It is a game of life and death initiated by the elusive Princess Turandot: each suitor for her hand must solve three riddles. Failure means execution. And so far, no prince has been able to win the great prize. But then a stranger arrives in the kingdom of Turandot, Prince Calaf, who is determined to take on the challenge. When he solves the riddles and claims the princess in marriage as agreed, he encounters a frightened woman who refuses to wed the stranger – and now the princess becomes the tortured one, for she must find out the prince’s name in order to keep her freedom. Unfinished at his death, Giacomo Puccini’s final opera was premiered as a fragment in 1926. This is a multi-layered masterpiece of great emotional intensity, musical brilliance and unique in its use of exotic Chinese melody. French stage director Marie-Eve Signeyrole makes her Semperoper debut with this operatic thriller.

Turandot

Semperoper Dresden

“The artist is a man, and he must write for men. … and you will see true hatred and its bitter fruit.” In the Pagliacci prologue, Tonio tells us what this opera is about – it seeks to put the reality of life on the stage. This applies for both works, which will now enjoy their first new staging at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 46 years (1978). Together Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo simply exemplify verismo. The basic situation: A woman is unfaithful. Another reveals this to the husband, and he, spurred on by this woman, takes bloody revenge on the lover. Cavalleria rusticana is about Turiddu, who returns to find his old flame Lola again, but she is now married to the carter, Alfio. Turiddu then consoles himself by seducing Santuzza. But the old love is reignited, and Lola betrays her husband, and Turiddu his girlfriend. In Pagliacci, the plot revolves around Nedda and her husband Canio, the leader of a group of comedians. Nedda’s love for him has grown cold, so she turns to the farmer, Silvio. 

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci

Max-Joseph-Platz

An opéra comique with a tragic ending that depicts the eternal game of passion and torturous jealousy, and whose fiery music continues to appeal to audiences worldwide – that is Bizet’s Carmen. Idiosyncratic, memorable characters suffer the ultimately fatal consequences of their alternating attraction and repulsion.

Carmen

Bebelplatz

“Al’alba vincerò - at sunrise I will win“, the unknown prince bawls out to the city, making him one of the few heroes of Italian opera whose arioso sleeplessness is due to confidence rather than despair. The others have to despair instead. Primarily the inhabitants of the city, in which – “nessun dorma“ – no one is allowed to sleep because everyone has to search for the name of the unknown man on the highest orders and under threat of the death penalty. That Turandot should actually end well by Puccini’s standards can be felt – like so much else – in the central tenor aria of the work. Puccini knew better than anyone how to force an emotional involvement on the audience through the merciless immediacy of his musical language. The piece itself ends happily, albeit without Puccini, who had to lay down his arms in his battle against laryngeal cancer before the finale was finished. And so Turandot joins the ranks of the great opera fragments of the 20th century. But not only is the piece more or less a chimera, the title character herself also seems to be primarily a projection: “Turandot does not exist! Only nothingness exists“, Ping, Pang and Pong warn the unknown prince to prevent him from attempting the three riddles that need to be solved in order to win the emperor’s daughter Turandot. Anna Sophie Mahler, whose Stuttgart production of Saint François d’Assise 2023 was named the “most unusual opera experience of the year“ by the journal Opernwelt, will set out 100 years after the premiere of Puccini’s enigmatic last opera in search of the “fluid of love“ with which the composer wanted to pacify nerves stretched to the limit in the opera’s finale. Because, this much is certain: this fluidum would also be useful today.

Ivan Gyngazov

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 7 - Jul 18, 2026

Turandot · Staatsoper Stuttgart

Past events

16 - 29 Nov, 2025

Turandot · Semperoper Dresden

May 22 - Jul 12, 2025

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci · Bayerische Staatsoper

Future and recently performed repertoire

Calaf in Turandot by Puccini

Semperoper Dresden

Kalaf in Turandot by Puccini

Staatsoper Stuttgart

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