Madam Butterfly is fine – but one day let’s see some Verdi!

Diversification is the byword for any operatic society, amateur or professional. Grand opera mixes with operetta and Gilbert and Sullivan to cover all tastes. But one company seems to be the exception to the rule, Ellen Kent’s Opera International.

They seem to concentrate on a handful of operas, doing them by rote, and while their productions are quite lavish, I’d love to see a change of tack.

Puccini’s Madam Butterfly seems to be their headline act and while La Boheme, Carmen and Tosca also loom large in their repertoire, I’d love some variation. Some Verdi, perhaps, or any other pot-boiler?

I might be in the minority because a decent audience turned up for Madama Butterfly, last seen in Dundee a couple of years ago.

With the Caird Hall stage complete with proscenium arch, full orchestra and a lavish set, we were all set for another fine night at the opera.

However, it took a while to warm up as the opening act didn’t have me tingling as it usually does. Even the famous duet Vogliatemi bene (Love me, please) between Butterfly, Elena Dee, and Pinkerton (Georgio Meladze) failed to move me.

Then when Miss Dee took to the stage in the second act, her pulsating performance took control of the proceedings.

She commanded the stage, sang her heart out, took the tragic persona of Butterfly by the scruff of the neck and pulled the production into a heady area of excellence. Five stars all the way, hers was the definitive Butterfly.

Meladze also sang well, it has to be said, but a drop of the Dee acting skills would have made a more impressionable Pinkerton.

Myroslava Shvakh-Pekar (Suzuki) also came into her own in the second and third acts, and with stellar support from Iurie Gisca (Sharpless) and an orchestra that took Puccini’s marvellous score to heart, all the components of a memorable evening were there.