Madam Butterfly, Live in HD

Grinnell College will stream the Metropolitan Opera's production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly at noon on Saturday, April 2, at the Harris Center Cinema.

Madam Butterfly is set in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki, one of the country’s only ports open to foreign ships. Soprano Kristine Opolais stars in the title role and has her heart broken by naval officer Pinkerton, portrayed by tenor Roberto Alagna.

Mariko Schimmel, associate professor of Japanese, will present the opera talk at 11:30 a.m. at Harris Center.

This will be the fourth opera of the spring season in which the Met is celebrating its 10th anniversary of “Live-in-HD” movie theater transmissions.

The two upcoming spring semester operas are:

• Gaetano Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” at noon Saturday, April 16. Set in Westminster Palace in London between 1599 and 1601, the opera follows Queen Elizabeth I as she is compelled to sign the death warrant of the nobleman she loves, Robert Devereux. Soprano Sandra Radvanovsky plays Queen Elizabeth I, and tenor Matthew Polenzani portrays Devereux. There will be no opera talk before this broadcast.  
• Richard Strauss’s “Elektra” on Saturday, April 30. Originally set in Greece after the Trojan War, this production is modernized to an unspecified contemporary setting. Soprano Nina Stemme, a maven of Strauss and Wagner’s heroines, stars as Elektra as she works to avenge her the murder of her father, Agamemnon. Angelo Mercado, assistant professor of classics, will present the opera talk.

Refreshments will be available for sale in the lobby of the cinema before each opera and during intermission.

Opera tickets are available at the Pioneer Bookshop, the Grinnell College Bookstore and at the door on the day of the show. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, children, and Met Opera members.

Grinnell welcomes and encourages the participation of people with disabilities. Visitor and accessible parking is available in the lot to the east of the Harris Center. You can request accommodations from the event sponsor or Conference Operations and Events.