Liudmyla Monastyrska sings title role in “Turandot” at the Forest Opera in Sopot on July 20 and 25

The current edition of the Baltic Opera Festival features the premiere of “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini, an opera considered one of the composer’s many masterpieces, alongside “La Bohème”, “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly.” The title role will be sung twice by Liudmyla Monastyrska at the Forest Opera in Sopot, on July 20 and 25. The Ukrainian soprano has performed Turandot before at the New York Metropolitan Opera, among others. In Sopot, she will be joined on stage by German tenor Martin Muehle (Kalaf) and Polish singers: Izabela Matula (Liu) and Rafał Siwek (Timur).

Puccini began composing Turandot in 1921. He was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer while working on the scene of Liu’s death.  The score was posthumously completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer’s sketches.

The cruel princess Turandot forces her father Emperor Altoum to promise he would marry her to a suitor of noble blood who can solve her three riddles. If they fail, they will be executed. As the number of Turandot’s victims is growing, the emperor becomes devastated by his decision. His subjects want to end the terror, and the three Mandarins, always ready to act as ceremony masters, dream of a quiet province without the constant procession of suicide lovers.

The Baltic Opera Festival was the initiative of Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny. The concept of ​​the festival is to present premiere opera productions featuring soloists and creatives from Poland and around the world. The project was inspired by the pre-war opera tradition in Sopot, thanks to which the city was called the Bayreuth of the North in the 1930s.

#polishoperanow #TomaszKonieczny #BalticOpera #BalticOperaFestival