Opera stars to sing ‘Madama Butterfly’ with NJ Festival Orchestra in Westfield and Madison

ASAKO TAMURA

Soprano Asako Tamura, who has sung the title role of “Madama Butterfly” at Royal Albert Hall in London, will do so at the New Jersey Festival Orchestra’s two New Jersey productions of the classic Puccini opera this weekend. They will take place March 3 at 7 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield, and March 4 at 3 p.m. at the Concert Hall at Drew University in Madison.

Tenor Noah Stewart — who has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and released an album, Noah, that debuted in the Top 20 of the U.K. albums charts in 2012 — will play Pinkerton, the U.S. naval officer who falls in love with Madame Butterfly, a Japanese geisha. They will be joined in the cast by mezzo-soprano Sabrina Kim as Susuki, Butterfly’s maid; and baritone Kyle Albertson as Sharpless, the U.S. consul at Nagasaki.

Others in the cast will include Andrew Koshman as Prince Yamadori (Madame Butterfly’s suitor), Michaëla Aldridge as Kate (Pinkerton’s American wife), and Xuefang Wang as Madame Butterfly’s uncle, a monk.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles, with costumes, staging and design by the production’s artistic director, Maria Todaro. David Wroe will conduct the orchestra.

In a press release, Wroe called the cast members “fabulous singers” and said that “Each of them is a star who has already graced the stages of concert halls and opera houses across the world.”

The Westfield show will be preceded by a free pre-concert lecture by music historian Michael Rosin, at 6 p.m.

For more information, and tickets, visit njfestivalorchestra.org.