A staging of "Madama Butterfly" lives or dies with the casting of the lead.

The role is so demanding that few singers are able or willing to subject themselves to undertaking the role, said Dr. Francisco Cano, founder and president of Valley Lyric Opera, which has set two productions of the opera.

"It’s hard to do it because it’s hard to find someone for the lead role," he said. "It is so difficult even the top singers in the world won’t do it. But it is very popular."

Giacomo Puccini’s music is big, requiring the singers to sing even bigger, Cano said.

"You have to be screaming practically for almost three hours," Cano said.

Aside from stamina and projection, the lead role, a soprano, requires the ability to sing very high notes.

Cano found the singer he was looking for in Dr. Misook Yun, an assistant professor of voice at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University. He believes she cannot only do the role, but do it well.

"She has everything it takes to do this role. I think she can do this anywhere."

A native of South Korea, Dr. Yun had sung parts of the opera before, but never the entire work.

Valley Lyric Opera unintentionally made the role more demanding by cutting the opera from its length of about two hours and 45 minutes to two hours and 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the parts cut are the times when Dr. Yun would be off stage and could rest.

Opera organizers compensated by extending the time between acts.

Cano will handle the tenor role of B.F. Pinkerton; baritone Dr. Alan Mosher, associate professor of music at Dana, is performing Sharpless; YSU students Sean Teets and Tifton Graves are splitting the tenor role of Goro; and mezzo-soprano Megan Morris will portray Susuki.

"Madama Butterfly" is Valley Lyric Opera’s third major production but is scaled down from "La Traviata" and "Noye’s Flood." There will be no orchestral accompaniment, props or staging, although the singers will be in costume.

The smaller scale for "Madama Butterfly" shows Cano’s desire to limit his ambition for the company, born of economics. "La Traviata" lost $7,000 in 1996 and "Noye’s Flood" in 1998 came in $3,000 in the red.

Cano canceled a production he had hoped to stage last year because even with a $10,000 state grant he came up $8,000 short.

Cano also wanted to lessen the amount of work for all involved. The organizing of "Noye’s Flood" was frustrating because some people who said they would do things didn’t, leaving a small group of people to do the lion’s share of the work, he said.

After the "traumatic experience" of staging "Noye’s Flood," Cano said he considered ending his operatic endeavors.

"I said I couldn’t let it die. I said we’ll keep it going and see where it takes me.

"It’s an act of love. It’s not something you do to make a lot of money. You can’t pay