Ailyn Perez as slave girl Liu in Turandot at Royal Opera House  (Picture: Tristram Kenton)
Ailyn Perez as slave girl Liu in Turandot at Royal Opera House (Picture: Tristram Kenton)

Opera review: Turandot at Royal Opera House

A famously wealthy soprano once said: ‘Isolde made me famous. Turandot made me rich.’

The Royal Opera, whose ultra-spectacular production of Turandot has been swelling the coffers for 30 years, could echo the latter sentence with excellent justification.

Andrei Serban’s staging, based on the stylised visual tropes of traditional Chinese opera, looks as good as ever. Masked dancers fill the stage with energy, huge red-and-gold props fly in and out and the silk costumes shimmer beautifully.

Iréne Theorin shines in the demanding title role of the icy princess who kills her suitors with riddles and, if her phrasing is sometimes a bit choppy, then her gleaming voice, impressive range and spine-blasting top C more than make up for it.

South Korean tenor Alfred Kim isn’t quite as subtle but he does a fine job as the triumphant lover Calaf and delivers a rousing Nessun dorma!

Ailyn Pérez sings with caressing warmth and stylishness as the self-sacrificing slave girl Liù, and Matthew Rose (Calaf’s father, Timur) shows all the makings of a future Wotan in his big, rich sound.

There’s some barnstorming conducting from Nicola Luisotti, the chorus is on rafter-rattling form, and the whole is still magically greater than the sum of its good individual parts. Riches galore.

In rep until Mar 10 (next perf tomorrow), Royal Opera House. www.roh.org.uk