Giacomo Puccini wrote no fewer than five versions of Madama Butterfly, with one of them receiving its world première right there at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1906. This work depicting, with extraordinary passion and deep emotional sincerity, the story of an abandoned Japanese geisha, victim of a shore leave romance, and an American naval officer from the other side of the world has been one of the most-performed pieces in opera houses everywhere for more than a century. With melod...ies and harmonies that go straight to the heart and soul, it is a work in which Puccini proved himself unsurpassable. When a performance has the kind of elemental force that this Met production will, the impact could hardly be greater.
Primarily specialised in the operas of Verdi and Puccini and delivering astonishing portrayals on stage, Chinese soprano Hui He is one of the greatest performers of the title role active today. In a professional sense, her partner, Bruce Sledge first took the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in 2003 in the role of Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and he has since won acclaim with his lyric tenor voice primarily in Mozartian and bel canto roles. Bringing the American counsel Sharpless to life is the Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot, who made his Met début in 2010 as Kovalyov in Shostakovich's opera The Nose. He last sang Sharpless at the Opéra de Marseille. Singing Suzuki will be the wonderful American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong.
The conductor is also a familiar presence for the Hungarian audience: one of the outstanding interpreters of the Italian repertoire, Pier Giorgio Morandi has honoured this country's opera world with his appearances here for decades; he first conducted at the Met in 2017. The artist who staged the production is none other than the director of the Oscar-winning film The English Patient: Anthony Minghella, who died in 2008, won several distinctions for this sweepingly forceful Madama Butterfly, including the Society of London Theatre's Laurence Olivier Award in 2006.
The 'Metropolitan Opera Live in HD' transmissions have been made possible through the cooperation of our partner, Cikánek Management.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.
Accept all