Turandot
Only love can set you free
The new, visually stunning version of Puccini’s iconic Turandot at the Finnish National Opera delivers a universal message: regardless of who we are or where we come from, we are all looking for love.
Princess Turandot poses three questions to her suitors, who can only save their life by answering correctly. Prince Calaf surprises the princess by surviving the trial. Will he be able to break through her cold exterior? Could he finally be the person who gives her the freedom to choose for herself?
”Puccini composed the opera in the heyday of exoticism and orientalism – a Europe-centric view of the Far East. As we pull down decades-old stereotypes embedded in the work and reveal the people beneath them, the central themes of the opera come to include both the psychology of the characters and a story of our society.”
– director Sofia Adrian Jupither
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synopsis
Princess Turandot agrees to marry a suitor who solves three riddles. The punishment for answering incorrectly is death. Calaf decides to ignore everyone’s warnings and proposes to Turandot nonetheless. He takes the princess by surprise by solving all the riddles. Calaf, however, only wants her to marry him for love. He challenges her in turn: Turandot can determine the prince’s fate if she manages to find out his name by the following morning.
Turandot threatens the entire nation with death if the name is not unravelled. Everyone stays up all night, trying to find out who Calaf really is. Two prisoners, Timur and Liù, are brought to Turandot, as they are known to have the answer. When Liù discovers she will be tortured, she kills himself.
As Turandot and Calaf are left alone, Calaf reveals his name to the princess and puts his life into her hands. Turandot tells everyone she has found out the stranger’s name: it is love.
The complete synopsis can be found in the programme leaflet.
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More about the work
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tickets and performances
Turandot is a co-production of the Finnish National Opera and the Malmö Opera.
