Turandot (Opéra national de Paris)

In Peking, a princess renowned for her beauty submits her suitors to three riddles. The prince who manages to solve them will win her hand and the throne. Alas, so far, all have failed and suffered the implacable punishment: death. Will young Calaf succeed? Inspired by Carlo Gozzi's fable, itself drawing on several sources including the “Thousand and One Nights”, Puccini's last opera revives the oriental atmosphere already present in Madama Butterfly. But in 1924, the year in which the composer died leaving his score unfinished, his writing had grown in modernity, without losing any of its melodic inspiration, as illustrated by the famous aria "Nessun dorma". The references to Asia could not fail to appeal to Robert Wilson, whose aesthetic draws on Japanese Noh theatre. His sparse staging, interspersed with touches of commedia dell'arte, offers striking and hypnotic images.