Madama Butterfly, Macerata Opera Festival, July 2017

 

“Ovations for Maria José Siri...”
Very long applauses for the premiere of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Macerata Sferisterio, with ovations and low show stopping rounds of clapping for Maria José Siri, undisputed protagonist of the evening, who as Cio-Cio-San repeated the success obtained at the inauguration of La Scala's season last December.”
Ansa.it

“The cast ... revolves around Maria José Siri, the same Cio-Cio-San of the Scala inauguration, whose authority in this role is by now  out of question.”
Enrico Girardi, Il Corriere della Sera

“If last year Maria José Siri's Norma should have deserved to be the inaugural opera, this year Maria José Siri's Madama Butterfly should have deserved to be the inaugural opera. Emotion, poetry, Japan and above all great voices: finally the journey of the MOF has penetrated into the most intimate folds of the Far East. The Uruguayan soprano does not simply sing Cio-Cio-San, she is the fifteen year old Cio-Cio-San, naive, deluded and in love, delicate and fragile like a butterfly. Supported by an excellent cast, Siri, already acclaimed in the same role last December at the La Scala inauguration under Maestro Chailly, portrays a superlative Butterfly, giving voice and body, also through a masterful acting, to each single nuance of the soul.”
Maria Stefana Gelsomini, Cronache Maceratesi“

“Concerning the artistic side, the Macerata debut of this Madama Butterfly co-produced with the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, where it had been staged last September, was dominated by the regal voice of Uruguayan soprano Maria José Siri, wildly applauded by the audience has it had happened twelve months ago in Norma.”
Pierfrancesco Giannangeli, Il Resto del Carlino

A thrilling Butterfly, Siri was superlative”
“The success of the evening, as far as the singing was concerned, was due to - as it was easily foreseeable - the marvelous performance of Maria José Siri as Cio-Cio-San/Butterfly, portrayed by the artist with spontaneous and intelligent interpretative measure, with a vibrant intensity apt to stimulate an intense participation.”
Fabio Brisighelli, Il Corriere Adriatico

“The most successful production of the season was Madama Butterfly with which Maria José Siri, after her success at La Scala in the 1904 version, sang for the first time the definite version of the opera ...a remarkable performance greeted with enthusiastic applauses.”
Gabriele Cesaretti, Musica

“The cast was dominated by the compelling Cio-Cio-San, at her debut in the “traditional” version after the series of La Scala performances in the version of the premiere. Siri looked much more relaxed and calm compared to the past December 7, throwing herself in the role of Butterfly with a passion and enthusiasm matching a high impact stage presence: the pinnacle was the splendid finale, where she climbed on the stage in front of the projector turned on in order to perform a ritual dance with a knife in front of Suzuki and the other geishas, and only on the very last chord she made a very swift gesture to sever her carotid.
The Uruguayan soprano's Butterfly is a woman since the very beginning, starting her life journey less than as a seduced and abandoned girl than as a betrayed wife, thanks to her homogenous and good sized voice, which perfectly bends to the love and grief experiences that mark the path of the anguished geisha (…). Remarkable was “Tu, tu, piccolo Iddio”, where the force of the accent and the ample “cavata” reached their acme.”
Domenico Ciccone, Operaclick”

“Maria José Siri, as Cio-Cio-San, stood out as the queen of the entire festival: hers was by far the most pliable, nuanced, polished, vibrant and resonating singing, able to convey with her acting skills a  highly touching character rich with dignity.
Francesco Lora, L'ape musicale

“Maria José Siri's great performance as Madama Butterfly brightened the second evening of the Macerata Opera Festival ...”
Sandro Petrone, Picchio News

“Maria José Siri (Cio-Cio-San) and Manuela Custer (Suzuki) were perfect : they handle the extremely difficult Puccini writing with the greatest passion and professionalism. Siri feels into her soul what she sings and communicates it like few others, thus creating a perfect cohesion between the Puccinian idea and the unveiled vital passion. 
Marco Ranaldo,Sipario.it

“In the title role, Uruguayan soprano Maria José Siri, who, fully comfortably stepping into the the composer's mind and intentions, gave life to Cio-Cio-San, the girl in love, with naturalness and spontaneity; very delicate, but not at all anonymous, in her entrance, she was able to aptly dose her resources of beautiful phrasing, heart-felt dynamics, and great emotional pathos; her love disillusion already starts from the first aria of Act II, Un bel dì vedremo, only to grow in crescendo and drama all the way to Tu, tu, tu Piccolo Iddio; her strong and secure voice always aided by determinate intentions, found the appropriate accents and right dynamics for a interpretation characterized by a great maturity.”
Simone Tomey, Gli amici della musica