Night review of the Graz opera premiere: Puccini’s “Butterfly”: Good things come to those who wait

Three premieres had been announced for the 2020/21 season at the Graz Opera, at which Covid-19 made its big appearance as a spoilsport: Among them was also Giacomo Puccinis „Madama Butterfly“which was being worked on until the planned dress rehearsal in November 2020 – with Marjukka Tepponen in the leading role, which had recently been successful at the Met in New York. well, inside Nora Schmids eighth and final season before the director changes to the Dresden Semperoper and the German Ulrich Lenz follows her, it might still be. And one can confidently say: what takes a long time will finally be good. In any case, the performances in terms of music and staging were almost entirely mature at the premiere, which was two years late.