Opera Southwest's "Madama Butterfly"

 

In late October I photographed a dress rehearsal of Opera Southwest's production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.  

The production featured Cecilia Violetta Lopez as Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) and Hak Soo Kim as Lt. Pinkerton . . .

Laurel Semerdjian as Suzuki, Butterfly's devoted housemaid . . .

and Matthew Hanscom as Sharpless, the American consul.

The story of the opera is well known.  In 1904, Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer, rents a house in Nagasaki and marries its 15-year-old occupant, Butterfly, for convenience.

Then after one night with her, Pinkerton leaves for three years.

Butterfly waits faithfully for him to return . . .

which he eventually does, but with an American wife.  

Needless to say, it doesn't end well.

Images from the full dress rehearsal are posted on my photography website; you can reach the gallery by clicking here.

But before you go . . . I have another set of images I want to share with you.

I learned years ago from my friends at Antiques Roadshow that the best moments happen after the on-camera interview is over:  the lights go down and everyone relaxes.  That's why I stick around after the end of each opera to photograph the on-stage "notes" discussion with the singers, the conductor, the director, and others to de-brief the production and practice the curtain call choreography.

In this case, during the "notes" discussion, Cecilia Lopez was caringly engaging with the 5-year-old boy who played Butterfly's son in the opera, and their interaction provided a trove of endearing images.

Enjoy!

San Carlos Cemetery - Albuquerque

Three or four times a year I teach a beginning digital photography class for adults at the University of New Mexico's Continuing Education department. One component of the class is a field trip to a local cemetery to give the students an opportunity to practice their photography in a visually rich environment.

I circulate among the students to offer suggestions and help with exposure or composition issues, but I also have time to make a few images for myself.

Last Saturday afternoon was our class field trip, and I managed to make a couple of images that I really like. So here they are for your enjoyment.

Opera Southwest's "Carmen"

 

In early May I photographed a dress rehearsal of Opera Southwest's production of Bizet's Carmen, one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon.  At New York's Metropolitan Opera alone it has been performed over 1,000 times.

The opera revolves around four principal characters:  Carmen (Eliza Bonet), a fiery and sexually fearless heroine . . .

Don José (Isaac Hurtado), a naive soldier who becomes infatuated with Carmen, ultimately driven to murder by a fateful mix of conscience, jealousy, and despair . . .

Two other lead characters play opposite parts in José's descent.  Escamillo (Octavio Moreno) is the glamorous toreador that Carmen can't resist.

On the other side of José's life is his childhood sweetheart, Micaëla (Cecilia Violetta Lopez), who tries multiple times to rescue José from his perilous infatuation . . .

In the course of the opera, José grows increasingly unhinged and at the end confronts Carmen outside the bullring where Escamillo is performing . . .

His entreaties grow more desperate . . .

. . . but Carmen steadfastly rebuffs him and he gets more physical . . .

. . . until finally he stabs her.

She collapses and dies . . . and the curtain falls.

From a visual (rather than musical) perspective, this was a wonderful opera to photograph, thanks especially to the acting of the singers (principals and many others); the stage director (Carson Gilmore); the lighting director (Daniel Chapman); scenic designer (Dahl Delu); costumer (Kaylee Silcocks); and wigs and makeup (Jacqueline Chavez) .  

In addition to the images above, here -- for various reasons -- are some of my favorite images from the production.

And during curtain call, I even got a nice shout-out gesture from Escamillo!

If you would like to see these images -- and many more -- in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!