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The mesmerizing beauty and heart-rending tragedy of Giacomo Puccini’s poignant Madame Butterfly returns to Austin Opera in April 2025.

In one of opera’s most heartbreaking stories, the young geisha Cio-Cio-San, affectionately known as “Butterfly,” is seduced by the dashing U.S. Navy Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton. After a hasty wedding separating Cio-Cio-San from her family, Pinkerton abandons her to return to America. Cio-Cio-San raises their son with the help of her maid Suzuki and never loses faith in her true love, but when Pinkerton’s ship finally returns to the harbor three years later, her faith is replaced by devastating despair.