TURANDOT Opens Seattle Opera’s Season 2012 2013

Jun 28, 2012 by admin

Principal Guest Conductor Asher Fisch Leads His First Italian Opera in Seattle

Barbe & Doucet Make Seattle Debut with Fantastical Co-Production

Seattle—Seattle Opera kicks off its 2012/13 season this summer in blockbuster fashion with Turandot, Puccini’s final masterpiece. Boasting “Nessun dorma,” one of the world’s most beloved arias, Turandot sweeps audiences away to a fairy-tale China ruled by a harsh princess. The prideful Turandot learns how to love when a life-or-death riddle game, a slave girl’s sacrifice, and the passion in a prince’s heart transform fear and hatred into hope. Turandot opens on Saturday, August 4, and runs for eight performances through Saturday, August 18.

“Turandot is beloved the world over for its great melodies, its memorable and thrilling arias,” says Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera. “But with a great soprano for the title role, a dramatic tenor for Calaf, a classic Puccini soprano for Liù, and a production that both suggests the panoply of ancient China and subjects these psychologically fascinating characters to intense scrutiny, we hope to bring the story to life in a personal, theatrical way.”

Asher Fisch, Principal Guest Conductor of Seattle Opera, leads his first non-German opera in Seattle. Previous Seattle Opera credits include Wagner’s Parsifal, Lohengrin, Flying Dutchman, and Tristan und Isolde and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Of the Tristan und Isolde he conducted at Seattle Opera in 2010, R. M. Campbell wrote in The Gathering Note, “Fisch never disappoints in elucidating the music. His palette seems immense, his range of dynamic variation equally large. He has full command of the line, which never seems to end, and produces tremendous beauty of tone. He gets the best of this orchestra.” Fisch will return to Seattle in the fall to conduct Beethoven’s Fidelio, and, in summer 2013, Wagner’s Ring.

On opening night, soprano Lori Phillips takes on the role of Turandot. Phillips, who made her Seattle Opera debut as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera in 2002, has sung Turandot in such cities as New York, Atlanta, Portland, Nashville, and Ottawa. Opera News praised her “huge voice, its rich colors and finely woven timbre ringing with luxurious warmth.” Answering her riddles as Calaf is tenor Antonello Palombi. At Seattle Opera, Palombi most recently sang the role of Foresto in Verdi’s Attila and has also starred as Manrico in Il trovatore, Radames in Aida, and Canio in Pagliacci. For the Sunday matinee performances, August 5 and 12, soprano and former Seattle Opera Young Artist Marcy Stonikas makes her role debut as Turandot, and tenor Luis Chapa—following up his company debut as Don José in last season’s Carmen—sings Calaf. Liù is sung by Georgian soprano Lina Tetriani (August 4, 11, 15, 17, and 18) and Italian soprano Grazia Doronzio (August 5m, 8, and 12m), both of whom are making their company debuts. The cast also features Peter Rose as Timur, Patrick Carfizzi as Ping, and Peter Kazaras as Emperor Altoum; Rose has sung Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier and Falstaff for Seattle Opera, Carfizzi sang Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville in 2010, and Kazaras, who is Artistic Director of the company’s Young Artists Program, sang 13 roles in Seattle between his 1985 debut (Steva in Jenůfa) and his most recent vocal appearance (Loge in the 2005 Ring), and has directed six mainstage operas including this spring’s Madama Butterfly.

This sumptuous production of Turandot, inspired by traditional Chinese iconography and numerology, is jointly owned by Seattle Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera. The production marks the Seattle Opera debut of professional team Renaud Doucet (Stage Director) and André Barbe (Set and Costume Designer); Guy Simard is the Lighting Designer. Built in Minnesota, the production first took the stage in Pittsburgh, where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called it “a stunning, balanced production,” and Opera News wrote, “the total effect is quite gorgeous.”

Production Sponsors: The Kreielsheimer Endowment Fund and Eulalie Schneider.

Turandot premieres Saturday, August 4, and runs through Saturday, August 18. All performances are currently on sale except Sunday, August 12, which will be available for sale beginning Monday, June 25. Tickets are available online at seattleopera.org or by calling 206.389.7676 or 800.426.1619. Tickets may also be purchased at the Box Office by visiting 1020 John Street (two blocks west of Fairview), Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Ticket prices start at $25.

Please note the following artist list for Turandot replaces all previously announced cast lists. Further information on the 2012/13 season and full biographies of the cast members can be found at seattleopera.org.

Turandot

Music by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni

In Italian with English Captions

Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy, April 25, 1926

Previous Seattle Opera Presentations: 1966, 1969, 1981, 1996

Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle, Washington

8 Performances: August 4, 5m, 8, 11, 12m, 15, 17, and 18, 2012

Approximate Running Time: 2 hours and 50 minutes, including two intermissions

Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; matinee begins at 2:00 p.m.

Groups save 15%: 206.676.5588

Seattle Opera Ticket Office: 206.389.7676/800.426.1619

Online orders: seattleopera.org

Artists

Turandot: Lori Phillips

Marcy Stonikas *

Calaf: Antonello Palombi

Luis Chapa *

Liù: Lina Tetriani †

Grazia Doronzio †^

Timur: Peter Rose

Ping: Patrick Carfizzi

Pang: Julius Ahn †

Pong: Joseph Hu †

Mandarin: Ashraf Sewailam

Emperor Altoum: Peter Kazaras

Conductor: Asher Fisch

Stage Director: Renaud Doucet †

Set and Costume Designer: André Barbe †

Lighting Designer: Guy Simari

† Company debut
* Performs August 5m and 12m
^ Performs August 5m, 8, and 12m
Marcy Stonikas is a former Seattle Opera Young Artist.

Scenery and Costumes for this production were constructed at the Minnesota Opera Shops and are jointly owned by Seattle Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera.

Lori Phillips’ performances are sponsored by The James and Sherry Raisbeck Lead Singers Fund.
Marcy Stonikas’ performances are sponsored by Jim and Gretchen Faulstich.

Learn more about Turandot!
Seattle Opera offers the following educational opportunities:

Pre-Performance Talks: An hour and a half before every performance, in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall, $7

Free Public Previews:

7/18/2012, 6:30 pm, Edmonds Library
7/19/2012, 2 pm, Green Lake Library
7/21/2012, 2:15 pm, South Kitsap Library
7/23/2012, 6:30 pm, West Seattle Library
7/24/2012, 7 pm, 3rd Place Books
7/29/2012, 2 pm, Frye Art Museum
7/31/2012, 12 pm, Freeland Library
8/1/2012, 2 pm, Ballard Library
8/2/2012, 12 pm, Seattle Central Library

About Seattle Opera

Founded in 1963, Seattle Opera is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. The company is recognized internationally for its theatrically compelling and musically accomplished performances, especially the Opera’s interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner. Since 1975, Seattle Opera has presented 38 cycles of the Ring (three different productions), in addition to acclaimed productions of all the other major operas in the Wagner canon. Seattle Opera has achieved the highest per capita attendance of any major opera company in the United States, and draws operagoers from four continents and 50 states.