Opera in three acts (1904)

Poor Cio-Cio-San! The 15-year-old geisha (here superb soprano Eleonora Buratto) who - having renounced her family and Japanese traditions for the love of an American naval officer (Stefan Pop) – finds herself abandoned in favour of a Western wife.

Puccini used this classic theme of a woman seduced and abandoned to create an opera with lush orchestration and burning lyricism.

For singular American director Robert Wilson, this Japanese tragedy of a woman as fragile as a butterfly’s wings proves the ideal environment in which to display his signature refined formalism. Far from the traditional fans and cherry branches, he uses stylised acting and a stripped-down space to allow the melodic lines to blossom in all their purity.