2008/2009 Season Opera
[New Production]

Giacomo Puccini :Turandot

OPERA HOUSE

Turandot	:	Iréne Theorin
Calaf	:	Walter Fraccaro
Liù	:	Hamada Rie
Timur	:	Tsumaya Hidekazu
L'imperatore Altoum	:	Gorobe Toshiro
Ping	:	Hagiwara Jun
Pang	:	Idane Yasuhiko
Pong	:	Onuki Iwao
Un mandarino	:	Aoyama Takashi
Clown	:	Jean Mening
Chorus	:	New National Theatre Chorus
Children Chorus	:	NHK Tokyo Children Chorus
Orchestra	:	Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

October 2008	1	4	7	10	13	15
	Wed	Sat	Tue	Fri	Mon	Wed
2:00		X	X		X
6:30	X					X
7:00				X

Doors will open 45 minutes before the opening of the performance.

	S	A	B	C	D	Z
Price(yen)	26,250	21,000	14,700	8,400	5,250	1,500

The second season under Artistic Director Wakasugi Hiroshi opens with the Puccini’s posthumous masterpiece, “Turandot”. This Production is by Henning Brockhaus, a producer who enjoys many successes in important houses all over the world. The singers include Irene Theorin as Turandot, she has an extensive repertoire, and this role, Turandot is one of the most acclaimed roles in her repertoire, especially in Europe, and Walter Fraccaro as Calaf, he is very popular around the world for his great voice. Hamada Rie, known with recent notable performances both in Paris and Japan, will be performing Liù. Tsumaya Hidekazu, cast as Timur, is a virtuoso bass singer, who is respected as one of the best basses from Japan. The conductor, Antonello Allemandi, is especially well known in his conducting of Italian works. With this powerful cast our new season opens.

ACT I. Beijing, ancient times. Aged and vanquished, king Timur wanders with a slave-girl Liù when his son Calaf meets and recognizes Timur as his long-lost father. The two are reunited with joy, knowing both have been safe. Princess Turandot appears in silence, as the crowd bows in her honor. Calaf, smitten with the beauty of the princess, discovers that he can win her by solving the three riddles, so he strides to the gong to proclaim himself as the new suitor.

ACT II. The three ministers lament Turandot’s bloody reign in which many foreign princes have been killed. The populace gathers to hear Turandot question the new challenger and announce that not solving the riddles will end in his beheading. However, Calaf solves all the riddles triumphantly. The princess begs her father not to abandon her to a stranger, but to no avail, then Calaf offers Turandot a riddle of his own: to learn his name.

ACT III. Turandot has decreed that no one in Beijing shall sleep until the name of the prince is discovered. If it is not, all will be killed. Calaf sings his aria “Nessun dorma” (None shall sleep). Timur and Liù are captured and brought in. Liù pretends that she alone knows the name but refuses to divulge it, and then commits suicide. The prince is left alone with Turandot; he rushes to her and kisses her passionately. The icy princess melts in his arms and she declares that his name is “Love!”.