![]() ![]() The final duet was an unsubtle business that deteriorated into a vocal slugfest. Hers is an implacable and steely toned princess who dominates the stage, but her top has become a little wild, shrill even. ![]() I wondered if Martina Serafin might need to cut back a bit on the Turandots. To cries of ‘bis’ he responded with an encore, although I suspect he’d not have done so with a less accommodating soprano, not if he wanted to remain intatto. A straightforward no holds barred stand and sing 'Nessun Dorma' which stopped the performance. Of course, we all know what the audience was really waiting for and they weren’t disappointed. Capable of delivering phrases with a ringing ardour even when facing upstage - just because he can. He’s a man with chutzpa who likes to dice with danger adding an extra frisson to his performance. What set the audience’s blood coursing was Amadi Lagha’s Calaf full of youthful self-confidence. Nothing new there then - just another notch in the centuries of female oppression. Lana Kos’ Lui seemed out of sorts unable to melt our hearts with the little gem that is ‘Signore, ascolta!’ Even Calaf judging by his gratuitously brusque treatment of her remained steadfastly underwhelmed which didn’t really sit with Liù’s later assistance in solving the riddles. Meanwhile the ‘trucks’ or more accurately black bricks, which acted as tabs, were pulled on and off more times than a whore’s drawers revealing a series of wholly superfluous tableaux vivants. Ping gamely tried to inject some focus into the proceedings but Pang and Pong were having none of it, scarcely bothering to stay within their key light. Turandot has enough dramatic inconsistencies of its own without compounding them with lazy cliché-ridden meanderings.Ĭharacters came and went in unremarkable fashion. What then revealed itself, dramatically at any rate, was a pretty lack-lustre affair. Fortunately, a full voiced chorus lost none of its impact. ![]() The orchestra played well enough but the dynamism and pulsing energy that makes the score so intoxicating often melted into the evening air. The conductor finally capered in jauntily to take his place on the podium beneath a coronet of insects lured to the light. A palace and a large central staircase flanked by imperial guardian lions their grandeur destroyed by the deployment of some aesthetically egregious downstage scenery trucks. So, the set was serviceable and traditional rather than startling. You could argue that with a back drop of such natural splendour why bother with a set but there is some need for hard surfaces here if for no other reason than the sound would dissipate entirely. Perhaps they should add don’t touch the performers to the lengthy list of behavioural dicta before the performance? A cast of Imperial soldiery circulated in various stages of undress whilst being mobbed by the selfie brigade. The air of conviviality gradually spread into the auditorium with much mingling. The call to arms, the Humming Chorus, heralding the start, would have given Madam Butterfly a coronary, signalled a grudging drift towards seats that wasn’t going to interrupt the flow of geniality. By 8 o’clock in the evening the square was flooded with Operaphiles with italianità. In daylight hours the sleepy square facing the lake saw a trickle of expectant tourists waiting their turn to see the maestro’s Villa Museo and a few locals going about their business or chatting over an espresso. It was rapturously received, the only note of dissent a lone priest who seemed quite exercised by the interminable intermission at 11.30pm - proper order if you ask me. On 14 July 2018 the balmy opening night of the Puccini Festival, il gran mondo turned out in force for a performance of Puccini’s final opera Turandot under the music direction of Alberto Veronesi with Martina Serafin as La Principessa Turandot, Lana Kos as Liù and the French/Tunisian tenor Amadi Lagha as Il Principe Ignoto. The collective experience, the coming together to listen to music in glorious surroundings and chew the fat with your mates, and in lots of ways that’s enviable. They love music for its own sake no matter good or bad. The more time I spend in Italy the more I wonder about the point of being too much of a pedant. The highs and lows of Turandot at the 64th Festival Puccini, Torre del Lago ![]() Reviewed by Anthony Evans on 14 July 2018 Star rating: 3.0 (★★★) Gran Teatro all’aperto, Torre del Lago Puccini Puccini Turandot Martina Serafin, Nicola Pisaniello, Alessandro Guerzoni, Amadi Lagha, Lana Kos, Andrea Zaupa, Francesco Napoleoni, Tiziano Barontini, dir:Alfonso Signorini, cond: Alberto Veronesi Gran Teatro all’aperto, Torre del Lago Puccini (Photo Cespa) ![]()
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