Ailyn Pérez returns to The Metropolitan Opera this March, appearing in what is swiftly becoming a signature role for the soprano: the title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. She has previously performed as the iconic Cio-Cio San for Teatro Real de Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Houston Grand Opera, and made her Met debut of the role earlier this year.
Bachtrack raved about that performance, saying, “…not since the glory days of Renata Scotto have I been so emotionally moved and vocally satisfied until Ailyn Pérez took the Met stage….Pérez was complete, vocally and dramatically. It is interesting to watch a soprano mature and grow over a period of more than a decade; too often one notes vocal decline, complacency and/or a slight fudging of difficult passages. Here one sensed a soprano performing to her utmost artistic ability… Her “Un bel dì” was an object lesson in storytelling, almost a recited hallucination, and rose to the written forte B flat, which Pérez then reduced to a ghostly pianissimo for the orchestral coda. An opera in itself…. Her Death Scene, without a sob, was pathetic without being maudlin. She kept her dignity until the end.”
Pérez joins an exceptional cast in Anthony Minghella’s vibrant and beloved production, singing under the baton of Carlo Rizzi. Performing alongside Pérez are Matthew Polenzani and Adam Smith as Pinkerton, Hyona Kim and Jennifer Johnson Cano as Suzuki, and Andrzej Filończyk and Quinn Kelsey as Sharpless.