Puccini - Turandot / Guleghina, Berti, Tsymbalyuk, Voulgaridou, Agulló / Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / Zubin Mehta, Staged by Chen Kaige / UNITEL CLASSICA / DVD Video

UPC 814337015008

Playtime is 156 Minutes  

Made in Austria

A fantastic stage production by CHEN KAIGE director of Farewell My Concubine and winner of the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or

Internationally acclaimed Chinese film-maker Chen Kaige (Palme d'Or 1993 for Farewell My Concubine) delivers en opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of Chinese Princess Turandot, who will only marry a prince capable of solving her riddles. With samptonus costumes and palace sets designed in China, Kaige's production adds a compellingly authentic accent to Puccini's otic orchestral palette. Zubin Mehta and his brilliant Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana offer "genuine fireworks of sound" (Wiener Zeitung). Maria Goleghina triumphs as Turandot.

This 2009 Palau De Les Arts production of Giacomo Puccini's 1926 opera Turandot marks an unusual version, in the sense that Palme d'Or winning filmmaker Chen Kaige did the lavish staging, with elaborate onstage mock-ups of palaces and opulent costumes. The imaginative story is by now well known: the work tells of Princess Turandot, who insists on only marrying a prince capable of solving her clever riddles. This version stars Maria Guleghina in the demanding title role, Javier Agulló as Altoum, Alexander Tsymbalyuk as Timur and Marco Berti as Calaf. The Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana and Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana provide musical accompaniment, with Francesc Perales serving as chorus master, and Lorin Maazel as music director.