In the main roles: Minnie: Olga Romanko Sheriff Jack Rance: Alessandru Agache Dick Johnson alias Ramerrez: Lee Jeong-Won Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Carlo Montanaro Joint production by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Palace of Arts In the final performance of the Palace of Arts’ Puccini Year, taking place just a week before the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Puccini’s birth, we will hear his opera which evokes the cruel world of the “Wild West” – naturally awash with love, jealousy, revenge and not least, the eternal melodies that Puccini was able to ceaselessly conjure from his imagination. It is perhaps not surprising that this rarely performed opera, the “Western on the opera stage”, started its glorious career in America on December 10th 1910 at the New York Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. The three leading actors of the Budapest performance are well known also by Hungarian audiences. Minni, the passionate and pro-active female lead will be played by the star of the Moscow Bolshoi Olga Romanko who is much in demand as a Verdi and Puccini performer. Lee Jeong Won was born in Korea and exploded into world consciousness just with his performance as Dick Johnson at the Wexford Festival. Born in Cluj, Romania, Alexandru Agache has sung at virtually all the world’s leading opera houses and collaborated with such star conductors as Daniele Gatti, James Levine, Fabio Luisi and Sir Georg Solti, with whom he was the baritone for his final recording, Bartók’s Cantata Profana.

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