t A new 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival, reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI The annual Puccini Festival has reached its sixty third edition. This summer it lasts from 14 July until 30 August 2017. The Festival proposes prevalently but not solely the works of Giacomo Puccini, produced by the Festival itself, taking place in the 3,500 seat theatre in Torre del Lago near Viareggio on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli. This summer a section is devoted to France and within this section, there is a world premiere of a new opera on Jeanne d'Arc. Another section is dedicated to productions of La bohème and La Traviata imported from the Moscow Novaya Opera. There is also an import of Madama Butterfly from the China National Opera House in Peking. Also the operas in the festival's 'core' program (Turandot, La Rondine, La bohème and Tosca) are produced in collaboration with Italian and foreign opera houses with a view to both contain costs and provide high standards. Thus the Festival started with mostly local ambitions some six decades ago, but has gradually become a major international affair. The Festival inauguration was a new production of Turandot created in collaboration with the State Opera House of Georgia. The previous Festival production of Puccini's last and unfinished work was unveiled in 2008; it has been seen quite a few times in Torre del Lago and more importantly it has been leased to some ten theatres in Italy and abroad. There was a keen interest in this new production because its stage director is not an opera field professional but a well-known Italian journalist, Alfonso Signorini, the editor of Chi, one of most sold weekly magazines for families. Thus, the Festival's inaugural evening was also an important social occasion with many media world personalities (as well as politicians) attending the performance. I was there (on 14 July 2017), but my interest was solely professional.
Stefano La Colla as Calaf and Martina Serafin as Turandot, on the stairs, with chorus members, in 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Click on the image for higher resolution Signorini took a challenging task but he was well rewarded, judging by the open stage applause and from the ovations at the end of the performance. This is a 'traditional' Turandot, but the stage director has a remarkable feeling for the movements of the masses and especially for the duets. The two key duets between the 'icy Princess' and the 'unknown foreigner' are normally presented with the two protagonists almost immobile and staring at each other. In Signorini's production, there is a gradual rise of erotic tension. Also the Act III Liù/Turandot duet is a real confrontation of different conceptions of life and love. Carla Tolomeo's stage set was quite effective, and Fausto Puglisi's costumes were beautiful.
Stage director Alfonso Signorini with the whole company at the end of 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Aldo Umicini. Click on the image for higher resolution On the musical side, Alberto Veronesi — the Festival's President and a Puccini specialist — was in the pit and conducted the Festival Orchestra as diligently as ever. The two ladies are well known sopranos: Martina Serafin is an Austrian dramatic soprano with a powerful voice and a good acute; Carmen Giannattasio is a lyric soprano, just perfect as the tender Liù. For me the real discovery was the tenor Stefano La Colla, a young Italian who sings the taxing role of Calaf in Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam and Berlin (among other important places) but not so often in Italy. In a large open air theatre, his 'Nessun Dorma' made the audience enthusiastic.
Carmen Giannattasio as Liù, George Andguladze as Timur and Stefano La Colla as Calaf in 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution In a few days' time, I'll report on a different open air production of this Puccini opera, produced in Macerata and claimed to be very innovative. Copyright © 20 July 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy GIACOMO PUCCINI TURANDOT ITALY << M&V home Concert reviews Lucio Silla >>
Stefano La Colla as Calaf and Martina Serafin as Turandot, on the stairs, with chorus members, in 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Click on the image for higher resolution Signorini took a challenging task but he was well rewarded, judging by the open stage applause and from the ovations at the end of the performance. This is a 'traditional' Turandot, but the stage director has a remarkable feeling for the movements of the masses and especially for the duets. The two key duets between the 'icy Princess' and the 'unknown foreigner' are normally presented with the two protagonists almost immobile and staring at each other. In Signorini's production, there is a gradual rise of erotic tension. Also the Act III Liù/Turandot duet is a real confrontation of different conceptions of life and love. Carla Tolomeo's stage set was quite effective, and Fausto Puglisi's costumes were beautiful.
Stage director Alfonso Signorini with the whole company at the end of 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Aldo Umicini. Click on the image for higher resolution On the musical side, Alberto Veronesi — the Festival's President and a Puccini specialist — was in the pit and conducted the Festival Orchestra as diligently as ever. The two ladies are well known sopranos: Martina Serafin is an Austrian dramatic soprano with a powerful voice and a good acute; Carmen Giannattasio is a lyric soprano, just perfect as the tender Liù. For me the real discovery was the tenor Stefano La Colla, a young Italian who sings the taxing role of Calaf in Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam and Berlin (among other important places) but not so often in Italy. In a large open air theatre, his 'Nessun Dorma' made the audience enthusiastic.
Carmen Giannattasio as Liù, George Andguladze as Timur and Stefano La Colla as Calaf in 'Turandot' at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution In a few days' time, I'll report on a different open air production of this Puccini opera, produced in Macerata and claimed to be very innovative. Copyright © 20 July 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy GIACOMO PUCCINI TURANDOT ITALY << M&V home Concert reviews Lucio Silla >>
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