Semperoper Dresden Presents the Premiere Of TURNADOT On 7 October 2023

The Semperoper invites you Puccini's Turandot, the first premiere production of the 2023/24 opera season – Dresden debut for director Marie-Eve Signeyrole – star-studded cast headed by Elisabeth Teige in the title role.

Dresden, 27 September 2023. On Saturday, 7 October 2023, the curtain will finally rise on the opening premiere of the new season when audiences can enjoy a new production of »Turandot« previously scheduled for the 2021/22 season. This is the fifth staging of Puccini's classic opera in Dresden since the work had its German premiere almost 100 years, which was also held in the Saxon capital. Now French stage director Marie-Eve Signeyrole aims to strip the exotic trappings from the fairy tale of the deadly princess. Instead, her production will transport the Dresden premiere audience into a science fictional dystopia in which humanity's continued existence is under threat.

Inspired both by the atmospheric music of Giacomo Puccini and »The Hunger Games« movie trilogy, the star director of both film and stage, together with her team led by co-director Heiko Hentschel, will make use of use video projection to present the bloody »Turandot Games« as a mass media event. Peter Theiler emphasises how important it was for him, despite the pandemic-related postponement, to stick with the exciting concept of the directing team and to accept the unusual staging challenges in his last season as artistic director of the Saxon State Opera.

For the premiere performance of »Turandot«, the Semperoper is delighted to welcome the Norwegian soprano Elisabeth Teige back to Dresden in the title role. Celebrated around the world for her warm and lyrical-dramatic timbre, the singer was honoured in her home country just a few days ago with the Norwegian Music Critics' Prize 2022/23 for her outstanding interpretation of the role of Chrysothemis in an Oslo production of »Elektra«. This exceptional artist will be joined on stage by the multi award-winning South Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee, who returns to the Semperoper as Calaf, a role he has frequently performed to great acclaim around the world. The star-studded premiere cast will also feature Aleksei Kulagin and Elbenita Kajtazi while Semperoper ensemble member Lawson Anderson makes his role debut as Mandarin.

The Staatskapelle Dresden will be conducted by Ivan Repušić, under whose musical direction the magnificent cast will perform together with the Dresden Symphonic Chorus (the Semperoper's auxiliary choir), the State Opera Chorus and the Semperoper Children's Choir. The Croatian maestro is principal conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, principal guest conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and also heads the Zadar Chamber Orchestra. Local audiences have already enjoyed his brilliant interpretations of many other operas at the Semperoper, most recently the new production of Puccini's »Madama Butterfly«.

Dresden has a very special relationship with the great Italian verismo composer Giacomo Puccini (whose death in 1924 will be commemorated next year) as well as with his last operatic work. Only three months after the premiere on 25 April 1926 at Milan's La Scala, the German premiere of »Turandot« took place at Dresden's opera house under the baton of Fritz Busch. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Saxon State Opera could thus once again claim to be a leading venue for both world and German premieres. However, Puccini's final masterpiece was left unfinished. For this reason, and because of the short rehearsal times, critics at the time doubted whether the Dresden performance could do justice to the work.

The Historical Archive of Saxon State Theatres have dedicated one of their informative »Aktenzeichen« to this event and the local performance history of the opera, entitled »Fernöstliche Exotik im Schnellzug« (Far Eastern Exoticism on a Fast Train). Together with Benedikt Stampfli, the Semperoper's dramaturge responsible for the new production, archivist Elisabeth Telle will provide insights into the various interpretations of the opera »Turandot« in Dresden as well as the final completed version that is now performed.

»Turandot« Giacomo Puccini

Dramma lirico in three acts

Staging: Marie-Eve Signeyrole 

Co-director: Heiko Hentschel

Premiere at 7 pm on Saturday, 7 October 2023, in the Semperoper

Additional performances in October and November 2023 as indicated in our programme

With Elisabeth Teige, Elbenita Kajtazi, Yonghoon Lee, Aleksei Kulagin, Alessio Arduini, Simeon Esper, Aaron Pegram and Lawson Anderson 

Camera operators: Stefan Mampouya, Eckart Reichl

The Dresden Staatskapelle will perform under the direction of Ivan Repušić. Also appearing on stage: the Dresden Symphony Chorus (the Semperoper's auxiliary choir), the Saxon State Opera Chorus and the Semperoper Children's Choir.

Project Partners: Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen, Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden, Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen, LBBW

Generously supported by the Semperoper Foundation

Tickets can be purchased online as well as from the Schinkelwache box office on Theaterplatz (T +49 (0)351 4911 705).

»Fernöstliche Exotik im Schnellzug«

Aktenzeichen on »Turandot«

Starts at 6 pm on Monday and Thursday, 16 & 19 October 2023

in the Historical Archives of the Saxon State Theatres, Ostra-Allee 9, 01067 (entry via Malergäßchen)

Please reserve your place at historischesarchiv@saechsische-staatstheater.de.

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