The Washington National Opera’s “Turandot” was sold out at the Kennedy Center in the spring.
This Saturday, you can see it free on the Nationals Park jumbotron during the 19th annual “Opera in the Outfield.”
“It’s an annual tradition for us,” General Director Timothy O’Leary told WTOP.
“It’s one of our favorite days of the year because it’s a gift to our whole beautiful community to invite everyone for free to come see the opera on the Nats Park Jumbotron. It’s so much fun. … If you get there early, you can get a spot on the outfield grass, you can lay out your blanket with your popcorn, peanuts and crackerjacks and watch the opera.”
Composed by legendary Italian composer Giacomo Puccini in 1924, “Turandot” is set in China where Prince Calaf must risk his life to solve three deadly riddles in order to have a chance at marrying Princess Turandot.
“The story of ‘Turandot’ is a fairy tale,” O’Leary said.
“The basic premise is that it’s set in a mythical China. Princess Turandot is the daughter of the emperor and she can only be married to a prince. She doesn’t particularly want to get married, so they come up with this thing where a prince can marry her if he can answer three riddles correctly, but they’re insanely hard riddles. If the prince doesn’t answer all three questions right, he gets beheaded.”
Puccini died just before he could finish writing the opera, so the Washington National Opera enlisted a pair of powerhouses to write the last 10 minutes of the piece: Grammy-winning composer Christopher Tin (the video game “Civilization IV”) and acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Susan Soon He Stanton (HBO’s “Succession”).
“Arturo Toscanini conducted the first performance in 1924 and he actually ended it at the point when Puccini died … he laid down his baton and said, ‘That’s it folks,'” O’Leary said.
“We actually commissioned a new generation of a composer and librettist to rewrite the very ending of ‘Turandot’ in the spirit of the original. What’s so fabulous about it is that it gives Princess Turandot, this iconic character, the ending that she has always deserved.”
The music includes several famous passages, including a recognizable soccer chant today.
“Puccini was the master of big, romantic, beautiful, Italian opera,” O’Leary said.
“The most famous opera tune in the world is from this opera, the one that everyone is familiar with that’s the soccer world anthem ‘Nessun Dorma.’ Luciano Pavarotti used to sing it, but for whatever reason, the World Cup adopted it as its unofficial anthem years ago and it stuck. It’s this guy signing in the middle of the night about how he’s going to win big in the morning.”
Hearing that soccer chant echo across a baseball stadium may convert some brand new opera fans.
“We’re so grateful to the Nats for opening up the stadium every year and letting us sit in the outfield grass … to hear this music in that setting, to be outdoors on a summer evening in D.C. with your family,” O’Leary said.
“Opera was invented to be fun, entertaining and beautiful. Over the years, it’s accumulated this reputation of being formal, stuffy, even elitist, so doing opera in this context of a baseball stadium … that’s part of our mission.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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