Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Announces a Masterpiece of Italian Opera:
Puccini’s Lush Score Delivers a Timeless
Exploration of Love and Betrayal
November 14, 15, and 16, 2025
at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
KANSAS CITY, MO (October 10, 2025) — Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah
Sandler Kemper today announced the second production of the 2025-26 season, Giacomo Puccini’s
masterpiece, Madame Butterfly. Last performed in Kansas City in 2018, Madame Butterfly will run for three
performances November 14, 15, and 16 at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the
Performing Arts (1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO, 64108).
An all-star cast will take the Kauffman stage for Madame Butterfly, with many making their Lyric Opera
debuts, including soprano Yunuet Laguna as Cio-Cio-San for the Friday and Sunday performances and Ann
Toomey as Cio-Cio-San for the Saturday performance. Also debuting with the Lyric Opera are tenor Spencer
Hamlin as Goro, bass-baritone Christian Simmons as The Bonze, and bass Robert Feng as The Imperial
Commissioner. Director E. Loren Meeker and set and costume designer Christopher Oram will make their
Lyric Opera debuts.
Tenor Viktor Antipenko returns to Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Carmen, 2022) in the role of Lieutenant
Pinkerton. Mezzo-soprano Alice Chung, former Lyric Opera Apprentice Artist, returns to the Lyric
(Rigoletto, 2018. Eugene Onegin, 2017) in the role of Suzuki. Baritone Jarrett Ott returns to Lyric Opera (The
Barber of Seville, 2018) in the role of Sharpless. Baritone Alex Smith is a Resident Artist at the Lyric Opera
and returns to the Lyric stage (The Barber of Seville, 2024) in the role of Prince Yamadori. Mezzo-soprano
Resident Artist Christina Grohowski will appear on the Lyric stage for the second time this season
(Cinderella, 2025) as Kate Pinkerton. On the creative team, conductor Roberto Kalb returns to Lyric Opera
(Carmen, 2022, Cavalleria rusticana | Pagliacci, 2023), as does lighting designer Driscoll Otto (The Barber of
Seville, 2018, Cinderella, 2025), and wig and makeup designer David Zimmerman (for many Lyric Opera
productions including Turandot, 2025, Cinderella, 2025, and The Barber of Seville, 2018). Lyric Opera’s Head
of Music Staff Piotr Wiśniewski will be chorus master and assistant conductor.
Sandler Kemper stated, “Welcome to our second production of the 2025-2026 season and Lyric Opera’s
much-awaited return to four fully staged operas at the Kauffman Center. We are thrilled to present Puccini’s
masterpiece, a timeless tale of love and betrayal, Madame Butterfly. With beautiful costumes, gorgeous set
design, and incredible voices, this production touches the deepest corners of the human heart, capturing
everything audiences love about opera. We can’t wait to share Puccini’s masterpiece with our community.”
A timeless exploration of love and
betrayal, Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s
Madame Butterfly will deliver the
magic of opera: brilliant sets, vivid
lighting design, gorgeous costumes and
of course Giacomo Puccini’s magnificent
score.
Madame Butterfly at the Kauffman
Center for the Performing Arts, 1601
Broadway, Kansas City, MO, 64108
November 14, 15, and 16, 2025
High-resolution photos can be found
here.
Through a heartless marriage of
convenience, American naval officer
Lieutenant Pinkerton ensnares young
Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), leading her to
a tragic and profoundly unjust fate. A
masterpiece of Italian opera, Madame
Butterfly‘s lush score and timeless
exploration of love, betrayal, and
cultural clash soars with operatic
grandeur. The enduring power
of Butterfly lies in its ability to touch
Madame Butterfly
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64108)
- Friday, November 14, 2025, at 7:30 pm
- Saturday, November 15, 2025, at 7:30 pm
- Sunday, November 16, 2025, at 2:00 pm
Madame Butterfly (1904)
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
Artists and Artistic Team
Conductor: Roberto Kalb
Director: E. Loren Meeker*
Set and Costume Designer: Christopher Oram*
Lighting Designer: Driscoll Otto
Wig and Make-up Designer: David Zimmerman
Cio-Cio-San: Yunuet Laguna (November 14 and 16)*
Cio-Cio-San: Ann Toomey (November 15)*
Lieutenant Pinkerton: Viktor Anitpenko
Suzuki: Alice Chung**
Sharpless: Jarrett Ott
Goro: Spencer Hamlin*
Prince Yamadori: Alex Smith^
The Bonze: Christian Simmons*
The Imperial Commissioner: Robert Feng
* Lyric Opera of Kansas City Debut
^ Lyric Opera Resident Artist
** former Apprentice Artist from 2017-2018
Content advisory: Madame Butterfly centers around the arranged marriage of an American naval officer
and a Japanese teenage girl (portrayed by an adult) and contains a depiction of suicide.
