Madama Butterfly: In Discussion

In preparation for our upcoming production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, San Diego Opera will host a series of online conversations. These open-invitation Zoom meetings, held on Thursdays at 4 PM PDT, will promote rich conversation about pertinent cultural issues of this beloved opera. Our Thursday panels will commence March 21, 2024, and continue each week until April 18, 2024.

We invite you to join us and moderator Kevin Suzuki, Director of The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York, to discuss topics such as cultural appropriation, imperialism, exoticism and the importance of Madama Butterfly in the past and future of opera.

Please join us for a serious and vigorous conversation. Click here to RSVP. 48 hours before each scheduled discussion we will e-mail a link to the Zoom meeting. These Zoom discussions will also be recorded and posted on this page for viewing at a later date.

TOPICS:

March 21  at 4 PM – Alice Chung and Helen Huang – The Asian American Woman Redefined: Us vs. Orientalism. Click here to watch episode 1.

March 28  at 4 PM – Yuki Izumihara – Asian Doll and Hyper-sexualization. Representation, Intention, and Effect: Designing the “Tragic Oriental Heroine”. Click here to watch episode 2.

April 4 at 4 PM – Melody Tachibana King – Cultural Appropriation and Yellowface. Click here to watch episode 3.

April 11 at 4 PM – Margaret Ozaki Graves and Julia Shizuyo Popham – America. Colonialism, Expansionism and American Exceptionalism. Click here to watch episode 4.

April 18 at 4 PM – Dr. Texu Kim – Compositional elements of Puccini’s Butterfly: Cultural themes and quotations. Click here to watch episode 5.