Hong Kong rounded out the Puccini centenary year with Musica Viva’s new production of Il Trittico (“The Triptych”), a trio of one-act operas. Each is sufficient in itself, yet the whole magically becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Il tabarro (“The Cloak”) leads off with tragic melodrama, Suor Angelica is both spiritual and a tear-jerker, while Gianni Schicchi is Puccini’s sole foray into comic opera buffa.

As indicated in the title, Puccini meant all three to be performed together: each panel in a triptych is an individual work of art, yet they cannot be separated without damaging the integrity of the whole. Yet, so many often are split apart, as is indeed, Il Trittico; this was a rare opportunity, on the centenary of the composer’s death, to hear all three operas together, as he meant them to be.

Il tabarro featured Turkish bass Burak Bilgili as Michele, the cuckolded barge-owner, returned after his successful performance in last year’s Anna Bolena. He was joined by soprano Rianne Lau and tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan as the star-crossed (albeit adulterous) lovers Giorgetta and Luigi.

Suor Angelica featured a pair of sopranos from Italy: Greta Lirussi as Sister Angelica and mezzo Mariangela Marini as the Princess.

The audience favorite was, as it often is, Gianni Schicchi, the comic opera about young love and will-tampering, which includes the well-known aria “O mio babbino caro”. The eponymous protagonist was sung by Enrico Marabelli, also on a return visit after Anna Bolena. Mexican tenor Alejandro Luévanos sang the love-struck Rinuccio. Local sopranos Charlene Lee and Phoebe Tam alternated as Lauretta. Mariangela Marini sang Zita.

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Peter Gordon, editor of the Asian Review of Books, contributed subtitles and programme notes for this production.