When Calaf, the dethroned Mongol prince who has fled to Peking, falls in love with Princess Turandot, he is in mortal danger. He can only be her bridegroom if he solves the princess’ three riddles – if he fails, he is beheaded, like so many men before him. At the Vienna State Opera, Claus Guth stages Puccini’s last opera as a chamber drama of timeless topicality with shooting star Asmik Grigorian and audience favourite Jonas Kaufmann in the two leading roles.

Guth does not see Turandot as a mystical, proud princess, but as a traumatised victim who becomes a perpetrator herself. For Asmik Grigorian, the role is a debut and she succeeds “brilliantly. [...] Her singing reveals a woman's soul” (Die Presse) and captivates with “glistening high notes, the coldest cantilenas and deeply felt emotions” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). In contrast, the foreign prince appears less as a swashbuckling conqueror than as a sensitive companion who reaches out his hand to a woman struggling with her demons. The role of Calaf is also a stage debut for Jonas Kaufmann. He sings the famous “Nessun dorma” “with the greatest sensitivity” (Salzburger Nachrichten), “he is in his element in the top notes, his velvety timbre is convincing in every register”. (Der Standard). The Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan portrays a touching Liù as an “enchantingly beautiful soprano” (Kronen Zeitung). Conductor Marco Armiliato “delights with the unleashed splendour of Puccini’s sound” (Falter).

Turandot is Giacomo Puccini’s last opera and remained unfinished. Completed by Puccini’s friend, the Italian composer Franco Alfano, the opera was premiered at La Scala in Milan two years after Puccini’s death and became a ground-breaking success for the composer posthumously. In the tradition of 19th century Italian opera, Puccini used a hitherto unknown colour spectrum of Far Eastern melodies and traced the sounds of the former Chinese empire.