:Disambiguation: For the play see Madama Butterfly.
His opera repertoire includes many Verdi operas, including Aida, Simon Boccanegra, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco; Puccini operas such as Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot; as well as Andrea Chenier (Giordano), Norma (Bellini), La Juive (Halevy) and Carmen (Bizet).
He died while conducting a performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at Sigmund Stern Grove, an outdoor amphitheatre in western San Francisco where free summer concerts have been given since 1938.
His discography includes recordings of La forza del destino (1952), La Gioconda (1952), Madama Butterfly (with Renata Tebaldi, 1952), Simon Boccanegra (with Victoria de los Ángeles, Tito Gobbi and Boris Christoff, 1957), Tosca (with Tebaldi and Enzo Mascherini, 1952) and La traviata (1952).
The 2007 production of Madama Butterfly, a co-production with Opera Omaha, featured set and costume designs by the visual artist Jun Kaneko.
His commitments for 2003 included: Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Andrea Chénier and Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Regio di Torino, La Gioconda and Don Carlos at the Zurich Opera, Otello at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Aida at the Liceo of Barcelona.
The tenor sang regularly in Naples and Bologna, and made guest appearances at the New York City Opera in 1947: La traviata (with Enzo Mascherini as Giorgio), Rigoletto (opposite Giuseppe Valdengo and Virginia MacWatters), Madama Butterfly, La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia (conducted by Julius Rudel) and Don Giovanni.
Madama Europa was the nickname, or perhaps the real name, of Europa Rossi (fl. 1600) sister of the Jewish violinist and composer Salamone Rossi, who was one of the first opera singers.
In 1962, her recording of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly won a Grammy Award.
She also sang there in Mefistofele (directed by Tito Capobianco), Madama Butterfly (opposite José Carreras), Pagliacci, Susannah, and Die tote Stadt (in Frank Corsaro's production).
Robert Kerns made relatively few recordings, the best known being Madama Butterfly, opposite Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Christa Ludwig, under Herbert von Karajan.
Positive reviews led to further performances in both Madama Butterfly and Mascagni's Iris in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, before returning to London to work with the Beecham company.