Madame Butterfly Colorado Springs May 10-18, 2025
My approach to directing opera starts from a simple hypothesis: opera is overwhelming. The music alone is a complete sensory experience—harmonies, vocal lines, orchestration, and text—each element a stream of information requiring intense focus. I often find myself overwhelmed and struggling to stay present amid this complexity.
Adding visual storytelling—staging, set design, lighting—often risks compounding this overload. The challenge, then, is clarity: merging these multiple streams of information into one cohesive experience that focuses rather than distracts.
The director Robert Wilson famously said, "The best way to hear something is to close your eyes. The challenge I have is: can I see something with my eyes open that will help me hear better than when my eyes are closed?" I take this as a core artistic idea: the visuals must help the audience listen. Too often, we overshoot, layering visual noise onto an already complex musical experience.
In the fast-paced environment of symphony gigs, I find that clarity comes from subtraction—removing unnecessary movement, visual clutter, and distractions. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly is one of opera's most extraordinary listening experiences. When we slow down and shift away from visual, illustrative expectations toward something more thoughtful and immersive, the opera can evoke profound longing and release.
Our cast and conductor are extraordinary, and putting this production together in just four days has been a true act of communal will.
