Name: Madama Butterfly
Start: 2017-01-06T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2017-01-08T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Lewis Auditorium

Organization

Conductor

Curtis Tucker

Stage director

Helena Binder

Singer

Soprano

Shannon Kessler Dooley

Cio-Cio-San

Mezzo-soprano

Lisa Lockhart

Suzuki

First Coast Opera

Italian

Madama Butterfly -  (Madame Butterfly)

St. Augustine

United States

Lewis Auditorium

Madama Butterfly Puccini

Public

Madame Butterfly

English

Approved

First Coast Opera to Produce
Italian Favorite, Madama Butterfly
January 6 and 8, 2017

Saint Augustine, FL. Saint Augustine-based First Coast Opera (FCO), northeast Florida’s only professional opera company continues its 2016-17 season with a fully-staged production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, one of the world’s most popular operas. The production, featuring professional cast and orchestra, will be performed at Lewis Auditorium on the campus of Flagler College in downtown Saint Augustine on January 6 and 8, 2017.

In this opera of interwoven cultures, set in Nagasaki, Japan in 1900, an American soldier weds a young Japanese girl. Though shunned by her family, Madame Butterfly fully embraces her new relationship and culture. But the American takes it all less seriously and marries a “real” bride back home in the United States. When the soldier later returns to Japan and realizes the seriousness of his earlier mistake, the opera ends tragically as the former geisha accepts the tragic fate her culture demands.

Soprano Shannon Kessler Dooley sings the title role. She last appeared with FCO last November in Opera Paris. The North Carolina resident has sung with Pittsburgh Opera and the Spoleto Festival. Her American suitor, Lieutenant Pinkerton, will be sung by tenor Josh Kohl, making his company debut. Recent appearances for the Connecticut resident include Seattle Opera and Sarasota Opera. Baritone Cory Schantz, also returning from last season’s Opera Paris, sings the role of American Consul Sharpless. He coordinates the opera program at Reinhardt University in Georgia, where he has also sung with Atlanta Opera. International opera singer and Saint Augustine resident Lisa Lockhart makes her company debut in the role of Suzuki. Vermont-based Helena Binder will direct the production conducted by FCO Artistic Director Curtis Tucker.

Important audience enhancements include projected English translations for the opera sung in Italian, and the addition of a matinee performance on Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 2:00pm, to go along with a Friday evening performance, January 6, 2017 at 7:30pm.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast