The Metropolitan Opera’s 2024-25 season of Saturday matinee broadcasts continues on May 10 with the annual Listeners’ Choice broadcast.
This year, the radio audience voted for a 1966 performance of Puccini’s "Turandot," showcasing two legends who electrified audiences when they paired up for this opera: Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli. Zubin Mehta led the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra in this performance.
From the Met: "Puccini’s final opera is an epic fairy tale set in a China of legend, loosely based on a play by 18th-century Italian dramatist Carlo Gozzi. Featuring a most unusual score with an astounding and innovative use of chorus and orchestra, it is still recognizably Puccini, bursting with instantly appealing melody.
"The unenviable task of completing the opera’s final scene upon Puccini’s sudden death was left to the composer Franco Alfano. Conductor Arturo Toscanini oversaw Alfano’s contribution and led the world premiere."
Read the synopsis from the Metropolitan Opera.
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni
CAST
Turandot: Birgit Nilsson
Calaf: Franco Corelli
Liù: Mirella Freni
Timur: Bonaldo Giaiotti
