Things to do in Sacramento and Beyond: SF Opera's "Madama Butterfly" coming to Mondavi

Things to do in Sacramento and Beyond

The Bee's guide to events, activities, arts and entertainment

May 21, 2009

SF Opera's "Madama Butterfly" coming to Mondavi

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Good news for opera fans - the San Francisco Opera will soon make its second appearance at Mondavi.

No, it won't be a live performance, but it will be the next best thing- an HD broadcast.

The June 25 screening of the San Francisco Opera's production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" at Mondavi Center signals an agreement between the UC Davis presenter and the San Francisco Opera that will likely lead to more operas being shown at Jackson Hall.

The showing is part of the SF Opera's new Grand Opera Cinema Series. San Francisco Opera general director David Gockley told The Bee recently that the series is part of the company's effort to increase the presence of the opera company in Northern California.

And you have to believe that this is a strategic move by the SF Opera to make inroads as the Metropolitan Opera has locally, with its steady diet of live HD simulcasts of operas to five area cinemas. Those simulcasts have been extremely popular.

This not the first time that the company has shown its operas on the big screen at Mondavi. In 2007, the company gave its first-ever HD simulcast at Mondavi with a screening of its production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

That simulcast was offered as a free screening. It became the quickest sell-out in Mondavi's history.

"Madama Butterfly" tells the tale of love fraught with the difference of East-West culture clashing in 19th-century Japan. The highly regarded soprano Patricia Racette performs as Cio-Cio-San, the geisha tragically torn between two worlds. Donald Runnicles conducts.

When: 7 p.m. June 25
Where: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis
Cost: $15 general; $7.50 students and children
Information: (530) 754-2787 or www. MondaviArts.org

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