The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
Harp & voice
Free spirit and Guadalajara native Luis Ku, a popular trova singer and harpist, celebrates his long musical career and presents his latest album, “Dejando Huella,” along with invited guest Paco Padilla.
The University of Guadalajara’s Museo de las Artes (MUSA) is currently showing “Retroverso,” an exhibit of watercolors, object art, drawings, photographs and paintings representing the six-decade career of Sergio Zepeda, one of Jalisco’s most recognized artists and architects.
On July 9, 12 and 15 at the Santander Complex, at the University Cultural Center, Madama Butterfly by Puccini, the Japanese tragedy in the early 1890s, will be presented Live.
The outstanding Mexican soprano María Katzarava and the tenor César Delgado, star in one of the most performed operas in the world, a drama in three acts that tells the story of Cio-Cio San, a geisha who blindly believes in love of an officer of the American Navy.
Under the stage direction of Luis Aguilar "Mosco" and the renowned musical director, Enrique Patrón de Rueda, at the helm of the Soloists of America Orchestra, and the Municipal Choir of Zapopan, will give life to this original production sponsored by the Santander Group.
The opera takes place in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki at a time of expanding American international presence. Japan was hesitantly defining its global role, and Nagasaki was one of the country’s few ports open to foreign ships. Temporary marriages for foreign sailors were not unusual.
In Act I, Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy inspects a house overlooking Nagasaki harbor that he is leasing from Goro, a marriage broker. The house comes with three servants and a geisha wife named Cio-Cio-San, known as Madame Butterfly. After a brief introduction, Pinkerton declares his marriage intentions to Butterfly, while privately admitting to the U.S. consul Sharpless that he is not sure if his feelings for her are love or only a whim. Meanwhile, in anticipation of marriage, Butterfly renounces her ancestral religion thus losing the support of her shocked relatives.
In Act II, we find Butterfly awaiting her husband’s return after the passing of three years. The marriage broker offers to introduce a wealthy prince as a new, potential husband. She dismisses their offer and insists that Pinkerton has not deserted her. Butterfly shows the consul her child by Pinkerton and rejects a letter Pinkerton sent explaining his marriage with an American wife.
In Act III dawn breaks with yesterday’s arrival of Pinkerton and wife Kate. Pinkerton cannot face Butterfly, who now meeting the new wife, is devastated by this horrible truth and faces tragic choices.
Puccini achieved a new level of sophistication with his use of the orchestra in this score, with subtle colorings and sonorities throughout. But the opera rests squarely on the performer of the title role. On stage for most of the time, Cio-Cio-San is the only character that experiences true and tragic development. The singer conveys an array of emotions and perspectives, from spiritual to worldly to crazed to resigned in the final scene.
Conjunto Santander and Grupo Santander are to be recognized to present this staging in a context where there are no operatic productions in Jalisco, despite the fact that in the past there has been an important tradition in the production of local Opera. Also, the opera is an original production of the Santander Group and what Conjunto presents is their own version of this classic piece.
The stage direction by Luis Manuel Aguilar "Mosco" offers a version that tries to vindicate gender equality positions, moving the character of Cio-Cio-San away from a simplistic vision that places her only as a victim and B.F. Pinkerton as a character who is the result of a macho, consumerist, imperialist and military upbringing, distancing him from a moral reading that defines him as the villain of the piece.
The piece is enriched with the participation of the animation director and winner of four Ariel awards, Rita Basult; the choreographic design of Sandra Soto and the presence of Guyphytsy Aldalai, a Butoh dancer who represents the alter ego of Cio-Cio-San, one of the distinctive elements of the staging. The costumes designed by Gerardo Neri and Alejandro Ñuñez are unique and creative.
Sala Plácido Domingo del Conjunto Santander;
Intermissions: 2 Run Time: (3) hours Sung in Italian, with Spanish subtitles.
Editor’s note: While the Sunday, July 9 performance has sold out, a number of “balcon tercero” (third tier) seats are still on offer for the shows on Wednesday, July 12, 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 15, 7:30 p.m. You can purchase them online at boletos.conjuntosantander.com or at the Conjunto box office. Discounts offered to students and seniors.
Time is running out if you want to buy tickets for one of the three performances of the opera “Madame Butterfly,” a top-class professional production scheduled at the Conjunto de las Artes in Guadalajara Sunday, July 9; Wednesday, July 12; and Saturday, July 15.
The Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) concluded June 9 with the handing out of gongs to the best films in multiple categories.
• Live from the Met (Magic Flute) Conjunto de las Artes, Saturday, June 3, 11 a.m.
An exhibition curated by a gallery in Montreal, Quebec is up as part of the Guadalajara May Cultural Festival at the Raúl Anguiano Museum (Mura) through June 18.
