In keeping with its philosophy to give audiences a memorable theatrical experience, The NBR New Zealand Opera's Genesis Energy Spring Season of Puccini's Turandot is a stylish, dramatic, and ground-breaking production.
The production was conceived for Welsh National Opera by Christopher Alden, one of America's foremost stage directors. Renowned for being inventive and for pushing the boundaries of opera direction, his interpretation of Turandot will take audiences on a remarkable emotional journey.
Turandot is one of the greatest, most widely performed operas in the world, containing some very beautiful and famous music - few opera arias are better known than Nessun dorma.
The compelling story is taken from Persian legend: the icy Chinese princess Turandot refuses to let any man have her. Princes seek her out but she ensures their defeat by demanding that they answer three impossible riddles - on pain of death. All have failed and been executed until an exiled prince enters into a battle of wits with the unattainable princess, with results both shocking and thrilling.
General Director of The NBR New Zealand Opera, Aidan Lang, says "This production of Turandot strips away the clichés that surround the opera to give audiences a bold and dramatic production that looks seriously at real human issues and resonates with our 21st century perspective on totalitarian regimes.
"When Puccini wrote Turandot in 1920, China was in a state of huge social and political upheaval which the Western powers watched with increasing concern. Director Christopher Alden asks questions and treats death and execution seriously, so the themes of cruelty and tyranny are put at centre stage, rather than being merely an incidental context for the story. He's produced a genuinely contemporary production, using the inbuilt theatricality of opera in a highly creative manner."
Heading the cast of leading New Zealand and international singers is New Zealand soprano Margaret Medlyn in the demanding title role. Alongside her is an equally impressive line-up: Dongwon Shin (Calaf), Maria Costanza Nocentini (Liù), Grant Dickson (Timur), Phillip Rhodes (Ping), Adrian McEniery (Pang), Benjamin Fifita Makisi (Pong), Terry Barry (Emperor Altoum), Malcolm Ede (Mandarin). Completing the cast list is Conductor Nicholas Braithwaite, the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (Auckland), and Vector Wellington Orchestra (Wellington).
The creative team comprises Restage Director Roy Rallo, Assistant Director Steven Anthony Whiting, Designer Paul Steinberg, and Lighting Designer Heather Carson.
Produced in association with Welsh National Opera and sung in Italian with English surtitles, the Genesis Energy Spring Season of Turandot opens in Auckland on Thursday 20 September and in Wellington on Saturday 13 October. -- www.nzopera.com
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