Madama Butterfly. Photo Credit: Opera Omaha

Nearly 4,000 people will have a chance to enjoy their first-ever opera performance in Charlotte this week – for free. In effort to bring opera to new audiences, last fall Knight Foundation announced it would reserve all the seats to Opera Carolina’s Jan. 28 performance of Madama Butterfly and distribute the tickets to members of the greater Charlotte community who had never before attended an opera. Tickets were distributed earlier this month on a first-come, first-served basis to those that had registered online in December. Due to an overwhelming response to the request for tickets, an extra free performance was added on Jan. 24 to accommodate more first-time opera-goers.   Madama Butterfly is considered to be Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece and is often cited as one of the most popular and best-loved operas.

In explaining Knight’s support for the performances, Susan Patterson, program director/Charlotte at Knight Foundation, says:

“If you ask opera novices if they want to go see their first opera, a lot of them are put off by the cost, but we’re eliminating that barrier. We’re hoping to engage a wider audience in the arts. As we’ve seen through the success of Random Acts of Culture ®, people are often mesmerized by powerful, evocative music and we want to encourage that kind of participation here in Charlotte.”

After winning tickets to a performance, opera-novice @mindofandre tweeted: “Sweet! Just won tix to see Madame Butterfly (never been to opera before) in Charlotte. Thanks @knightfdn!” We hope you, and all the others who will attend their first opera, enjoy the performance. Additional support for the Jan. 24 performance is provided by the Arts and Science Council, the Foundation for the Carolinas, the Hearst Corporation and several other private donors.