Inaugural Musicology Colloquium with Dr. Kunio Hara

March 6, 2:30pm - 2:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Dept. of Music, Rm. 9

“Transpacific Madama Butterfly: Reframing and Refashioning Giacomo Puccini’s Japanese Tragedy, 1941–2026” Guest Speaker Dr. Kunio Hara, Associate Professor of Music History at the University of South Carolina In the wake of the sharp rise in anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly has once again attracted scrutiny for its negative impact on the lives of people of various East Asian ancestry. In response to this crisis, a cohort of Asian American musicians, directors, and advocates have organized public events to discuss and to reimagine the opera in ways that reflect their concerns as artists and citizens. As a scholar of Puccini’s opera with a Japanese background who have written on the contributions that Japanese musicians have made in the creation and dissemination of Madama Butterfly, I was invited to participate in several of these events. These occasions proved to be valuable opportunities to engage in in-depth conversations with Asian and Asian American artists. During these interactions, however, it became clear that the awareness about historic examples of Asian and Asian American interventions to staging the opera is relatively hidden, even among dedicated groups of musicians, suggesting a significant lacuna in the literature of Madama Butterfly. Indeed, existing musicological critiques of the opera by Susan McClary (2006), Ralph Locke (2009), Anthony Sheppard (2019), and others have helped us understand the insidious cultural work of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. However, they often overlook the contributions that performers, creative artists, and audience members of Asian descent have made in refining, promoting, and, at times, resisting Madama Butterfly.


Ticket Information
Free, Open to the Public

Event Sponsor
Department of Music, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Dr. Elina Hamilton, 8089567756, uhmmusic@hawaii.edu

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