Renata Scotto

"Neither in the handsome designs nor Renata Scotto's staging is there anything to offend Verdi purists.  Scotto, the beloved Italian soprano turned stage director and vocal pedagogue, moves the singers and chorus around the stge with the dramatic insights of one who has been there, sung that. (She in fact portrayed Amelia opposite Luciano Pavarotti at Lyric in 1980.)  This is far more conservative than Chicago director Barbara Gaines' trendy update of "Macbeth," Lyric's other Verdi production of the season, and many patrons will rejoice in that fact."

-Chicago Tribune

 

"I doubt if there is anyone with more comprehensive of Madame Butterfly than Renata Scotto.  That wealth of experience paid rich dividends, creating one of the most absorbing and emotional butterflies I have seen in a very long time.  Scotto influence was obvious.  Together, she and Xini made everything phrase, gesture and expression count.  I have never been so aware of the overwhelming effect of silent pauses, moments when time stood still but emotions raced ahead most obviously when Sharpless asks Butterfly what she should do should Pinkerton not return; I confess to an ache in the pit of the stomach as this Butterfly silently contemplated such a future."

– Opera Now