Turandot

Synopsis
Artists

“What is like ice, but burns?” In a mythical past, a decree states that Princess Turandot must ask her suitors three riddles. Those who fail will be executed. Will anyone succeed and melt the Princess’s heart?

Music By

Giacomo Puccini

Libretto By

Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni

Sung in

Italian

Instant Translation Screen

English and Spanish

Production support generously provided by

Peter Bruce Frank & Leslie Rae Shaw

Additional artistic support provided by

Miranda & David Lind

Act I

In a public square in ancient Peking, a mandarin announces Princess Turandot’s decree: any prince of noble blood may seek her hand in marriage by answering three riddles — but failure means death. The latest suitor, the Prince of Persia, is to be executed at moonrise.

Amid the crowd, an elderly blind man is knocked to the ground, and his companion, a young woman named Liù, calls out for help. The stranger who comes to their aid turns out to be Prince Calàf — who recognizes the old man as his father, Timur, the exiled King of Tartary. When Turandot appears to confirm the Persian prince’s death sentence with a silent gesture, Calàf is instantly captivated by her beauty. Despite desperate pleas from Timur, Liù, and the three ministers Ping, Pang and Pong to withdraw his claim, he strikes the great gong — announcing himself as the next suitor.

Act II

Ping, Pang and Pong wearily prepare the imperial court for either a wedding or a funeral, lamenting the many noble lives already lost and the harsh conditions under Turandot’s reign. Then Princess Turandot enters and addresses the assembled crowd, explaining that her riddles are an act of revenge for her ancestress Lo-u-Ling, a princess who was raped and murdered by invading forces.

The trial begins. Calàf answers all three riddles correctly. Shaken, Turandot begs her father, the Emperor Altoum, not to give her to this unknown stranger. Calàf, moved by her distress, offers her a wager of his own: if she can discover his name before dawn, he will accept death; if not, she must marry him.

Act III

Turandot decrees that no one in Peking shall sleep until the prince’s name is found, on pain of death. Calàf waits alone, defiantly confident in the famous aria “Nessun Dorma.”

When imperial guards seize Timur and Liù, the devoted Liù declares that she alone knows the prince’s name — and will never reveal it. Even under torture she does not break, and rather than betray Calàf, she seizes a dagger and takes her own life. Her sacrifice moves Turandot deeply, for the first time piercing her cold resolve.

Provoked by Liù’s suicide, Calàf confronts Turandot — the “Princess of Death” — in a fiery duet. At first, she is unrepentant, but when he embraces and kisses her, something in her is transformed. He then reveals his name freely, placing his life in her hands. At dawn, before the Emperor and the assembled court, Turandot makes her declaration: the stranger’s name is Love.