A beautiful Chinese princess has issued a decree for her suitors: whoever cannot solve her riddles to win her hand will be beheaded. As unlucky suitors fail and fall, up steps Calaf, a prince of the Tatar people.
The new, visually stunning version of Puccini’s Turandot at the Finnish National Opera delivers a universal message: regardless of who we are or where we come from, we are all looking for love. Director Sofia Jupither sets out to focus on the essence of Puccini’s interest in private and the public lives, power and responsibility, love and vulnerability. Puccini composed the opera in the heyday of exoticism and orientalism; an Europe-centric view of the Far East is in danger of distancing modern audiences from Puccini’s masterpiece. As Jupither describes in the interview below, her ambition is to pull down decades-old stereotypes embedded in the work and show the people beneath them, revealing the central themes of the opera, the psychology of the characters and a story of our society today.
Streamed LIVE on OperaVision on 16 February 2023 at 17:50 CET and available until 16 August 2023 at 12:00 CET 2023: https://operavision.eu/performance/turandot-2
0:00 Finnish National Opera
5:34 Introduction
16:34 Act 1 and 2
1:37:10 Intermission
2:08:40 Act 3
CAST
Turandot
Astrik Khanamiryan
Calaf
Mikheil Sheshaberidze
Liù
Reetta Haavisto
Ping
Jussi Merikanto
Pang
Mika Pohjonen
Pong
Tomas Pavilionis
Timur
Matti Turunen
Altoum
Jussi Miilunpalo
A Mandarin
Aapo Kilpelä
Handmaids
Annami Hylkilä
Helianna Herkkola
The Prince of Persia
Yusniel Estrada Viciedo
The Prince of Persia (silent role)
Armaan Madar
Music
Giacomo Puccini
Text
Renato Simoni
Conductor
Pietro Rizzo
Director
Sofia Adrian Jupither
Sets
Erlend Birkeland
Costumes
Maria Geber
Lighting
Ellen Ruge
Movement Director
Katarina Sörenson
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