Concertante: Kirill Petrenko with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”

The sound of an outcry
Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is not just the story of an abandoned woman; it is also about the clash between different cultures and imperialist exploitation. The opera’s poignant musical content serves as a timeless testament to the immense human suffering caused by such injustices.

Biographies

Kirill Petrenko

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his home town and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Meininger Theater and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel. 

Eleonora Buratto

Eleonora Buratto's repertoire ranges from Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini to such bel canto roles as Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Norina in his Don Pasquale. After her acclaimed debut as Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Italian soprano also won praise for her charismatic Tosca at the Bavarian State Opera.

Teresa Iervolino

The international career of mezzo soprano Teresa Iervolino began when she won the 63rd competition for young opera singers organized by the Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana in 2012. She studied at the Domenico Cimarosa Conservatory in Avellino and took masterclasses with Daniela Barcellona, Bruno Nicoli, and Marco Berti. She then performed at numerous Italian opera houses, winning particular acclaim in the title role of Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Teatro Regio di Torino – so much so that she was invited to sing the role at many other Italian houses and at the Paris Opera.

Jonathan Tetelman

In the 2023/24 season, Jonathan Tetelman made his much-anticipated debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Ruggero in Puccini’s La Rondine, followed by acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Born in Chile and raised in New Jersey, the tenor has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting singers of his generation, appearing on the world’s leading stages: the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, as well as the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Tassis Christoyannis

 Tassis Christoyannis developed his acclaimed vocal technique after studying singing, piano, conducting, and composition at the Athens Conservatory – “in Italy, of course!” – through working with legendary Verdi baritone and vocal coach Aldo Protti. With Protti, he worked on Italian repertoire, which he now performs at the world’s most prestigious houses. His extensive repertoire also includes leading baritone roles in Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, Phèdre, Faust, Hamlet, and Wozzeck. He has recorded French art songs by Camille Saint-Saëns, Félicien David, and Reynaldo Hahn, as well as works by Greek composers.

Didier Pieri

Der Tenor Didier Pieri wollte eigentlich Regisseur oder Bühnenbildner werden, denn an der Oper reizte ihn zunächst das Visuelle: »Tatsächlich habe ich zweimal als Regieassistent gearbeitet, mit Denis Krief für eine wunderbare Inszenierung von Orfeo ed Euridice am Maggio Musicale Fiorentino und mit Fabio Ceresa für eine Produktion von Madama Butterfly.« Er studierte Drama, Art and Music Studies in Florenz und begann gleichzeitig eine Gesangsausbildung, die er ab 2013 bei Yva Barthélémy in Paris fortsetzte. Nach seinem Bühnendebüt 2016 sang Pieri an bedeutenden italienischen Häusern Partien wie Gastone (La traviata), Gherardo (Gianni Schicchi), Remendado (Carmen), Goro (Madama Butterfly), Normanno (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ruiz (Il trovatore) und Borsa (Rigoletto). 

Lilia Istratii

Lilia Istratii studied at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chișinău (Republic of Moldova). The mezzo-soprano, currently a member of the soloist ensemble at the Romanian Opera in Craiova, recently celebrated major successes with her debuts as Maddalena (Rigoletto) at the National Opera Bucharest and as Carmen at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo. In 2023, she was honoured with the Maria Bieșu Excellence Award as “Voice of the Year” by Moldova’s Ministry of Culture and Musicians’ Association. Her repertoire includes roles such as Polina (The Queen of Spades), Lyubasha (The Tsar’s Bride), and Fenena (Nabucco).

Aksel Daveyan

Aksel Daveyan studied at the State Conservatory in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. From 2022 to 2024, the baritone was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House, where he performed in operas such as Tosca, Carmen, Les Noces, and Andrea Chénier. He won first prize at the Elena Obraztsova Competition and second prize at the Queen Sonja Singing Competition. Engagements have taken him to the Georgian National Opera in Tbilisi, the Kraków Opera, the Yerevan Opera and Ballet Theatre, and Teatro Politeama in Palermo. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at Oldenburg State Theatre.

Giorgi Chelidze

Giorgi Chelidze studied voice at the State Conservatory in his hometown of Tbilisi. He won the Martinelli-Pertile Opera Competition in Montagnana and received second prize at the International Singing Competition in Crispiano. The bass made his stage debut as Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore) at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tbilisi, where he also appeared as Timur (Turandot), Angelotti (Tosca), and Zuniga (Carmen). He has also performed as Colline (La bohème) at the Amman Opera Festival, Sparafucile (Rigoletto) in Chengdu (China), and Skuratov (The Tsar’s Bride) at Teatro Regio in Turin.

Jasurbek Khaydarov

Jasurbek Khaydarov was born in Namangan in the Republic of Uzbekistan. In 2022, the graduate of the Helikon Opera’s development programme in Moscow joined the Bolshoi Theatre’s Young Opera Artists Programme, where he made his debut as one of the Flemish Deputies in Verdi’s Don Carlo. In 2023, Khaydarov completed his vocal studies at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow. He is a laureate of the 22nd Concorso Lirico Internazionale Ottavio Ziino and recently made his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall. The young bass took part in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and will join the Dutch National Opera Studio in the 2024/25 season.

Benjamin Šuran 

Benjamin Šuran studied with Giorgio Sugar in Pula and later with Giorgio Suriano and Vlatka Oršanić in Zagreb. The Croatian bass-baritone has won numerous first prizes at international vocal competitions and was a member of the Opera Studio at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. He is now a regular performer at opera houses in his home country, appearing in roles such as the Sacristan (Tosca), Frank (Die Fledermaus), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore).

Natalie Jurk

Natalie Jurk studied voice at the Berlin University of the Arts and voice and flute at the University of Music Saar. She has received important artistic impulses from Daniel Gerzenberg, Axel Bauni, Rudolph Piernay, Brigitte Wohlfarth and others. A prizewinner of several international competitions, she has appeared at the Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Saarland State Theatre. Since the 2023/24 season, she has been a member of the opera chorus at Theater Bremen.

Elisabeth Eunsoo Lee 

Elisabeth Eunsoo Lee studied voice at the College of Music of Seoul National University and at the Berlin University of the Arts. The soprano, who was born in South Korea, is currently completing her soloist diploma at the University of Music Karlsruhe. She has appeared as Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) and Rosa Ford (Falstaff) at the Eduard von Winterstein Theatre in Annaberg-Buchholz. She also sang the role of Chiang Ching (Nixon in China) at Teatro Real in Madrid.

Georg Streuber

Georg Streuber studied at the University of Music in Dresden with Matthias Weichert. The baritone, who won the International Duschek Competition in Prague in 2011, is primarily active as a lieder and oratorio singer. He made his operatic debut as Papageno in a student production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in Chemnitz in 2007. Streuber was a scholarship holder of the RIAS Kammerchor Academy in 2011, a member of the Bayreuth Festival Chorus from 2012 to 2018, and has been a permanent member of the Rundfunkchor Berlin since 2012.

Rundfunkchor Berlin

Brilliant, flexible, transparent, versatile, precise – these are the words critics use to describe the sound of the Rundfunkchor Berlin. “There is probably no other choir that does so many different things so well and engages with such a wide repertoire and diverse formats,” says Gijs Leenaars, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director since the 2015/16 season. The choir’s programming spans large-scale symphonic choral works, a cappella concerts, and interdisciplinary projects that challenge traditional concert formats and offer fresh experiences of choral music. Its “sing-along concerts” regularly invite enthusiastic amateurs to join in making music. With its outstanding skill and versatility, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, founded in 1925, is a valued partner of leading orchestras and conductors.