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The staging of Turandot at the 2025 Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago offered a traditional, large-scale interpretation of the composer’s last unfinished work, making the most of its spectacular lakeside setting. Few opera houses can match the visual impact of this open-air amphitheater on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli, with Puccini’s villa, and the natural backdrop remains an integral part of the experience.
Courtney Ann Mills
Director Alfonso Signorini has presented a production firmly rooted in tradition. This revival of his lavish 2017 staging eschews modernist reinterpretations for a traditional vision that revels in Puccini’s Orientalist fantasy, evoking an imaginary China of spectacle and opulence. Vivid colours dominate, with golden highlights and glossy red lacquered surfaces against the darkened set, while ornamental motifs and moonlit scenes provide an atmospheric backdrop to the drama.
The immense stage required monumental sets, created by Carla Tolomeo, with fantastic costumes designed by Fausto Puglisi , and dramatic lighting by Valerio Alfieri. All of this evoked the Orientalist fantasy familiar since the opera’s premiere in 1926. There was no attempt to question or tone down Puccini’s exoticized vision of China for modern audiences. While some may find this approach out of step with contemporary sensibilities, it offered a coherent visual aesthetic and a clear focus on the music.
Yusif Eyvazov and Carolina Lopez Moreno
Indeed, the apparent lack of consideration for modern sensibilities was perhaps most evident in the presentation of the comic trio Ping, Pang, and Pong. Their elaborate gestures and deliberately stylized ” Chinese-style ” footwork leaned toward caricature, underscoring how firmly this production remained rooted in the operatic traditions of a bygone era. Whether this is seen as theatrical color or cultural anachronism will depend on one’s perspective, but it underscored the production’s commitment to spectacle rather than reinterpretation.
Carolina Lopez Moreno, Yusif Eyvazov and Vittorio De Campo
Musically, the evening was impressive. Under Renato Palumbo, the Puccini Festival Orchestra played with precision and a rich palette of colours. Brass and percussion gave the riddle scene a menacing edge, while Act III opened with a more restrained palette, the strings producing an icy shudder before the dawn chorus. The sound can vary in the open-air auditorium: close to the stage, detail and immediacy dominate; further away, textures blend into a more atmospheric whole, sometimes at the expense of clarity.
American soprano Courtney Ann Mills gave a masterful performance as Turandot. Vocally assured and dramatically focused, she projected the princess’s icy authority in Act II, her upper register resonating with a metallic sheen, yet allowing her timbre to soften as the opera progressed. The challenge of convincing the transformation from ruthless avenger to passionate lover is well known, but Signorini introduced two striking visual elements that lent it a certain plausibility. During “Nessun dorma” Mills appeared high on the walls of the Forbidden Palace while Yusif Eyvazov sang below, a tableau that accentuated the gulf between them while suggesting the first chink in her defences. Later, Turandot’s gesture of placing her own crown on Liù’s body after the slave’s death offered a moment of remorse that deepened her humanity without departing from traditional staging. Eyvazov brought stamina and vocal weight to Calaf, maintaining control and a rounded timbre throughout this demanding role. His “Nessun dorma” was performed with sure phrasing and unwavering high notes, earning the inevitable, prolonged applause.
Yusif Eyvazov
As Liù, Carolina López Moreno sang with expressive warmth and lyrical elegance that gave her two main arias exquisite emotional impact. The Bolivian-Albanian soprano, born and raised in Germany, offered the finest singing of the evening, fully expressed in her magnificent aria in which she sacrifices herself for Calaf. There was great delicacy in her scenes with Andrea Vittorio De Campo , who portrayed a rich and sonorous Timur. The quasi-comic ministers Ping, Pang, and Pong were played by Stefano Marchisio, Andrea Tanzillo , and Tiziano Barontini, with well-balanced ensemble playing, particularly in their reflective scene in Act II. They sang with individuality but also formed a mini-chorus as a trio. They successfully juggled the humour and horror of their characters.
Yusif Eyvazov with Sergio Vitale, Andrea Tanzillo and Tiziano Barontini
The audience’s response was warmly enthusiastic for all the principal singers, with prolonged applause after every major aria and during the bows. Mills in particular seemed to relish the ovation, her confident bows confirming an artist at ease with both her role and the setting. Festival performances typically begin after the heat of the day has dissipated, meaning many shows continue well past midnight, adding to the opera’s sense of an immersive, nocturnal experience.
Main image: Yusif Eyvazov and Courtney Ann Mills
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Also at Puccini Festival 2025:
