Turandot

GIACOMO PUCCINI

After Puccini’s first opera comes his last. It is unfinished, as the composer died of throat cancer after spending his life putting his performers’ voices to the test. Franco Alfano completed the work using the notes Puccini left behind.

At the premiere in Milan, Toscanini laid down his baton, saying: “This is where Puccini interrupted his work. This time, death was stronger than art.” Puccini dreamed of ending with a love duet as beautiful as the one in Tristan. He had to settle for the most famous of tenor arias: “Nessun dorma.”

Inspired by a tale by Carlo Gozzi, Turandot tells the story of a cruel princess in an imaginary China. The suitor who answers three questions will become King of China; the others will be executed. A grandiose, tragic, comic, passionate and exotic work.

LYRIC DRAMA IN 3 ACTS Libretto by Giuseppe ADAMI and Renato SIMONI based on Carlo GOZZI’s fable Turandotte, fiaba cinese teatrale tragicomica, as well as the German adaptation Turandot, Prinzessin von China. Ein tragikomisches Märchen by Friedrich von SCHILLER, Italian translation by Andrea MAFFEI Premiere in Milan, Teatro alla Scala, April 25, 1926 Last performance at the Opéra de Marseille, May 5, 2019

Production Opéra de Marseille

Musical direction Federico TIBONE Staging Charles ROUBAUD Costumes Katia DUFLOT Sets Dominique LEBOURGES Lighting Marc DELAMÉZIÈRE Videos Camille LEBOURGES

Turandot Csilla BOROSS Liù Federica GUIDA

Calaf Vincenzo COSTANZO Timur Nicolas COURJAL Ping Philippe-Nicolas MARTIN Pang Kaëlig BOCHÉ Pong Marc LARCHER The Mandarin Gilen GOICOECHEA Altoum Rodolphe BRIAND

Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra de Marseille Choir School of the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory of Marseille – a Campus art Méditerranée institution

Vibrating vest system for the Sunday, June 6 performance - by reservation