Ailyn Pérez as Madama Butterfly at the Teatro del Liceo, 2024 / Photo: David Ruano

Ailyn Pérez returns to the Met next month to sing what will only be her second Puccini role at the house, the title role in Madama Butterfly. Pérez sang her first Mimì in New York in 2016 and most recently performed the role there in 2024. Today’s excerpt comes from her first Vienna performances of the role from January 2025.

For a singer synonymous with Mimì, if not Puccini in general, Peréz has, surprisingly, taken on only two other Puccini roles in major houses: Tosca and Madga de Civry. But it hardly stretches the imagination to see her as, say, an ideal Suor Angelica or Lauretta or maybe even Manon Lescaut. In any event, her next big role debut will come in June when she sings her first Aïda in Dresden opposite Eve-Maud Hubeaux and Francesco Meli. Her husband, Soloman Howard, will be the Ramfis.

Puccini: La bohème, “Addio… Donde lieta uscì”

Ailyn Pérez

Conductor: Lorenzo Passerini
Wiener Staatsoper
26 January 2025
In-house