"OperaNow" also opens Philippine Opera Company’s first opera season.
This production of Madam Butterfly forms the second part of "OperaNow." It will feature Japanese soprano Hisara Sato and mezzo Kazuko Nagai as Butterfly and Suzuki, respectively, and Filipino tenor Sal Malaki as Pinkerton, baritone Noel Azcona as Sharpless, tenor John Glen Gaerlan as Goro, and Hiroaki Otsuka as the commissioner, with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Coro Tomasino conducted by London-based Japanese conductor Yasuo Shinozaki.
Lighting designer Shoko Matsumoto said POC and Story Lane Co. planned on collaborating on Madam Butterfly three years ago. However, the groups could not find enough funds to mount the production. This year, in celebration of the golden anniversary of Philippine-Japan friendship, the groups found some budget for this performance.
"It is a very small budget, that is why we are not doing a full opera," Matsumoto said. "Our target is still a full production of Madam Butterfly. This is just a first step."
It will be the first time for Story Lane’s Atsushi Satoh to collaborate on an opera production. Satoh and music director Toshimitsu Kimura joined POC in the audition for singers for this production.
"Mr. Satoh hopes to stage a full opera someday," says Matsumoto. "This production is part of the process. What is important is the process of working together towards this goal."
All the Japanese singers will be using their own kimonos for the concert. Instead of a full set, there will be a projection that will approximate the set.
POC staged its first "OperaNow" last year, a mixed program of opera arias and ensembles. This year’s production follows the same formula, except that four operas by Giacomo Puccini are featured this time: La Boheme, Tosca, Turandot and Madam Butterfly.
In the first "OperaNow," some of the country’s leading designers were asked to provide the costumes for the singers, giving them leeway to reinterpret the clothes.
Floy Quintos, who is directing the first part of the show, said that they managed to pull off the first "OperaNow" "pretty well."
"It is time to rediscover passion in our lives," Quintos said. "For someone who does not know opera, this is a chance to rediscover passion in our lives, as well as real talent."
Singers featured in the first part of OperaNow are Patrice Pacis, Thea Perez, Camille Lopez-Molina, Randy Gilongo, Gaerlan, Azcona, Hiroaki Otsuka, and Conrad Ong III.
After Giuseppe Verdi’s death, Puccini was considered the foremost Italian opera composer. He wrote 10 operas, most of which are considered to be masterpieces.
Puccini’s operas are known for their tragic heroines. Madam Butterfly is known for its heroine, Cio-Cio-San, who kills herself as she gives up her son to his father. Madam Butterfly served as the pattern for the popular musical Miss Saigon.