Community Engagement
Community Conversations
Community Conversations use opera to discover our shared
humanity, on and off the stage. We invite the culturally curious to
explore the “here and now” implications of productions in a
series of free events featuring live music and stimulating conversation. No prior opera knowledge necessary!
Community Conversation: Eyes Full of Magic
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
The Museum of Kansas City, 3218 Gladstone Blvd, Kansas
City, MO 64123
Join Lyric Opera of Kansas City and The Museum of Kansas
City for an immersive gathering exploring Japanese American
relations, past, present, and future. Deepen your connection
to the upcoming production of Madame Butterfly by meeting
Miss Shizuoka—a cherished friendship doll gifted from Japan
to Kansas City—and viewing an original costume from Boston
Opera’s 1910 production of the opera. Bites are provided by KC Craft Ramen. Musical Performance by Three Trails Taiko. RSVP here.
Opera Dives Deep
This free lecture series provides audiences with fresh
insights from regional scholars and industry professionals
to enrich appreciation and understanding of the operas in
our season. Both established operagoers and curious
newcomers alike are sure to make discoveries.
Opera Dives Deep will be held in a new location this year—
at the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Kansas City, now
the Kirk Family YMCA, Respect/Responsibility Room,
222 W. 11th St., Kansas City, MO 64105.
Visit https://kcopera.org/opera-dives-deep/ for more information.
Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.,
Speaker: Dr. Neal Long
Title: Tragically Timeless
Description: One of the most popular and widely
performed operas, Madame Butterfly, is a tragic story of
unrequited love, betrayal, and sacrifice. A time capsule of
early twentieth-century cultural perspectives, this piece
continues to reach modern audiences with its poignant
score and heart wrenching plot. Join us to rediscover the
vivid arias, emotional depths, and riveting drama of this
classic Puccini opera.
RSVP here.
Location: Kirk Family YMCA, Respect/Responsibility Room, 222 W. 11th St., Kansas City, MO 64105
Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Speakers: Dr. Kunio Hara
Description: In fashioning Madame Butterfly, librettists
Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa consulted several literary
stories written by Westerners with connections to Japan.
Composer Giacomo Puccini gathered examples of Japanese
music, which he used liberally in the opera’s score. While
the opera draws heavily on Western tropes about Japan
and East Asia, it also contains elements of truth—a
combination that has captivated audiences worldwide for
over 120 years. Join us with guest speaker Dr. Kunio Hara
as we examine this tension between fiction and history,
fantasy, and reality, within Puccini’s “tragedia giapponese” (“Japanese tragedy”). RSVP here.
Location: Kirk Family YMCA, Respect/Responsibility Room, 222 W. 11th St., Kansas City, MO 64105
Pre-Opera Talk
For all ticketed operagoers, come early to learn about the who, what, where, when and why of
Madame Butterfly, Dr. Neal Long will lead the exploration of this masterpiece of Italian opera.
Begins fifty minutes before curtain. There is open seating for Pre-Opera Talks in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. Reservations not required: just arrive early!
Single Ticket Information
Single tickets start at $44.50 For ticket information, visit kcopera.org/ or contact Lyric Opera Ticketing &
Patron Services at (816) 471-7344.
Underwriting and Sponsorship
The 2025-2026 season is sponsored by the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts and the Muriel McBrien
Kauffman Family Foundation, with public support from the State of Missouri and the Missouri Arts Council, a
state agency. Cinderella is supported, in part, by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist
Development Fund and The Sunderland Foundation.
About Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Established in 1958, Lyric Opera of Kansas City is one of the world’s premier regional opera companies and
brings high-quality live operatic performances to the Kansas City region. Renowned for its dedication to
excellence, Lyric Opera presents a diverse repertoire featuring original language productions from the
traditional opera canon alongside contemporary and American operas. Lyric Opera is committed to lifelong
learning through robust education, family, and community engagement programming. Through innovative
initiatives and commissions, these programs deepen humanistic connections, artistic literacy, and socialemotional learning. Lyric Opera of Kansas City remains an integral
