Opera Australia’s winter season begins with Turandot

Graeme Murphy’s take on Puccini’s Turandot has returned. Set to open on 24 June, it will star American soprano Lise Lindstrom at the head of an international cast.

Turandot – the home of the famous “Nessum Dorma” – is an opera about a brutal princess and an impossibly brave suitor who will make any sacrifice to win her love.

Puccini’s final opera, it was written in the early 1920s, and was almost complete when Puccini was diagnosed with throat cancer. He died on 29 November 1924, leaving 36 pages of sketches for the final scene (completed by one of his students).

At the premiere in 1926 conductor Arturo Toscanini is reported to have laid down his baton in the middle of Act III, announcing “Here the maestro died”.

Graeme Murphy’s production of Turandot was last seen in Sydney in 2012 and Christian Badea returns to Australia to conduct, following his success with Otello in 2014.

Yonghoon Lee will sing the role of Calàf with Lise Lindstrom as Turandot. This production, which is now considered a classic in the Opera Australia repertoire, was like nothing ever seen before when it first came to the Sydney Opera House in 1991.

For ticket pricing (student rush is available for most performances) and more information about the show, get in touch with the Opera Australia Box Office on (02) 9318 8200 or visit www.opera.org.au.