Madama Butterfly – Puccini – Diva Opera at Syon Park & Children with Cancer UK

Image taken from the Diva Opera website

Children with Cancer UK teamed up with Diva Opera at Syon Park to deliver an adventurous piano-led Madama Butterfly, simultaneously raising sufficient funds for a very worthy cause.  Every year around 4,500 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer in the UK and the charity provides wide ranging practical and emotional support to families struggling with the effects of childhood cancer. 

Bryan Evans, the Music Director and Pianist of Diva Opera, is a consummate performer and leading exponent of Chamber Opera, being the Music Director of Les Azuriales Opera.  He had under his control a really good cast of singers, with the baritone Philip Smith singing Sharpless.  He was a Britten Pears and Samling young artist.  The Lieutenant Pinkerton Satriya Krisna was the Indonesian tenor who also studied at the National Opera Studio, whose soft forceful tenor voice was amplified throughout The Great Conservatory of Opera Syon Park.   

However, the real star of the show was the South Korean soprano Ha Young Lee singing her first Butterfly.  A former member of the NOS and Jette Parker Young Artists programme, she has sung extensively in Europe and was an almost ideal Butterfly, both vocally and in action.  Her voice was able to ‘float like a butterfly’ and ‘sting like a bee’ when required and she must find a greater stage to show her outstanding performance abilities.   

Congratulations to Diva Opera and its Director Cameron Menzies and General Director Anne Marabini Young.