Opera Scotland

Turandot 2004Ellen Kent Productions

Read more about the opera Turandot

Of the four Puccini operas toured in the repertoire of the Ellen Kent companies, Turandot has appeared with less frequency that Bohème, Tosca, or especially Butterfly. The main attraction is always 'Nessun Dorma', and her tenors have generally been well cast for this great test. The title role is notoriously difficult to fill, needing a power and maturity of voice and manner, even if the princess doesn't sing until well on in the evening. This difficulty is increased when the second, more popular, opera in the company's repertoire is indeed Tosca.

For this tour, there was one completely reliable soprano able to fulfil those requirements, in Natalia Margarit, who was also an excellent Tosca. Her alternate did have a fine basic voice, but was really not yet ready for the role, and sounded stressed much of the time. The rest of the cast was excellent. Irideed Irina Vinogradova as Liu was rather better than that, and gave a superb interpretation of this beautifully composed and highly sympathetic role. Akhmed Agadi had no difficulty with the vocal demands, and almost made Calaf seem sympathetic. The three masks were delightfully performed by an excellent trio of old stagers, true company regulars.

The production was colourful and highly traditional - but given the static nature of the piece it is actually quite difficult to make it interesting.

Cast from programme insert sheet for 11 March.