MET 2019/2020 - Giacomo Puccini: Turandot
Opera Broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, revival, 182 min, 2019
In Italian, with English and Hungarian subtitles
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Set Designer: Franco Zeffirelli, Costume Designer: Anna Anni and Dada Saligeri, Choreographer: Chiang Ching, Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Cast: Christine Goerke (Turandot), Eleonora Buratto (Liù), Roberto Aronica (Calàf), James Morris (Timur)
Puccini’s final opera is an epic fairy tale set in a China of legend, loosely based on a play by 18th-century Italian dramatist Carlo Gozzi. Featuring a most unusual score with an astounding and innovative use of chorus and orchestra, it is still recognizably Puccini, bursting with instantly appealing melody. The unenviable task of completing the opera’s final scene upon Puccini’s sudden death was left to the composer Franco Alfano. Conductor Arturo Toscanini oversaw Alfano’s contribution and led the world premiere.
Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguinconducts Franco Zeffirelli’s celebratedproduction of Turandot, whichstars Christine Goerkein the title role of the icy Chinese princess who has renounced all men. Roberto Aronica singsCalàf, the suitor who riskshis head for her handand sings the famed aria “Nessun dorma.” Eleonora Buratto isthe slave girl Liù, andJames MorrisisCalàf’s long-lost father, Timur.
