It was a special Friday evening for 20 law students from Düsseldorf. On 3 May 2019 they visited the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Opera House, and saw Puccini's “Madama Butterfly” together. The evening was organized by Professor Rupprecht Podszun and his team. Sarah Langenstein, a research associate at the chair, had offered an introduction for opera newcomers.

The piece deals with the tragic love between a Japanese geisha and an American officer. The point for the group was not, however, to engage in a comparison of family law in Japan and the USA – and this does play a role in “Madama Butterfly”. They wanted to see opera as a great piece of art and a cultural production that requires management and also legal skills. Actually, such issues are the subject of a guest lecture by Alexandra Stampler-Brown, managing director of the Düsseldorf Opera (trained as a lawyer). The visit to the opera served as a preparatory event for this lecture. It became a memorable night for the students. Even those who had not yet been opera fans were carried away by the emotions and the great music on stage. At the end, there were standing ovations from the Düsseldorf audience for the ensemble and the orchestra.