Costume Designer

A nation is cowed by its princess. Turandot, beautiful and fascinating representative of a royal dynasty, presides over a gruesome ritual: only her marriage to a suitor will bring an end to the violence, but no would-be bridegroom has yet managed to solve the riddles. The same old spectacle plays out, ending in yet another execution, until Calaf, the son of a deposed ruler from a foreign land, unexpectedly answers the riddles correctly. He then turns the tables on Turandot, forcing her to answer his own question if she wants to steal out of her obligation. Puccini’s times are changing rapidly, the art world is going through drastic transformation and new, abstract forms are being coined to reflect modern-day experience. And the composer, in his early 60s, is again trying to break new ground.

Turandot

Deutsche Oper Berlin

»Either I am terribly mistaken, or ›The Queen of Spades‹ really is the crowning achievement of my life’s work!«, was Peter Tchaikovsky’s verdict on his penultimate opera, which premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1890 and has captivated audiences ever since.

Pique Dame

Oper Leipzig

»Either I am terribly mistaken, or ›The Queen of Spades‹ really is the crowning achievement of my life's work!«, was Peter Tchaikovsky's verdict on his penultimate opera, which premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg in 1890 and has captivated audiences ever since.

Queen of Spades

What an operatic opening! A king sings of a plane tree and its "dear, sweet, and lovely" shade in enchantingly beautiful tones. The Largo "Ombra mai fu" from the opera Xerxes ( Serse ) of 1738 is among George Frideric Handel's most famous compositions. It is the title character—the Persian king Xerxes—who opens the opera with this heartfelt hymn of praise, but who also reveals choleric tendencies as the plot unfolds. For in addition to this plane tree, the king also loves Romilda, the betrothed of his brother Arsamene, who in turn is loved by Romilda's sister Atalanta.

Xerxes

City Theatre, Bern

The Chinese princess Turandot refuses marriage and demonstrates this with a gruesome ritual: Every suitor who fails to solve her three riddles is beheaded. This brutal cycle continues until Calaf breaks it. With his last, unfinished opera, Turandot, Giacomo Puccini created an unparalleled score that went beyond the famous «Nessun dorma.» To depict a fantastical, fairytale China, he blended traditional Chinese music, pentatonic scales, unusual timbres and stark dissonances into a soundscape that oscillates between lyrical delicacy and brutal force. Franco Alfano completed the opera and wrote an unusually conciliatory ending for Puccini, which is countered in this production by Lorenzo Fioroni: In a timeless state reminiscent of contemporary military dictatorships, brutality and trauma remain omnipresent. Camilla Nylund, known for her incomparable Wagner and Strauss portraits, can be seen here in the challenging title role in the Italian repertoire.

Costume Designer

Katharina Gault

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 11 - Jun 23, 2026

Turandot · Deutsche Oper Berlin

20 - 28 Jun, 2026

Queen of Spades · Oper Leipzig

Feb 21 - Jun 16, 2027

Xerxes · Bühnen Bern

1 - 11 May, 2027

Turandot · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Feb 11 - Jun 23, 2026

Turandot · Deutsche Oper Berlin

May 10 - Jun 7, 2025

Pique Dame · Oper Leipzig

About

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