Summary: <p><span>Sometimes an illusion is the hardest thing to let go of. For Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, that illusion comes in the form of a distant ship on the horizon, carrying her long lost husband. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton abandoned Cio-Cio-San three years earlier, but she's absolutely sure that one fine day he'll sail over the horizon and return for her and their child. </span></p> <p><span>The aria "Un bel di vedremo" captures Butterfly's unwavering faith in their reunion and her unflagging desire for a better life. In this episode, Rhiannon Giddens and her guests explore the power of hope in Puccini's tragedy, as well as in a real-world Butterfly story. Then, you'll hear Ana María Martínez sing the complete aria onstage at the </span><a href="https://www.metopera.org/">Metropolitan Opera</a><span>.</span></p> <p>The Guests</p> <p><span>Soprano</span> Ana María Martínez understands Butterfly not as a submissive woman-in-waiting, but as a woman of great determination and strength. <span></span><span>Born in Puerto Rico,</span> <span>Martínez found some of her own inner strength when she and her parents moved to the mainland and left her extended family </span><span>behind</span><span>.</span></p> <p>Composer and conductor Huang Ruo<span> grew up in China, following in his father's footsteps by studying composition. A professor told him to go study in the United States, where he fell in love with Puccini. He's currently writing an opera based on David Henry Hwang’s play, </span><em><span>M. Butterfly.</span></em><span> </span></p> <p>Sandra Kumamoto Stanley<span> chairs the Asian American Studies department at California State University. Her interest in Butterfly extends beyond the racialized fantasy within the opera: she has written about how society would have treated Cio-Cio-San’s mixed-race child.</span></p> <p>A writer and former psychotherapist, Kyoko Katayama is the child of a Japanese woman and an American soldier stationed in Tokyo after World War II. Like Pinkerton, her biological father shipped out and unwittingly left behind his pregnant lover. Katayama sees a clear parallel between Butterfly’s life and her mother’s.</p> <p><span><span>Special thanks to Kathryn Tolbert and Lucy Craft, whose work on </span><a href="https://warbrideexperience.weebly.com"><span>The War Bride Experience</span></a><span> was invaluable to this episode. </span></span></p>
