Turandot

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Major Sponsor

The Greek National Opera will open the 2025 summer season at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus with a new majestic production of Turandot by Puccini. The production will be directed by one of the world’s most prominent theatre and opera directors, Andrei Şerban, who has won international acclaim for his groundbreaking and iconoclastic stagings. Along with his successful career in theatre in Europe and the United States, and his teaching role at Columbia University in New York, Şerban has also directed iconic opera productions at the globe’s most prestigious opera houses and festivals. Some of them, like Turandot in London, Werther in Vienna, and Lucia di Lammermoor in Paris, have become a staple in the theatre’s repertoire and continue to be performed regularly for decades.

The sets and costumes for the production will be designed by the internationally acclaimed Greek set and costume designer Chloe Obolensky, in her first collaboration with the GNO. Obolensky began her career in theatre as an assistant to Yannis Tsarouchis and Visconti’s collaborator Lila de Nobili. She also worked closely with Peter Brook, designing sets and costumes for many of his theatre and film productions, such as Mahabharata. She made significant contributions to historic opera productions in various venues all over the world, like in Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, La Scala in Milan, the New York Metropolitan Opera, the English National Opera, La Monnaie, and Opéra-Comique de Paris. One of the highlights of her career was her collaboration with Lefteris Vogiatzis on his production of Antigone at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.

Turandot, Puccini’s last opera, is the most majestic of them all. The plot is set in another time, in the distant and exotic China, where Princess Turandot will marry only the one man who can solve her three riddles. All those who have tried, have failed, and have paid the price with their lives. Stunned by her amazing beauty, an unknown prince insists on trying his luck, and he is indeed successful. However, after he solves the riddles, Turandot refuses to marry him. The prince offers her a chance to release herself from her commitment, if she can guess his name, before the break of dawn. The origins of this tale go back to 12th-century Persian poetry. In 1762, the Venetian Carlo Gozzi adapted the story of Turandot into a play. His example was later followed by the German poet Friedrich Schiller. Puccini was inspired by the latter’s version. His score combines the light elements of Commedia dell’arte, referencing Gozzi, a profound lyricism present in all of his operas, and moreover an element of grandeur that reflects the fantastical imperial China. The opera remained unfinished, as Puccini passed away in 1924, before completing it. It was finished by composer Franco Alfano (1926), based on Puccini’s drafts, while another composer, Luciano Berio, proposed a second ending in 2001.

The main roles will be performed by internationally acclaimed opera singers, such as Ekaterina Semenchuk, Catherine Foster, Riccardo Massi, Cellia Costea, Tassos Apostolou and others.