A princess avoiding marriage creates an obstructive 3-question riddle with a fatal penalty for failure. When a prince succeeds, her reaction, and the prince's response, cause senseless tragedy.
Director: Cameron Kirkpatrick
Conductor: Andrea Licata
Other performances in my notes (rated 7 or 8).
First performance at Milan, April 25, 1926
Time: legendary
Place: Peking
I like the visuals: lots of interesting movement; don't miss the dancing Temptress in Act III. Of course, the music is terrific. The performances are not stellar. And I watched it late at night when I feel the need to keep the volume down, so I'm not sure if the audio is all that good. It seems as though the mics were either too close or too far from the singers, and perhaps the audience wasn't well recorded; they didn't seem to give much appreciation except to Liu.
Cast:
PRINCESS TURANDOT Soprano : Susan Foster
THE EMPEROR OF CHINA (Altoum) Tenor : Benjamin Rasheed
TIMUR, exiled King of Tartary Bass : Jud Arthur
CALAF, his son (the “Unknown Prince”) Tenor : Rosario La Spina
LIÙ, a slave girl Soprano : Hyeseoung Kwon
PING, Grand Chancellor China Baritone : Andrew Moran
PANG, Supreme Lord of Provisions Tenor : Graeme Macfarlane
PONG, Supreme Lord of the Imperial Kitchen Tenor : David Corcoran
A HERALD (A Mandarin) Baritone : Shane Lowrencev
Rated (none)
Opera Australia, cond. Licata; 7
Rated (none)
Opera Australia, cond. Licata; 7
