Written by Molly, Year 7
Turandot is a famous opera composed by Giacomo Puccini completed by Franco Alfano. This story is set in ancient China and sung in Italian, Puccini’s Turandot was a cold-hearted princess who executed any suitor unable to solve her three riddles. Calaf, a mysterious prince arriving in Beijing with his blind father Timur and their servant Liù, fell in love with Turandot and successfully answered the riddles. When Turandot begged to be freed from the marriage, Calaf offered a counter-challenge: if she discovered his name by dawn, he would die. Turandot forbade the city to sleep, eventually capturing and torturing Liù, who killed herself to protect Calaf’s secret. Shaken by Liù’s death, Turandot was transformed by a kiss from Calaf. He eventually revealed his name to her, but instead of executing him, she realised she had fallen in love and chose to be with him.
Turandot has had a long history at the Royal Opera House. It was first introduced to Covent Garden in 1927. The best-known version at the ROH was staged in 1984, directed by Andrei Șerban, and it has remained the house’s signature staging since then. Turandot is one of the ROH’s most enduring mainstage shows.
As members of the Children Chorus, we had been rehearsing singing and acting for quite a long time before the revival of Turandot. We were involved in all three acts of the production. At the start of Act 1, we first enter as the children of the city. We have all been put into stage families with our stage mums or dads. Soon after the Mandarin reads out Turandot’s three riddles rule, we sing about how we want Princess Turandot to come down to us and to melt the snow, since the snow has been here for a long time. The Children’s Chorus sings a traditional Chinese folk song called “Mo Li Hua”. The original song describes a beautiful jasmine flower. But in the Opera, the Italian lyrics are about how the people are waiting for Turandot. In the Act 1 finale, we stand in the doorway and watch Calaf make his move by striking the gong to announce that he will try and solve the three riddles. After he has struck the gong, we all lean in and watch Calaf as he is centre-stage and has all the lights on him. I love how in the first act, there is lots of overlapping singing – it sounds really good. In Act 2 and 3, we sing similar tunes but the lyrics are different and convey different meanings.
Talking about the music, the most famous song in the opera is Calaf’s “Nessun Dorma”. It is so powerful, breathtaking and magical! It is iconic because everyone is waiting for it. We have been trained to sing “Nessun Dorma” in English as well. For the last show, the Children Chorus will stand in the centre of the stage and present this song’s English version “None May Sleep” to the audience.
