and simple beauty of Jun Kaneko’s production of
Madama Butterfly. I’ll be posting more next week, but in the meantime, you should take a look at
these photos of the production by
Joyce DiDonato.
A crowd gathers to watch the
koto player Satoko Someya before Sunday’s performance of
Madama Butterfly.
The crowds turned up at the box-office on Sunday, including many students, who made up 12% of the weekend’s audience.
After the performance was “A Taste of Puccini” on the Capitol Theater stage, a celebration of our opening weekend, Puccini’s 150th birthday, and our guest of honor Dr. James F. Crow.
Happy Birthday, Giacomo!
Roth Judd, President of the Board of Trustees, welcomes guests to “A Taste of Puccini” (in Japanese and Italian).
Madama Butterfly designer and renowned artist Jun Kaneko speaks to art students at Madison West High School
Koto player Satoko Someya performs in the Overture Center lobby before the opera against a backdrop of butterflies created by local children for the Community Butterfly Drive
Lobby at intermission
Post-opera party and reception; General Director Allan Naplan calls up the cast
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Van Eyck (Kate Pinkerton), mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson (Suzuki), Maestro Leonardo Vordoni, pianist Yasuko Oura, and Maestro Vordoni’s wife, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, at the post-opera reception
Madison Opera administrative staff at the reception
For the next few months I’ll be keeping an eye on the activities of our cast for Cosi fan Tutte before they arrive in Madison. 
