Turandot to Stream at Orcas Center

Sunday, January 31,1 p.m., Orcas Center

— from Artha Kass —

Turandot

Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, which is one of the most spectacular productions in the Met repertory, returns to the Live in HD series streaming to Orcas Center on Sunday, January 31 at 1:00 pm.

Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme sings her first Met performance in the demanding title role of Puccini’s Chinese ice princess, the proud royalty of ancient China, whose riddles doom every suitor who seeks her hand. Tenors Marcelo Àlvarez and Marco Berti are the brave princes who sing ”Nessun dorm” to win her love, in Franco Zeffirelli’s visually stunning production. With Puccini’s sumptuous soaring score, the Emperor’s palace is one of the most blindingly opulent scenes the Met has to offer.

The Financial Times says Nina Stemme “commands the power, sensitivity, verbal acuity and authority to make the essentially unsympathetic princess of legendary Peking magnetic.The The New York Times says “Nina Stemme’s powerful, luxuriant voice retained its warmth throughout the evening, with blazing high notes.

Since the company premiere in 1926, Turnadot has been performed 296 times at the Met with Zeffirelli’s production premiering in 1987. Among the many performers who have sung the leading roles with the company, Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli hold the Met record with 52 and 54 performances, respectively, of the leading roles—more than half of which they sang together between 1961 and 1970.

Running time: approximately 3 hours, 30 minutes. Renee Fleming hosts.

Tickets for The Met: Live in HD’s Turnadot are $20, $15 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon -2 pm. $5 subsidized tickets available at the Box Office. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2016 season visit www.orcascenter.org.