Opera Hong Kong’s Turandot, the classic story of a Chinese ice princess melted by implacable love, debuted in a new atmospheric production by well-known Chinese Director Jia Ding at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on 10 October 2024.
The performance, celebrating the centenary of composer Giacomo Puccini’s death in 1924 while composed this very opera, featured soprano Veronika Dzhioeva in the titular role with Ivan Gyngazov as Prince Calàf and Bing Bing Wang as the slave-girl Liù (roles alternating with Oksana Nosatova, Andrea Shin and local Hong Kong soprano Louise Kwong, respectively).
Other local singers included Chen Yong as Pong, Henry Ngan as Pang (the trio rounded out with Sun Li) and Apollo Wong as the Mandarin.
Yuan Ding led a sonorous Hong Kong Philharmonic in this, Puccini’s final opera. In this production, Opera Hong Kong continues its tradition, last seen in Tang Shu-wing’s local resetting of La bohème, of engaging accomplished directors from other genres to breath new, Chinese-inflected, life into these classics.
Turandot runs through 13 October 2024.
Peter Gordon is editor of the Asian Review of Books. He contributed programme notes and surtitles to the production.