Chinese soprano He Hui made her Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” debut on 9 November in the lead role in Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. This might not be quite the first time a Chinese singer has the lead in one of these international broadcasts—but then again, it might be—but it is still an extremely rare occurrence and worthy of note.
The transmission of the soprano’s 180th performance of Puccini’s heroine—streamed live to cinemas throughout the United States and internationally—will have brought her before audiences in size and geographical reach orders of magnitude greater than a performance in any given opera house.
He Hui sang against tenor Bruce Sledge as Pinkerton, stepping in for the indisposed Andrea Carè and making his role debut, and Paolo Szot as the US Consul Sharpless.