Turandot By Puccini, Ankara Opera, March 2019 – Review
On March 16, a Saturday evening, we had the opportunity to watch Turandot opera of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) in Ankara opera house. It was Puccini’s last opera, which was premiered in Milan La Scala opera house in 1926.
The Opera libretto was built on a theater play written in the 1700s.
The text (libretto) was based on a Chinese fairy tale. Numerous renewal edits have been made. There’s a strong fiction in the libretto.
The cruel cold Princess, a foreign prince in love, the questions, the answers, the brutal end in the case of incorrect answering.
We have the poor house maid who sacrificed herself for love.
The Turandot character was given life by soprano Mehlika Karadeniz Bilgin on the premier night.
Prince Caraf’s character was played by tenor (and DOB GM) Murat Karahan. Murat Karahan sung “Nassun Dorma”, at the beginning of the third act. It was amazing. The melody followed us till the end of the opera.
The soprano Tuğba Mankal was the extraordinary housemaid Piu.
L’Imperatore Altoum (Cem Akyüz), Timur (Şafak Power), Ping (Çetin Kıranbay), Pong (Arda Doğan), Pang Veysel Barış Yanç), Un Mandarino (Umt Kosman), Il Pricipino di Persia (Serkan Sarıkaya) were important characters on stage.
Decor design (Ozgur Usta), costumes (Savaş Camgöz) were very nice.
Italian Stage Director Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini had many years of experience. Our great orchestra conductor Antonio Pirolli directed the orchestra superbly.
The Opera house was full, the balconies were full, each side was full of standing viewers. When the work was over, we all applauded the artists. We had a wonderful night.
Turandot is also on the Berlin DeutscheOper stage as well as in Sydney and Beijing opera houses in this season.
