Salt Marsh Opera (SMO) presents Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 1, at 3 p.m., at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook, Conn.

This tender opera is presented in honor of Salt Marsh Opera’s 15th anniversary under the musical direction of SMO Artistic Director Simon Holt, who is also Music Director at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.

Set in the early 20th century in Nagasaki, Japan, an American Naval officer arrives in Japan and enters into marriage with a young geisha named Madame Butterfly only to abandon her and return to the US and wed an American bride.  The cast features Old Lyme residents Brian Cheney as B.F. Pinkerton and Ashley Kerr as Cio-Cio San.

Through sweeping and beautiful music audiences will be taken on a gripping and tragic journey as Madame Butterfly awaits the officer’s return.