Turandot lights up Sydney Harbour

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour
Turandot by Giacomo Puccini
Opera Australia
Mrs Macquarie’s Chair
Until April 24

A fire-breathing dragon makes its appearance for the next month on Sydney Harbour. The giant sculpted beast is part of the huge set used for Turandot, the latest Handa Opera on the Harbour. It belches flame at dramatic points in the opera along with a fireworks display as part of the opera.

As well as an elaborate stage featuring not only the dragon and a 15-metre-high pagoda, the audience also gets to see the silhouette of Sydney itself with the Sydney Opera House forming one of the great backdrops to an opera performance.

This is the fifth Handa Opera following  Aida, Madame Butterfly, Carmen and LaTraviata and continues the tradition of spectacle as well as great opera experiences. The work is presented in the traditional style featuring the Chinese court of several centuries ago where various suitors for the hand of the Princess Turandot have failed to answer some riddles and been put to death. This does not deter Prince Calaf who takes no notice of his father’s wisdom or the slave girl Liu’s obvious infatuation with him.

The opera, written at the beginning of 20th century, displays some of the ambivalent Western political and social perceptions of the East although some of the comments about China seem even more relevant today.

Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng admits that he has always been wary of producing Turandot given its narrow-minded view of Asian women. He wanted to change Turandot, the female anti-heroine from the ice cold Italian fantasy into a real woman – a strongwilled princess who lives at an extraordinary time when her country is under threat from foreign forces.

Musically, this is a remarkable performance, even though it is the enhanced voices we are hearing rather than unmiked pure sounds. The technical accomplishment is remarkable in delivering clarity of voice and is in marked contrast to the recent Auckland production of Nixon in China.

Dragana Radakovic sings the role of Turandot with a chilling intensity, her electrifying, acerbic voice capturing all the nuances of the personality burdened by history and destiny. She maintains the idea of a woman aloof from pleasure until the final moments of the opera.

Tenor Riccardo Massi Calaf provided a rich honeyed tone to the singing of his own single-minded determination to win Turandot, occasionally flecked with a harshness in response to the other characters who try to dissuade him. His Nessun Dorma was a brilliant combination of power and sensitivity and sung on the darkened stage with the sleeping Sydney behind him this was a truly poignant moment.

Hyeseoung Kwon makes a sensitive Liu, displaying a tender adoration for Calaf and singing with a resolute passion that is the antithesis of that displayed by Turandot.

The trio of Chinese ministers Ping, Pang and Pong, a mixture of grotesque commedia dell’arte and Mikado figures are expertly sung by Paul Carey Jones, Andrew Rees and Eamonn Mulhall respectively. Their ruminations on Calaf’s pursuit of Turandot and notions of sex and death are delivered with a mixture of the comic and macabre.

New Zealander Conal Coad gives Emperor Timur a strong vocal dignity even though we first encounter him as a statue-like figure hauled up in the air at the end of a crane. This dramatic appearance, which suggests he is as much god as man, is lessened by his awkward swaying above the stage but then this is a show about dramatic effects.

The chorus and children’s chorus sing with power and discipline, while the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the direction of Brian Castles- Onion provides an extraordinary sound. With the orchestra out of sight under the raked stage, the sound is a combination of the orchestra itself as well as being relayed through hundreds of speakers creating an enveloping sound.

The dancers provide a mixture of classical dance with varied flowing garments along with a martial arts style dance for the soldiers, which derives from Bruce Lee as much as traditional dance.

The pagoda, which is the abode of Princess Turandot ,is used as a screen for the projection of a large moon image as well as a huge impassive face. The flank of the dragon is used to project abstract and realist images designed by Leigh Sachwitz give the work an intense vitality particularly when the stage is taken over by the masses of dancers.

On a couple of occasions, the pagoda opens to reveal Turandot and she is lowered to the ground moving from the realm of the god-like to that of the mortal

This production is huge in all sensed. The budget for the production was $12 million and with an audience of around 50,000 paying an average of $150 per ticket it is a big earner as well.

The cast is big, with 12 principal singers. There are 18 dancers and a chorus of 48 members of the Opera Australia Chorus and 58 from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, There were 187 hats and headdresses, 46 wigs, 30 sets of facial hair and 1000 metres of specially loomed organza for the costumes. There are 223 speakers providing the surround sound and 220 lamps used to light the performance.

Bookings can be made through here.

John Daly-Peoples travelled to Sydney with the assistance of Destination New South Wales

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