Puccini - Turandot | Netrebko, Eyvazov, Leva, Furlanetto (Arena di Verona 2022)

Live broadcast of the famous production by Franco Zeffirelli at the Arena di Verona on August 10, 2022.

Composer: Giacomo Antonio Puccini
Librettist: Giuseppe Adami, and Renato Simoni
Premiere: 25 April 1926, Milan (La Scala)
Language: Italian
Synopsis: https://www.opera-arias.com/puccini/turandot/synopsis/
Translation(s): None

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it premiered in 1926 after the music was posthumously completed by Franco Alfano.

The opera is set in China and follows the Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot. In order to win her hand in marriage, a suitor must solve three riddles, with a wrong answer resulting in their execution. Calaf passes the test, but Turandot refuses to marry him. He offers her a way out: if she is able to guess his name before dawn the next day, he will accept death.

Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it premiered in 1926 after the music was posthumously completed by Franco Alfano. Turandot premiered at the La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy, on 25 April 1926, a year and five months after Puccini's death. It was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. In the middle of Act III, the orchestra stopped playing. Toscanini turned to the audience and announced, "Qui finisce l'opera, perché a questo punto il maestro è morto" ("Here the opera ends, because at this point the maestro died"). The curtain was then lowered. The second and subsequent performances of the 1926 La Scala season included Alfano's ending.

Cast & Characters:
Anna Netrebko: Turandot
Yusif Eyvazov: Calaf
Maria Teresa Leva: Liu
Ferruccio Furlanetto: Timur
Carlo Bosi: Imperatore Altoum
Gëzim Myshketa: Ping
Matteo Mezzaro: Pong
Ricardo Rados: Pang
Parc Youngjun: Mandarino

Choir, orchestra and ballet Arena di Verona
Conductor: Marco Armigliato
Production: Franco Zeffirelli