July 23, 2022
On the second attempt, the Bregenz Festival was lucky with the weather: After the premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” on the lake stage had to be canceled due to the weather on Wednesday, around 7,000 visitors got to see the whole performance on Friday evening. Although the lake stage didn’t stay completely dry once more, there was no threat of a move to the Festspielhaus. The guests thanked the ensemble with standing ovations for a very successful opera evening.
After a muggy, hot summer’s day with over 30 degrees, clouds gathered just before the start of the performance, which covered the sun and deprived the lake stage guests of the experience of a sunset on Lake Constance. The first raindrops following just 15 minutes at 9:30 p.m. did not irritate either the artists – Barno Ismatullaeva shone once more in the title role of Cio-Cio-San, Edgaras Montvidas gave a strong BF Pinkerton – or the audience. However, the precipitation radar gave cause for concern – fronts with intense rain passed through both west and east of Bregenz. But the lake stage performance remained undisturbed. Shortly following 10 p.m., most of the guests unpacked the rain gear they had brought with them, but it was only needed for a short time. Also very light rain in the last half hour didn’t bother us.
The festival visitors were able to enjoy a whole lake stage performance of “Madame Butterfly”. In the second half, too, the staging is less spectacular than previous festival productions, but very aesthetic. It is also the play with light that immerses Michael Levine’s stage design, a 1,340 square meter sheet of “paper”, in ever new moods and contexts. Of course, the spectacle is not completely dispensed with. For example, Prince Yamadori (Omer Kobiljak) is introduced to the play in a kind of sedan chair that is carried in the water around the floating stage. When Madame Butterfly dies at the end, flames are projected across the stage, which at the upper end of the stage – the sheet of paper has burned down – turn into real fire.
The demolition of the premiere of the lake stage performance on Wednesday was a novelty in recent festival history. This has not happened in recent festival history, the festival said to the APA. In 1997, the premiere of “Porgy and Bess” had to take place in the Festspielhaus from the outset. In 2010, the revival of “Aida” was moved indoors following 90 minutes. By the end of the 76th Bregenz Festival, “Madame Butterfly” will be on the program 24 times, including Saturday.
“Madame Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini at the Bregenz Festival. Musical director of the Wiener Symphoniker: Enrique Mazzola/Yi-Chen Lin, direction: Andreas Homoki, set: Michael Levine, costumes: Antony McDonald. Starring Cio-Cio-San – Celine Byrne/Elena Guseva/Barno Ismatullaeva, Suzuki – Claudia Huckle/Aytaj Shikhalizada/Annalisa Stroppa, Kate Pinkerton – Hamida Kristoffersen/Sabine Winter, BF Pinkerton – Edgaras Montvidas/Otar Jorjikia/Łukasz Załęski, Sharpless – Brian Mulligan/Brett Polegato/Yngve Søberg, Goro – Michael Laurenz/Taylan Reinhard, Prince – Yamadori Omer Kobiljak/Patrik Reiter, Uncle Bonzo – Levente Páll/Stanislav Vorobyov, Imperial Commissioner – Unnsteinn Árnason. Further performances from 22.-24. and from 26.-31. July and from 2nd to 7th, 9th, 11th to 14th, 16th, 17th and 19th to 21st. August. bregenzerfestspiele.com