Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Handel's Giove in Argo: Opera reviews

All the cherry blossom and kimonos to beguile the eye cannot disguise the fact that Madama Butterfly is a savage tale about exploitation of the innocent by the powerful and ruthless. Sex tourism in the far east is not a recent phenomenon: Puccini’s tragedy of the 15-year-old Geisha girl and the American naval officer was based on real events. 

Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s 2003 production is set against a succession of changing backdrops; a panorama of Nagasaki harbour, an idyllic view of pink blossom spilling over green hills, and a star-filled night sky. 

The views are seen through shifting remote controlled screens.

What raises designer Christian Fenouillat’s set from stylised prettiness in this revival by Justin Way is the coruscating performance by Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role. 

Her Butterfly not only believes the sham rent-by-the-month marriage with American opportunist Pinkerton is for real, she defends her position like a warrior, even when she knows in her heart that her “husband” will not come back. I have rarely heard “Un bel di” sung with such incandescent passion, as when Butterfl y tells her maid Suzuki how Pinkerton will return to her “one fine day”. 

The arrival of the American Consul Sharpless, who confirms Pinkerton’s betrayal, casts the shadow that foretells the impending hara-kiri. 

Her death is protracted as the wounded Butterfly staggers and falls while her blindfolded son by Pinkerton, oblivious of his mother’s dying throes, waves a miniature stars and stripes at the advancing Americans; a stunning final scene.

American tenor Brian Jagde, making his Royal Opera debut as Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, sounds and looks good in the role. A pity that at the second night curtain call there was an outbreak of pantomime-style booing of the“villain”, off-putting for a hardworking singer who had just beengiving his all on stage

Albanian mezzo Enkelejda Shkosa has a fi ne burnished tone as Suzuki, and Gabriele Viviani is a solid, if static, Sharpless. Jeremy White’s explosive Bonze and Carlo Bosi’s slimy matchmaker Goro are two other pluses.Nicola Luisotti conducts the Royal Opera orchestra at a cracking pace, bringing out the feverish drama of Puccini’s score.

It is a rare event to find a lost opera by Handel, who kept records with teutonic thoroughness. The libretto of Giove in Argo, performed in 1739, came to light again in 1950. It has now been reconstructed by leading Handel expert John H Roberts. This year’s London Handel Festival in collaboration with the Royal College of Music International Opera School provided an evening of sheer delight. 

The opera is essentially a romp drawn from Greek myth, as predatory Jupiter descends on the woods of Argos in pursuit of nymphs. Disguised as a handsome shepherd, Arete, he has already seduced the nymph Iside when his eye lights on Calisto.

She is a trickier conquest as one of the chaste Goddess Diana’s vestal virgins. Not that this deters the King of the Gods.

Director James Bonas and designer Molly Einchcomb’s staging of a forest of metal climbing posts and grey and red costumes is visually pleasing. There is a strong cast of young singers, with tenor Peter Aisher in the title role.

Angela Simkin as Iside goes gloriously mad with jealousy and Sofi a Larsson’s Calisto has a riveting intensity as she faces the wrath of Rose Setten’s Diana. The London Handel Orchestra under Laurence Cummings brings out the lusciousness of the score. 

VERDICT:4/5

The London Handel Festival runs until April 20, with a programme of works by Handel and his contemporaries: londonhandel-festival.com; 01460 53500

Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Royal Opera House, London WC2 (Tickets: 020 7340 4000; £7-£190; roh.org.uk) 

Handel’s GIOVE IN ARGO at London Handel Festival/Royal College of Music Britten Theatre, London SW7 (Run ended)