March 22nd
Hungarian State Opera House, 7.00 pm
Puccini: Turandot
Opera in three acts
sung in Italian with Hungarian surtitles
Puccini: Turandot
Turandot
Mária Farkasréti
Altoum
István Róka
Timur
László Szvétek
Kalaf
Attila B. Kiss
Liù Ilona Tokody
Ping
András Kiss Kálid
Pang
Ferenc Gerdesits
Pong
Péter Kiss
Mandarin
András Palerdi
Director Balázs Kovalik
Set design Éva Szendrényi
Costume design Márta Jánoskúti
The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and
Chorus
Chorus master Máté Sipos Szabó
Conductor Péter Oberfrank
Giacomo Puccini: Turandot
In the streets of Peking mandarins
announce the imperial decree: anyone who can solve correctly the Princess
Turandot’s riddles will gain her as his wife. The crowd await excitedly the
execution of the Persian Prince who has failed in a previous attempt. Taking
pity on the young man, they beg for his life to be spared. Turandot shows no
mercy. Despite her cruel heartlessness, a new suitor appears: Calaf, the Prince
of Tartary, now living in exile. He will listen to nobody, freely going his own
way. He challenges destiny and enters the palace. The lives of the three
ministers, who dream of a quiet civilian life, have been undermined by the
responsibilities of office and the attempt to harmonise differing interests and
expectations. To those brave enough to appear before her, Turandot puts three
riddles. Calaf solves the first two correctly. Turandot puts the third: “Ice
which gives you fire /and which your fire feezes still more! /Lily-white and
dark, if it allows you your freedom / it makes you a slave; / if it
accepts you as a slave /it makes you a King!”
Calaf gives the right answer:
Turandot. The road to finding one another however is only the right one if it
leads down an unworn path. The slightest deception, any self-deception or
insincerity, diverts the person onto the wrong road. So Calaf cannot be content
with his rapid success: now he gives a riddle to Turandot: “Tell me my name.”
The whole population of Peking is trying to find out his name when they find
Liù, the slave girl, who even under torture is unwilling to divulge her
master’s name. Her strength of resolve is nourished by love, and her feeling of
hopelessness is what leads her to commit suicide. The death of Liù
produces a situation where there is no room for pretence – the masks must fall,
the actors must reveal who they are. Before you can be born again, you must
die, so that, like the phoenix from the ashes, you can live anew. One of the
names of this is love. (Balázs Kovalik)