Spectacular Madama Butterfly sparkles on the world’s biggest pop-op opera stage

Sydney Harbour sparkles as the 3rd annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (21
March – 13 April) opens with its spectacular water-top stage playing host to a
new production of Madama Butterfly. Under the stars and on the water’s edge,
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is the city’s grandest cultural event. Unique to
Sydney, this world-class event is like no other, turning the iconic Sydney
skyline into an operatic backdrop for a nightly audience of 3,000.

To view the multimedia assets, please click: [
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/66153-opera-australia-madama-butterfly ]

Complete with luxury seating, fine dining in the tree tops and breathtaking
staging, this is an opera experience like no other. The scale and design of the
staging is huge and spectacular – Madama Butterfly features an open-air stage
44 x 29m, a giant sun and moon rising from the Harbour, a Japanese bamboo
forest and nightly fireworks.

A cast of 60 artists hail from 11 different countries including Japan,
Korea, Russia, Siberia, Australia and Spain, with two casts alternating
performances, led by Hiromi Omura (Japan) and Hyeseoung Kwon (South Korea) in
the title role. It takes 626 cast, crew, musicians and production staff to
stage the show and a full orchestra plays live beneath the stage.

This striking new production of Madama Butterfly is led by Spanish creative
team La Fura dels Baus, including Director Alex Olle, Set Designer Alfons
Flores and Costume Designer Lluc Castells.

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour began in 2012, as part of Opera Australia’s
goal to make opera more accessible. It’s quickly become one of the most popular
cultural events ever staged in Australia, winning many awards and attracting
new audiences. Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is supported by Destination NSW as
part of the NSW Government tourism and events strategy, together with the
International Foundation for Arts and Culture.

Sydney is unrivalled in Australia in its capacity to stage exclusive events
that have the whole world tuning in. Destination NSW has been at the forefront
in creating and winning world-class events that put Sydney on the global front
page. These events deliver in excess of 6 million visitors to Sydney every
year, and generate spending by those visitors of around AU$6.4 billion

Stills, video and time-lapse are available and will be regularly updated at:

http://opera.org.au/aboutus/media_centre