Branislava as Liu in Turandot

PUCCINI’S OPERA TURANDOT RETURNS TO THE BELGRADE SCENE AFTER ALMOST HALF A CENTURY

On April 28th 2023 Branislava made her debut as Liu in Puccini’s opera Turandot. 

The last opera of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini has, after almost half a century from the last performance, become an integral part of the regular repertoire of the Large Stage of the National Theatre in Belgrade and the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum, directed by Mario Pavle del Monaco and under the conducting baton of Stefano Romani /Djordje Pavlovic.

The National Theatre in Belgrade has prepared this operatic masterpiece in co-production with the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum, which it has already accomplished several very successful joint performances with.

Turandot is the last opera of Puccini, left unfinished due to his serious illness exhaustion and death in 1924, but eventually a composer Franco Alfano finished it two years later. Wishing to move away from verismo, Puccini reached for the German adaptation of the legend about the cruel Chinese princess Turandot, having been previously adapted by the Italian writer Carlo Gozzi, while the original story is based on the old Persian epic from the 12th century.

At the premiere, director Mario Pavle del Monaco said: “The very fact that Turandot has not been performed in Belgrade for almost half a century, puts a great responsibility on all those who are the part of this production, but I must admit that this very fact represents a special honor for me and it is a symbol of a trust that we will certainly not let down. Moreover, I strongly believe that it will motivate us even more to put such an important title back in the repertoire. The audience can expect a comprehensive, timeless stylistic approach, full of fantastic costumes, and a set design interwoven with fluid and multipurpose stage elements”.