Another strong influence has the powerful orchestra; it accompanies the characters and audience throughout the play and wakens the attention and emotion of the audience. It guides a perfect balance of storytelling and showing the drama of the play. Puccini’s music emphasizes the emotional vulnerability of the main character while gradually building towards the operas tragic conclusion.

In March, beginning of this year, had the opportunity to visit one of the great performances of Madama Butterfly at the Oper Frankfurt.

The Oper from Giacomo Puccini is a Japanese tragedy, in two acts, it tells the tragic story of a 15-year-old young girl named Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), she marries Pinkerton, an American naval officer in Nagasaki. Unfortunately, the young officer sees this marriage as a short adventure, because not shortly after their wedding he leaves her. Butterfly stays full of hope and trust that he will return, but the tragedy had other plans, she gets rejected by her family and her husband leaves her for an American woman. When Pinkerton returns to take their child with him, she desperately takes her own life. It is a mix of an exotic love story that turns out to be for pleasure rather than love and ends in betrayal.

The scenery is kept very simple yet highlights the drama and emotions of the play. It isolates the main character and with its soft lighting and traditional-inspired costumes which shows the fragile beauty of the production. The empty stage also emphasizes the loneliness of Butterfly and directs the attention of the audience towards the emotional interactions between the characters.

With the actor’s voice control during quite moment and drama during scenes of despair highlights not only the characters emotional transformation but convinces the audience with the interpretation of the role. For example, with, *Un bel di Vedremo” the famous soprano which is sung by the character Cio-Cio-San, this iconic aria expresses her desperate hope, unwavering faith, and vivid imagination of her American husband returning after his absence.

The powerful orchestral music, emotionally intense performance, and minimalist staging create a tragic and deeply moving atmosphere which is particularly successfut in the final act because it creates an atmosphere of tragedy and shows us, the audience, that we as people must do better and not contribute to this ignorance and betrayal.

It was a once in a lifetime experience, extremely emotional and fascinating story told by Giacomo Puccini. I found the performance deeply moving because of the combination between music and the emotional intensity of the performers, which created a powerful atmosphere throughout the opera.