Puccini : Turandot [VOD]
Puccini : Turandot
Giacomo Puccini wrote what was supposed to be his last opera at a time where, riddled with disease and old age as he was, he felt like his own turmoil was reflected in the outside world: itself staggering, unsteady, overwhelmed and smashed by the chaos of European diplomacy. In spite of these obstacles, he persevered and worked until the very end of his life on this opera that he left unfinished but that proved to be a “way out” for him in many ways. Drawn from an ancient Persian epic from the 13th century, Turandot was indeed an excuse to escape into a new dramatic universe, one made of unexpected sounds and symbols. Here, in a world removed both geographically and chronologically from his own reality, he gave into the seductive powers of exoticism and eroticism, just as his own heroin Princess Turandot abandons herself to the mysteries of love and forgiveness.
After twenty years of absence, Puccini’s Turandot was revived on the stage of the Teatro Real in a new production by American stage director Robert Wilson. One of the most important theatre and visual artist of our times, the director who gave life to Philip Glass’s Einstein of the Beach and who reinvented Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande hadn’t worked on a Puccini opera in twenty-five years, since his ground-breaking Madama Butterfly commissioned by the Paris Opera in 1993. This new encounter between his powerful visual universe and Puccini’s evocative music was bound to be an outstanding event. Carried out by a brilliant cast of singers, dominated by Irene Theorin as Turandot, Gregory Kunde as Calaf and Yolanda Auyanet as Liù, this magnificent production is conducted by the Teatro Real’s associate musical director Nicola Luisotti – and has been met with universal acclaim.
Puccini : Turandot [VOD]
‘Dramma lirico’ in three acts and five scenes
Libretto Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni
after the play Turandot by Carlo Gozzi
La Principessa Turandot Irene Theorin
Imperatore Altoum Raúl Giménez
Timur Andrea Mastroni
Liù Yolanda Auyanet
Il Principe Ignoto (Calaf) Gregory Kunde
Ping Joan Martín-Royo
Pang Vicenç Esteve
Pong Juan Antonio Sanabria
Un Mandarino Gerardo Bullón
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Real
Children Chorus of JORCAM
Conducted by Nicola Luisotti
Stage direction, scenography, lights Robert Wilson
Assistant stage director Nicola Panzer
Assistant to the scenography Stephanie Engeln
Costumes Jacques Reynaud
Assistant to the lighting design John Torres
Hair and make-up Manuela Halligan
Video Tomek Jeziorski
Dramaturgy José Enrique Macián
Chorus master Andrés Máspero
‘‘Theorin is one of the finest dramatic sopranos around; her voice is powerful, penetrating, she can be perfectly heard over the orchestra and chorus singing in forte, as she proved in her two resonant high C’s at the end of Act two. Her “In questa reggia” was a lesson of strong singing, legato phrases, contained anger, and an exquisite attack of all the diabolic intervals from low to high notes that Puccini wrote in this part’’ – OPERAWIRE
‘‘The best interpretation of all came from tenor Gregory Kunde in the part of Calaf: his singing and acting were perfect. He brilliantly solved the challenges of the best-known arias and the most difficult ones, and was superb in the much-awaited ‘Nessun dorma’. In short, it was an outstanding performance by one of the most important tenors of the moment.’’ – SEENANDHEARD
