Oksana Dyka

Opera in three acts (1926) New Production! Celebrated contemporary artist Ai Weiwei makes his operatic debut with a new reading of Puccini’s fairy tale of misdirected love, exile and rule by decree. It’s a fitting project for Weiwei, famous for geopolitical installations, sculptures and photography that question authority and champion human rights and expression. From the ominous opening five notes, the score plunges audiences into an uncertain, violent world, seeped in bloodshed and despotism, where the cruel, seductive princess, Turandot (Ukrainian soprano Oksana Dyka), is pursued by a brave suitor (American tenor Michael Fabiano, in a role debut). This staging is performed without the ending added by Puccini's contemporary, Franco Alfano. The brilliant Oksana Lyniv conducts.

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, March 1, 2014. Absent from the Met stage since 1917, Borodin’s masterwork about an introspective prince’s military campaign against the invading Polovtsians returned in 2014 with a first-rate cast and an astonishing production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Well worth the wait, the sets feature visually striking projections interlaced with lush flowering fields, and the first act delivers one of opera’s most exciting dance medleys, a portion of which went mainstream in the 1950s when Tony Bennett recorded “Stranger in Paradise.”

Very rarely staged, Il corsaro tells the story of an exiled corsair called Corrado, who goes to war against the Turkish and helps a slave recover her freedom. But back from a long absence, he realises his heroism has cost the life of his beloved Medora, and not only hers...

A famous singer lives only for art and love. When she is caught in a web of politics, corruption, lies and lust, she is forced to make a terrible choice. Tosca is a timeless opera that features fundamental archetypes of the human condition: ruthless power grabbers, idealist revolutionaries and strong women ready to sacrifice it all. These characters truly come alive at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the natural home of Puccini's masterpiece.