Arts & Events

Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian, who made such a sensational debut here in 2014 as Tosca, returned to San Francisco Opera for ten performances November 6-December 4 as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Haroutounian has been hailed by Opera Today as “one of the major voices of our time,” and her interpretations of Puccini’s soprano roles are already considered benchmarks. Haroutounian’s Cio-Cio-San at the November 15 performance I attended was incandescent, both vocally and dramatically. Haroutounian sings with perfect pitch, precise diction, an exquisite sense of dynamics, and luscious lyricism. Her soprano voice is voluptuous in the lower register and scintillating in the upper register, with no break whatsoever between the chest tones and head tones. Dramatically, she portrays both the delicacy and vulnerability of her Butterfly character and the power and pathos of Butterfly’s love for the American sailor Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. This interpretation, with its acknowledgment of vulnerabilty, sets Haroutounian’s Cio-Cio-San somewhat apart from the Patricia Racette version of this role that has reigned here from 2006 to the present, for Racette, who sang beautifully, emphasized the steely and unyielding quality of Cio-Cio-San from beginning to end, whereas Haroutounian traces the changing trajectory of her character from vulnerability in Act I to steely albeit desperate resolve in Act II. 

In the role of Pinkerton, Neapolitan tenor Vincenzo Costanzo made his USA debut, and although he has a pleasant voice with a soft timbre, Costanzo’s Pinkerton was simply not in the same class with Horoutounian’s Cio-Cio-San. Moreover, Costanzo’s voice was frequently smothered under Yves Abel’s overly loud conducting of the orchestra. Pinkertons’s Act I aria “Dovunque al mondo, lo Yankee vagabondo” lost much of its usual swagger due to Costanzo’s inability to vocally rise above the orchestra. In fact, Costanzo was by no means the only singer whose voice often got smothered in this production, for other victims of Abel’s conducting were tenor Julius Ahn as Goro and baritone Anthony Clark Evans as Sharpless, the American consul in Nagasaki, Japan, where Madama Butterfly is set. When Evans’ voice was not overwhelmed by the orchestra, he was a superb Consul Sharpless, ever-sensitive to the innocence and vulnerability of Cio-Cio-San. Mezzo-soprano Zanda Švėde managed to hold her own as the faithful servant Suzuki, singing especially well in Act II’s famous “flower duet” as she and Cio-Cio-San decked the house with flowers in preparation for Pinkerton’s expected return after a 3-year absence.  

This production of Madama Butterfly reprised Jun Kuneko’s colorful staging of this opera from the 2014 season, and it held up well. In fact, in the interim, Director Leslie Swackhamer has refined the staging, especially where the figures in black are concerned. These black-clad figures wear boxes on their heads; and this, as I noted in these pages in my review of June 27, 2014, was a puzzling and distracting element in the 2014 staging, especially when they were seen to crawl menacingly outside the house during the night vigil in Act II when Cio-Cio-San, her young son, and Suzuki await the expected return of Pinkerton. For this current revival, Swackhamer eliminated the ominous night vigil action by the black-clad figures, and she relegated them to the role of solemn, ritualized stagehands reminiscent of the kurogo figures in Kabuki and Noh dramas. Though they still inexplicably sported box-heads, their reduced and redefined role constituted a major improvement in the staging of Kuneto’s Madama Butterfly. 

Where vocal highlights are concerned, it was all Haroutounian. The famous love duet in Act I, though beautifully sung was not up to its usual excellence because of the imbalance between Haroutounian’s sumptuous voice and Constanzo’s weaker, more tentative voice. However, nothing could detract from Haroutounian’s gorgeous delivery of Madama Butterfly’s most famous number, Act II’s “Un bel di vedremo,” in which Cio-Cio-San vividly pictures the expected return of her husband. This was singing of the highest caliber.  

In minor roles, bass Raymond Aceto was a powerful, forbidding Bonze; tenor Edward Nelson was an able, albeit frustrated Prince Yamadori; bass-baritone Matthew Stump was an effective Imperial Commissioner; and baritone Jere Torkelsen was more than adequate as the Official Registrar. Finally, Adler Fellow Julie Adams did not have much opportunity to sing as Kate Pinkerton, but she filled the role with grace and winning humility. Ian Robertson’s Chorus made the most of its opportunities, and Choreographer Melissa Noble did a fine job in presenting the arrival of the bridal party at the wedding ceremony of Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton. Madama Butterfly continues with the same cast through December 4, although Jordi Bernàcer will replace Yves Abel as Conductor for the final performance on December 4.