Spotlight on Dayton Opera

Japanese artist Jun Kaneko is known for his gigantic ceramic sculptures in more than 40 museums. But with Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly," opening at Dayton Opera on Saturday, Kaneko makes his first foray into designing for the theater.

When it premiered at Opera Omaha in March, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the production captured Kaneko's "vivid distinctive palette of patterns and colors into a vibrantly visual experience of the opera, at the same time modern and timeless."

The cast includes Indira Mahajan as Butterfly, Richard Crawley as Pinkerton, Layna Chianakas as Suzuki, Malcolm MacKenzie as Sharpless and Cincinnati bass David Michael, a former brand manager at P&G, in role of the Bonze.

Performances are 8 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 21) and Oct. 27; 3 p.m. Oct. 29, in the Schuster Center, Dayton. Tickets: $15-$85; 937-228-3630, www.daytonopera.org.

Kaneko’s art is on display in the Schuster Center’s Wintergarden and at the Dayton Art Institute through Nov. 5. Production drawings may be viewed at the Dayton Visual Arts Center through Nov. 4.