NCPA to mark 10 years with its version of Puccini's final opera

Italian tenor Marco Berti and Chinese soprano Yao Hong rehearse for Turandot, one of the most-staged operas by the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. [PHoto by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

The National Center for the Performing Arts premiered the opera Turandot, Giacomo Puccini's final piece, as its first major in-house production in 2008.

That year marked the Italian composer's 150th birth anniversary, and the iconic Beijing cultural institution along with Casa Ricordi, the company that owned the rights to Puccini's score, asked Chinese composer Hao Weiya to write an ending to the original unfinished piece. Hao's 18-minute score made him the first Chinese and the world's third artist to complete Puccini's work.

The first artist known to have completed the opera was Italian composer Franco Alfano two years after Puccini's death in 1924.

This year, as the NCPA turns a decade old, it will for the ninth time present the opera from Wednesday through Sunday.

Some members of the cast, who have been with the production since 2008, will be seen at the upcoming shows, including music director Chen Xinyi, conductor Lu Jia, tenor Tian Haojiang and soprano Sun Xiuwei. The symphony orchestra and choirs of the NCPA will also participate in the shows.

"Back in 2008, it was quite challenging for us to do this production because the NCPA was just born and everything was new. Flaws were inevitable but in the past 10 years, we have achieved much progress," says Chen, 79, whose works include Western and traditional Chinese operas.

In January 2011, the NCPA's version of Turandot was staged in Seoul at the opening of the annual season of the Korean National Opera.

In addition to blending the aesthetics of traditional Chinese theater with Western opera production, Chen says she has tried to explore love and the heroism of Calaf, a central character in the opera.

In the story, which is set in China, the prince falls in love with Turandot, a princess, who refuses to marry him but he tries to win her over with his bravery. The Italian play is said to have been inspired by a Persian fable.

Two groups of actors will perform in the upcoming shows. Among them, US soprano Lise Lindstrom and Chinese soprano Sun will alternately perform the princess' role, and Italian tenor Marco Berti and Hong Kong tenor Warren Mok will play the prince in turns. Sun has played the princess in almost all performances of the NCPA's Turandot since 2008.

While the princess appears cold in general, the character attracts audience sympathy in the NCPA version, Sun says.

"I have performed the role in productions in different countries but our version is quite unique. It is as if the princess is reborn."

Speaking of her experience while performing the princess in the NCPA's version of Turandot, Lindstrom says: "The opera tells a Chinese story. This production has a real Chinese flavor we couldn't get from anywhere else."

Lindstrom, who has performed the role around the world in more than 30 productions, was invited by the NCPA to perform in the opera in 2013, but she couldn't make it because she fell ill.

"I am glad that the NCPA invited me again," says the soprano, who was born and raised in California and was introduced to music by her mother, a music teacher. She made her Royal Opera debut in London in 2013, singing the title role in its production of Turandot.

If you go

7:30 pm, Wednesday-Sunday. NCPA, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.