A new production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot” has premiered at the Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku, APA reports.
Presented by the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the performance featured world-renowned tenor and People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Yusif Eyvazov and received prolonged applause.
Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the premiere.
Staged in Azerbaijan for the first time in 98 years, the new production was created specifically for the Baku stage.
The production’s stage director is Mikayil Mikayilov, its production designer is Mustafa Mustafayev, its executive designer is Honoured Cultural Worker Tehran Babayev, and its director is Elnur Ismayilov. Honoured Artist Sevil Hajiyeva prepared the chorus. The choreographers are People’s Artist Madina Aliyeva and Honoured Artist Anar Mikayilov.
The production features three different casts. Each of the three premiere evenings will have different soloists performing Turandot and Calaf, alongside a different conductor.
On October 24, Calaf was performed by Yusif Eyvazov, director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and one of Azerbaijan’s best-known opera singers internationally. Although the role has become one of his signature parts, this was his first performance of it in Azerbaijan.
Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio sang Turandot that evening, with Italian conductor Beatrice Venezi leading the performance.
Speaking at a press conference before the premiere, Eyvazov described the production as a historic event, marking the opera’s return to the Azerbaijani stage after 98 years. He praised the standard of the new staging by Mikayil Mikayilov and Mustafa Mustafayev, noting that international opera soloists would join Azerbaijani performers.
Mikayilov said the theatre company had put considerable effort into the production.
“We hope audiences will appreciate our efforts and enjoy the performance. This is a highly significant event of great value to our theatrical culture,” he said.
“Turandot”, one of Puccini’s most celebrated operas, is a three-act work based on Carlo Gozzi’s play of the same name, with a libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Its world premiere took place at Milan’s La Scala on April 25, 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Baku audiences first saw the opera in 1928, just two years after its world premiere. That staging was the first production of “Turandot” in the Soviet Union.
Puccini worked on the opera from the summer of 1920 until his death in 1924 but left it unfinished. Franco Alfano completed its final section using the composer’s notes.
The story centres on the ruthless Princess Turandot and Prince Calaf. Turandot challenges her suitors to answer three riddles, promising marriage to anyone who succeeds and execution for those who fail. After overcoming a series of trials, Calaf solves the riddles and ultimately marries Turandot, who yields to the power of his love.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
