Les Arts premieres 'Madama Butterfly' with musical direction by Antonino Fogliani and Marina Rebeka with the protagonist 

• Piero Pretti, Cristina Faus and Àngel Òdena complete the main cast. Maria Teresa Leva will sing the role of Cio-Cio-San on December 17

• Emilio López's production portrays the desolation of the Japanese people from the end of the North American block to the surrender in 1945.

Valencia (2.12.21). The Palau de les Arts premieres this coming December 10th 'Madama Butterfly', by Puccini, with musical direction by Antonino Fogliani and Marina Rebeka with the protagonist.

The artistic director of the Arts, Jesús Iglesias Noriega, has presented a press round of this muntatge which “returns to the Main Hall who, possibly, follows the composer most esteemed by the Valencian public, Giacomo Puccini”. During the presentation, Iglesias Noriega was accompanied by the opera's musical director, Antonino Fogliani; the stage director, Emilio López; the soprano Marina Rebeka; and the tenor Piero Pretti.

"In our recerca of our styles and repertoris, as we will explain at the moment, it is not possible to ignore the sensibilitats of the public. Puccini, as indicated by the xifres, is the favorite composer of the Arts audience. In his repertoire, 'Madama Butterfly' stands out because it is one of the reference works of the verisme, and also for the richness of the score or the exoticism of the music,” Iglesias Noriega explained.

“For the Arts, it also meant musically the presentation in the fossa of one of the most notable names of the new generation of Italian batonists, Antonino Fogliani, along with the debut of one of the great sopranos of the moment, Marina Rebeka, in the leading role,” he said.

Outstanding performers, including some of the most relevant national singers, accompany the Latvian diva on stage: the tenor Piero Pretti (Pinkerton), the Valencian mezzo-soprano Cristina Faus, the Catalan baritone Àngel Òdena (Sharpless), the tenor Asturian Jorge Rodríguez-Norton (Goro) and the Buenos Aires bass-baritone Ferando Radó (Lo zio Bonzo). Furthermore, the Italian soprano Maria Teresa Leva will sing the role of Cio-Cio-San on December 17.

Antonno Fogliani, principal guest conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and good connector of the Italian repertoire, considers that, beyond the oriental elements, "Puccini was interested in showing a very strong gift. We do not know who Cio-Cio-San was really in love with or if she would escape through this relationship of the chains that she "They impossify the family, religion, an oppressive culture."

Les Arts recovers the opera's own production, with stage direction by Emilio López, carried out together with professionals from the technical team of Arts: Manuel Zuriaga (scenography), Antonio Castro (il·luminació) and Miguel Bosch (video creation), together with the Italian costume designer Giusi Giustino.

As Emilio López has explained: "To make 'Madama Butterfly' we will work, above all, on the character and psychology of Cio-Cio-San, whom I have always seen as 'a trencada girl', who suffered enormous internal destruction. This internal destruction he wanted to capture in the scenography of the muntatge i, historically, in the war environment of World War II, between 1941 and 1945, from the end of the North American bloc to the end of the war.

"Pinkerton's character - says López - is inspired by the pilot who was going to drop the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, Charles Sweeney, who had 25 keys. An unconscious man who will only be able to see the consequences of his actions. A covard."

Marina Rebeka returns to the Arts to debut in the role of Cio-cio-san. The Latvian soprano, one of the great interpreters of 'La traviata', a role that she will sing in Valencia in 2017, takes on one of the stages of her career as she explains: “not only in the musical area, in terms of vocal magnitude and duration, but also dramatically due to the psychological and cultural complexity that the role of Cio-cio-san entails.”

The Baltic artist considers the 'geisha' as a woman who voluntarily gets hooked on herself and tries not to see reality until she is abruptly confronted by her commands and sees no more honorable eixida than taking her life. In this sense, Marina Rebeka points out that “one of the greatest challenges has been to study Japanese culture in order to adapt to it with the greatest rigor and respect.”

Piero Pretti plays the role of Pinkerton, a role he sings for the first time in Valencia. The Italian tenor is one of the indisputable values of the Italian repertoire, regularly invited to the most renowned theaters: London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, etc.

In addition to premiering on December 10, 'Madama Butterfly' will also be performed on December 13, 16, 17, 19 and 22.

Les Arts informs that the performance on the 19th will be broadcast in streaming from OperaVision, sponsored by Opera Europa, which brings together 30 opera companies from 18 countries on the continent.