The metamorphosis of M. Butterfly: UK premiere for Huang Ruo’s opera

Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling)

Mark Stone (René Gallimard) and Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling)

Fleur Barron (Comrade Chin) and Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling)

Mark Stone (René Gallimard)

Mark Stone (Gallimard), Fleur Barron (Comrade Chin), the BBCSO and BBC Singers

By Mark Pullinger, 26 October 2024

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“a tremendous vehicle for Korean-American countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 25 October 2024

Huang Ruo, M. Butterfly (UK premiere)

Carolyn Kuan, Conductor

James Robinson, Director

Allen Moyer, Stage designer

James Schuette, Costume Designer

Christopher Akerlind, Lighting Designer

BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBC Singers

Kimberley Prescott, Revival Director

Greg Emetaz, Video projections

Mark Stone, René Gallimard

Kangmin Justin Kim, Song Liling

Fleur Barron, Comrade Chin, Shu Fung

Kevin Burdette, Judge, Manuel Toulon

Charne Rochford, Marc

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

The metamorphosis of M. Butterfly: Huang Ruo’s opera receives UK premiere