potential is impressively realised, to powerful effect... Gregory Yurisich offers a marvellously detailed and perceptive account of the worldly-wise but ineffectual consul Sharpless. Jean Rigby's Suzuki is a tower of strength...'

Gramophone
Paul Charles Clarke 'is a convincing Pinkerton: not a blackguard but a Yankee bull in a Japanese porcelain shop... All the subsidiary singers and the chorus are good (the exquisitely phrased humming chorus is memorable).'

 

 

Registered charity number: 258224

BBC Music Magazine
'This English-language Butterfly is an impressive performance by any criteria. With the Philharmonia on top form, conductor Yves Abel demonstrates the constant vitality of the music and manages its great climaxes superbly. The delicate palette of orchestral colours is lovingly revealed throughout.

Cheryl Barker encompasses the full lyric and dramatic range of the complex, hugely demanding title role. She brings exceptional commitment to the part, whose tragic

CHAN 3070

3 December 2008

The Peter Moores Foundation supports projects which come to the attention of its Patron, or Trustees, through their interests and special knowledge. General applications for grants are not encouraged and are unlikely to succeed.

Opera in two acts
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica
after the book by John Luther Long & the play by David Belasco
English version based on that of R.H. Elkin

The Cast

Cheryl Barker, soprano - Cio-Cio-San (Madam Butterfly)
Jean Rigby, mezzo-soprano - Suzuki
Paul Charles Clarke, tenor - B.F. Pinkerton
Gregory Yurisich, baritone - Sharpless
Stuart Kale, tenor - Goro
D'Arcy Bleiker, baritone (PMF Scholar) -
Prince Yamadori
Clive Bayley, bass (PMF Scholar) - The Bonze
Simon Birchall, bass - Yakuside
Roland Wood, bass (PMF Scholar) -
The Imperial Commissioner
Frances Brett, bass - The Official Registrar
Anne Sheridan Jinks, soprano -
Cio-Cio-San's mother
Paula Bott, soprano - The Aunt
Ann Taylor, mezzo-soprano - Kate Pinkerton
Cio-Cio-San's relations and friends and servants - Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Yves Abel

Registered charity number: 258224

 

 

Madam Butterfly

© Peter Moores Foundation 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London
13-17 December 2000
Producer - Brian Couzens
Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens
Assistant engineer - Christopher Brooke