Bye Bye Butterfly Live Staging Premiere
July 20 & 21, 2024
📍 Los Angeles Theatre Center, Los Angeles
Long Beach Opera presents an exploration into the work of visionary composer Pauline Oliveros, featuring the first-ever live staging of her operatic work Bye Bye Butterfly.
Bye Bye Butterfly is presented in collaboration with the Latino Theater Company and East LA Creative.
![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62da2cb6a16dcf1cbdfbaa4d/5a36804d-d19c-4428-a646-c1c3e9b1b3c1/UltraViolet+BG+NoTextNoImage.png)
Bye Bye Butterfly Showtimes
Saturday
July 20
Sunday
July 21
![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62da2cb6a16dcf1cbdfbaa4d/5a36804d-d19c-4428-a646-c1c3e9b1b3c1/UltraViolet+BG+NoTextNoImage.png)
Bye Bye Butterfly Story
LBO is proud to bring you a two-show only, dynamic exploration of experimental opera highlighting the work of late composer and performer Pauline Oliveros. This full-length production will feature stagings of six of Oliveros’ groundbreaking pieces, centered around a first-ever, brand new live interpretation and performance of her influential operatic work, Bye Bye Butterfly (c.1965).
Award-winning composer, artist and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) expanded the concepts of sound with her potent, genre-defying approach to music, art and composition. As the visionary behind the philosophical approach “deep listening,” her works boldly explored new meditative and collective modes of music-making.
The show’s central performance is a landmark, live new version of Oliveros’ Bye Bye Butterfly – originally a two-channel tape, eight-minute-long composition made at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The piece served as Oliveros’ own critical engagement with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, in which she deconstructed and transformed the idea of a “traditional opera” to create an ethereal, disorienting soundscape.
“[Bye Bye Butterfly] bids farewell not only to the music of the 19th century, but also to the system of polite morality of that age and its attendant institutionalized oppression of the female sex.”
— Pauline Oliveros
LBO is thrilled to follow in Oliveros’ footsteps with our own reconstruction of Bye Bye Butterfly – a first-ever live staging and production of the piece surrounded by stagings of five additional Oliveros-composed and smaller operatic experiences. These will all be interpreted and responded to by a diverse subset of formidable artists using primarily her text scores and life’s work instead of traditional notation.
Oliveros’ operatic experiments will be newly arranged and led by Music Director Darian Donovan Thomas in his LBO debut. Thomas is a lauded composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist with credits that include appearances on NPR’s Tiny Desk and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Director, producer and East Los Angeles native McCall Cadenas serves as Visual Director–guiding Oliveros’ work as a staged experience leading an award winning design team all collaborating to create an immersive staged production in the Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC).
The show will be brought to life through a unique process between the entire cohort of artists, with leaders Thomas and Cadenas drawing inspiration from interviews with Oliveros on her own processes during her initial recording of Bye Bye Butterfly. It promises celebration of the power of collective art-making and showcase LBO's bold new focus on empowering genre-shifting teams of next-gen creatives that work together to merge and transcend genres.
![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62da2cb6a16dcf1cbdfbaa4d/d54c419b-653b-42b6-947c-2eaa86a133c1/ASUN_16.9_YellowBG+NoTextNoImage.png)
Bye Bye Butterfly Artists
Bye Bye Butterfly Venue
About the Venue
Located in the heart of the vibrant city of Los Angeles (just one block south of The Last Book Store) the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) is a cultural gem brought to life by the Latino Theater Company, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. As you step inside, you'll be transported into a world of artistic excellence and creativity.
The LATC Bar
Take a moment to savor the enchanting flavors of signature cocktails, meticulously crafted to tickle your taste buds and elevate your spirits. Whether you're a seasoned cocktail enthusiast or simply looking to add a touch of sophistication to your evening, the LATC Bar has something for everyone.
Wheelchair Accessibility
The LATC is wheelchair accessible and has a wheelchair accessible restroom, parking lot, and seating.