May 02 2026, 16:00 (Local time). Italian Cultural Institute in New York - 686 Park Avenue - New York, NY. “I am truly grateful to the great public of New York for the extraordinarily enthusiastic reception they have given to my works… I conclude by shouting, ‘America forever.
These are the words of Giacomo Puccini, departing from New York in February 1907 at the end of his first tour in the United States, on the occasion of the American premieres of Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut. At his side was his wife Elvira, with whom the composer recorded a rare farewell message dedicated to the American public, now preserved in the Virgilio Boccardi Collection of the Historical Archive of Teatro La Fenice.
