An opera in 3 acts by Giacomo Puccini.
Performed in Italian with Chinese and English subtitles.
4 performances at the Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall: 12 December 2014 (Fri) 7:45pm 13 December 2014 (Sat) 2:30pm 13 December 2014 (Sat) 7:45pm 14 December 2014 (Sun) 2:30pm
A Musica Viva production:
Music Director: Lio Kuokman Producer & Director: Lo Kingman Chamber Orchestra: Hong Kong Virtuosi Chorus: The Opera Society of Hong Kong Chorusmaster: Raymond Fu Choreographer: Thomas Brown Sets: Ricky Chan Costumes: Mandy Tam Lighting: Peter Li
Ticketing: $630, $460, $300, $150, available from 13 August 2014 onwards at URBTIX
The Opera Society of Hong Kong last performed Turandot in 1996.
Audition for Turandot 2014 (closing 31 August 2014): http://tinyurl.com/operasociety-aud-140921
Facebook event.
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The Cast
Turandot (Soprano): Jee-hye Han(1)(3)/HelenTodd(2)(4) Calaf (Tenor): Raul Melo(1)(3)/John Hudson(2)(4) Liu (Soprano): Eudora Brown(1)(3)/Song Yuan-Ming(2)/Louise Kwong(4) Timur (Bass): Freddie Tong Ping (Baritone): Sammy Chien Pong (Tenor): Chen Yong Pang (Tenor): Christopher Leung Altoum (Tenor): Frankie Liu Mandarin (Baritone): Isaac Droscha(1)(2)(4)/ Pong Chung-lam(3)
(1) 12 Dec 7:45pm; (2) 13 Dec, 2:30pm; (3) 13 Dec 7:45pm; (4) 14 Dec 2:30pm
Programme
Turandot
is the last opera written by Giacomo Puccini. The Princess Turandot
will only marry a suitor of royal blood who can answer three riddles set
by her. Anyone who fails will be beheaded. Calaf, heir to the throne
of Tartary, successfully answers all three riddles. But Turandot now
reneges on her promise. Calaf offers to release her and to die at her
hand if she can discover his name before dawn. Finally, Turandot is
deeply moved by Calaf¡¦s genuine affections.
When Puccini died in
November 1924, he left the final duet and concluding scene of Turandot
unfinished. Franco Alfano completed the opera in 1926 based on the
sketches and notes left by Puccini. The contemporary Italian composer
Luciano Berio was commissioned by the House of Ricordi, Puccini¡¦s
publisher, to compose a new ending for the opera in 2002. Musica Viva
will perform both the Alfano (in the first and third performances) and
Berio (in the second and last) endings in this production. This will
not only be the Asian premiere of Berio¡¦s effort, but also the first
ever of both endings being presented side by side in consecutive
performances of the same production.
Directed by Lo Kingman and
conducted by Lio Kuokman, this production features a team of
world-renowned opera stars who have sung with the Metropolitan Opera of
New York, Chicago Lyric Opera, National Opera in London and some of the
most prestigious companies worldwide, performing with excellent artists
from Hong Kong.
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