Just in time for Mother’s Day and to close San Diego Opera’s 44th season, the curtain at the Civic Theatre will rise on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Saturday, May 9, at 7 p.m. for five performances.

Returning to San Diego Opera in the title role is American soprano Patricia Racette, an out lesbian, who has made Cio-Cio-San her signature role, performing it to critical and popular acclaim in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and in New York at the Metropolitan Opera.

Also returning to San Diego Opera is Uruguayan tenor Carlo Ventre who dazzled audiences last season as Radames in Aida. Returning to San Diego Opera to round out the cast is American baritone Malcolm MacKenzie as Sharpless, Chinese mezzo-soprano Zhen Cao as Suzuki, Taiwanese tenor Joseph Hu as Goro, American bass Scott Sikon as The Bonze and American soprano Crystal Jarrell as Kate Pinkerton. Edoardo Müller conducts the performances and American Garnett Bruce will stage the production.

In Puccini’s tragic opera, Madama Butterfly, the American naval officer Pinkerton marries a Japanese geisha named Cio-Cio-San (who is also known as Butterfly). Pinkerton takes the relationship lightly despite the warnings of the American consul, Sharpless. Pinkerton returns to America, and Butterfly gives birth to their child – whom she names Trouble – while she waits for her husband to return. When Pinkerton does return he brings with him his American wife and Cio-Cio-San must choose to live in disgrace or die with her honor intact. With the famous aria “Un bel dì” and the haunting “Humming Chorus” Madama Butterfly is full of beautiful music that will stay with the audience long after they have left the theatre.

Madama Butterfly was last performed by San Diego Opera in 2003. This production is owned by San Diego Opera with sets by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Anita Yavich.

A widely respected member of the international opera community, San Diego Opera brings the world’s finest artists to San Diego. Founded in 1965, and led for the last 25 years by general director and artistic director Ian Campbell, San Diego Opera produces performances of the highest artistic quality while remaining financially stable. San Diego Opera is also home to one of the most extensive, diverse opera education and outreach programs in North America, reaching more than 70,000 schoolchildren and 20,000 adults in San Diego County and Baja California.

Place: Nagasaki, Japan

Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a young U.S. Navy lieutenant, has arranged with Goro, a marriage broker, to acquire a 15-year-old Japanese bride, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly). Pinkerton takes a 999-year lease on a home overlooking Nagasaki harbor; this lease, as well as his marriage, can conveniently be canceled on a month’s notice. Sharpless, the American Consul and a friend of Pinkerton’s, arrives to witness the wedding. He warns Pinkerton not to treat the marriage lightly, as his bride-to-be is truly in love with him. Though Pinkerton claims to be infatuated with Butterfly, he proposes a toast to the American woman he will one day wed. Butterfly arrives for her wedding. She tells Sharpless that her family was once wealthy, but hard times forced her to become a geisha. After she admits that her father is dead, Goro tells Pinkerton that he committed ritual suicide at the Mikado’s command. Butterfly’s relatives arrive, and the wedding proceeds. The festivities are interrupted as the Bonze, Butterfly’s uncle and a Buddhist priest, enters to denounce her for forsaking their ancestral religion. Pinkerton angrily orders the guests to leave. He comforts the distraught Butterfly, and the newlyweds proclaim their love.

Pinkerton has been gone from Nagasaki for three years. Suzuki, Butterfly’s devoted maid, fears that he will not keep his promise to return; yet Butterfly confidently and patiently awaits his homecoming. Sharpless arrives to read Butterfly a letter he received from Pinkerton, who has since taken an American wife. Goro, who ushers in Prince Yamadori, a potential suitor for Butterfly, interrupts him. When Sharpless finally reads Pinkerton’s letter to Butterfly, she gradually realizes that she has been abandoned. She sends for her young son, Sorrow, sure that Pinkerton will return when he learns that he has a son. Butterfly insists that she would rather die than be a geisha again. Suddenly, a cannon booms in the harbor, signaling the arrival of Pinkerton’s ship. Butterfly and Suzuki decorate the house and await Pinkerton’s return in an all-night vigil.

Pinkerton, his wife Kate, and Sharpless arrive at Butterfly’s house. They ask Suzuki to tell Butterfly that they wish to take Sorrow to live with them in America. Butterfly enters, anxiously seeking Pinkerton, but he has fled in remorse. She meets Kate, and reluctantly agrees to surrender her child if Pinkerton will come for him in half an hour. Solemnly, Butterfly prepares for death. After bidding farewell to Sorrow, she commits suicide. Pinkerton rushes into the house, only to find Butterfly dead.

Join Dr. Nicolas Reveles, San Diego Opera’s geisel director of education, for a fascinating half-hour television program on Madama Butterfly. Viewers will learn about the story, music and history of each opera and will pick up rich insight into the structure and composition of the music. OperaTalk! with Nick Reveles airs on UCSD-TV. For a complete listing of schedules and where to view it visit, www.sdopera.com/education/operatalk.aspx.

Produced by San Diego Opera and UCSD-TV, the award-winning San Diego Opera Spotlight gives viewers a unique and entertaining look behind the scenes of each of San Diego Opera’s five main-stage productions. Viewers will see how the singers, directors, conductor and crew work together to create each opera, get a sneak peak at rehearsal footage and hear exclusive interviews with the stars. San Diego Opera Spotlight Madama Butterfly airs on Friday, May 8, 9 p.m., on UCSD-TV and repeats daily throughout the run of the production. For a complete listing of schedules and where to view it, visit www.sdopera.com/education/spotlight.aspx.

Produced by San Diego Opera

Wednesday, May 20, at 7 p.m.

Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown

Online: sdopera.com