TURANDOT

Opera by Giacomo Puccini

Duration 2:40 Intermission 2
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles
TURANDOT

Preview


The Sofia Opera opens its new season on 27 and 29 September with gala performances of "Turandot" by Giacomo Puccini, dedicated to the year of the great Italian Maestro. For the first time in Bulgaria, the world-famous conductor Daniel Oren, Anna Pirozzi in the role of Princess Turandot and Jorge de León in the role of Prince Calaf.
 

Synopsis

Characters:
TURANDOT Princess of China
ALTOUM Emperor of China
TIMUR the deposed King of Tartary
PRINCE CALAF his son
LIÙ a slave girl
PING Lord Chancellor
PONG Majordomo
PANG Head chef of the Imperial Kitchen
A MANDARIN The Prince of Persia (silent)
The Executioner (silent)
imperial guards, the executioner’s men, priests, mandarins, dignitaries, servants, soldiers, ghosts of dead men, crowd

Synopsis
:

Act I

At sunset. A square in Peking. The mandarin announces before the crowd that Turandot, the daughter of the Emperor Altoum, will marry the one who answers the three riddles asked by her. If he fails, he will be beheaded. The crowd is agitated and requests the successive victim – a Persian prince – to be immediately beheaded. Among the crowd is also Timur, the deposed King of Tartary, accompanied by his slave-girl Liù. In his face, Calaf, the prince who was forced to hide his name, recognizes his father. There comes the executioner together with his men. As soon as the moon appears, will begin the execution impatiently expected. The youth of the Prince of Persia awakes the sympathy and the crowd is calling on Turandot – Have pity on him! Have pity on him! And the malediction freezes on Calaf’s lips, when he sees the princess sparkling in her imperious and almost unreal beauty. Neglecting the warnings of the ministers, Ping, Pang and Pong and Liù’s supplications, Calaf decides to attempt the riddles.

Act II

Ping, Pang and Pong lament the fate of China because many innocent people have died and continue to die on Turandot’s will. They dream of their homelands and the life far away from the palace. Their great wish is that princess Turandot could fall in love. The announcement of the beginning of the trial gets them back to the cruel reality in Peking. The crowd has filled in the square in front of the palace. The Emperor sits on his throne surrounded by the wise men holding in their hands rolls with the answers of the riddles. The Emperor tries to make Calaf change his mind, and Turandot tells that through her trial she gets revenge for the ravishment and the murder of a Chinese princess. But Calaf is adamant. The answer of the first riddle he guesses without any hesitation – that’s hope! Then follows the second one – blood! Furious, Turandot asks the third riddle – What is like ice, but burns like fire and can at the same time make you king and slave? Calaf again replies correctly – this is Turandot herself. The defeated princess supplicates the emperor not to let her daughter become the slave of a foreigner, but Altoum answers her that he cannot break his word of honour. Calaf doesn’t want to marry without being loved and decides to die under one condition – before sunrise Turandot must guess his name. The crowd cheers for the victor and for its wise emperor.

Act III

Night. The voices of the shouting heralds can be herd – This night, none shall sleep in Peking. Ping, Pang and Pong are trying to tempe Calaf to reveal his name to them. Liù and Timur are caught because they were seen together with the prince. The girl-slave who has been hiding her love for Calaf for a long time now, kills herself because she feared she could disclose his name. This fact moves Turandot deeply, but her real transformation happens in Calaf’s arms. She already knows his name: it is LOVE!

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Author's composition:

Giacomo Puccini
Composer

Giacomo Puccini

Giuseppe Adami
Libretto

Giuseppe Adami

Renato Simoni
Libretto

Renato Simoni

Carlo Gozzi
Based on the play of the same name by

Carlo Gozzi

Nizami Ganjavi
Based on the plot of the poem "Seven Beauties" by

Nizami Ganjavi

Cast

Anna Pirozzi
Turandot, chinese princess

Anna Pirozzi

Emil Pavlov
The Emperor Altoum, her father

Emil Pavlov

Svetozar Rangelov
Timur, the dispossessed King of Tartary

Svetozar Rangelov

Jorge de León
Prince Calaf, son of Timur

Jorge de León

Rosa Feola
Liù, a young slave-girl

Rosa Feola

Atanas Mladenov
Ping, Grand Vizier

Atanas Mladenov

Angel Antonov
Pang, General Butler

Angel Antonov

Daniel Ostretsov
Pong, A great Imperial Chef

Daniel Ostretsov

Vesselin Mihaylov
A Mandarin

Vesselin Mihaylov

Stoyan Findzhikov
The Prince of Persia

Stoyan Findzhikov

Production team:

Daniel Oren
Conductor

Daniel Oren

Plamen Kartaloff
Director

Plamen Kartaloff

Svetlin Ivelinov
Choreographer

Svetlin Ivelinov

Vera Petrova
Assistant director

Vera Petrova

Violeta Dimitrova
Chorus Master

Violeta Dimitrova

Maria Evstatieva
Concert Master

Maria Evstatieva

Dimitar Kostantsaliev
HEAD OF DVTF "TALASUMCHE"

Dimitar Kostantsaliev

Stefka Georgieva
Stage Manager

Stefka Georgieva

Teodor Georgiev
Stage Manager

Teodor Georgiev

Yolanta Smolyanova
Co-repetiteur

Yolanta Smolyanova

Svetlana Ananievska
Co-repetiteur

Svetlana Ananievska

Translation

Simeon Todorov