TURANDOT

Turnandot was Puccinni’s final, uncompleted opera, composed in the 1920s as the last of the grand Italian opera composers succumbed to throat cancer. The opera is set in ancient Peking, where men literally lose their heads in pursuit of a beguiling princess named Turnandot. Any suitor who wants her hand must first answer three perplexing questions. Get them right and you will win the hand of the princess in marriage. Fail the quiz and you are decapitated at sunrise. The imperial palace is littered with the scalps of many a failed suitor, until a unknown prince answers all three questions correctly to the dismay of an icy Turnandot.

One of Australia’s greatest choreographers, Graeme Murphy first directed this production in 1990, which is staged magnificently as a chorus of courtesans and soldiers swirl around the opulent palace set. Tenor Rosario La Spina is wonderful in the role of Calaf, the unknown prince, who sings the famous aria Nessum Dorma, None Shall Sleep – while the whole of Peking is awakened to learn his name by a desperate princess. Turnandot is performed stupendously by American soprano Susan Foster. But in the end, it is the whole of the Opera Australia chorus who takes centre stage and makes this production well worth seeing.

Until Mar 19, Sydney Opera House, $58-297, 9318 8200, opera-australia.org.au