‘Turandot,' with director Stefano Trespidi, to be performed in Seoul

“At the Arena di Verona Opera Festival, we perform ‘Turandot’ every two years and always stage the version by Zeffirelli. Because we always come to the conclusion, ‘What’s the point of a different version of Turandot?’” said Opera director Stefano Trespidi, who is directing the on-site production of Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” which will be performed at the KSPO Dome (Olympic Gymnastics Stadium) in Songpa-gu, Seoul from October 12 through October 19.

At the production presentation of “Turandot” at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday morning, Trespidi, Lee So-young, director of the SOL’ Opera, which is producing the show, Italian Ambassador to South Korea Emilia Gatto, Director of Instituto Italiano di Cultura di Seoul Michela Linda Magri, and soprano Jeon Yeo-jin, who is performing as Turandot, were present.

“Bringing an opera to South Korea from Arena di Verona, where I have spent more time than at home, in itself is meaningful, but performing a work by the legendary director Franco Zeffirelli is also very meaningful to me,” said Trespidi, who has served as deputy art director of the Arena di Verona Festival since 2019. “Meeting Zeffirelli at the Arena di Verona in 1995 changed my life as a lawyer, and I think South Korean audiences will be open-mouthed and moved by this performance.”

A filmmaker and opera director, Zeffirelli, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1987 to create “Turandot,” which is characterized by the crosses on the stage floor and the opera’s protagonist, Turandot’s blue outfit. This version of “Turandot” received rave reviews from its first performance and has since been performed around the world, including at Arena di Verona. The Italian Scala Opera Theater’s production of “Turandot,” which was performed at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, as a cultural event to commemorate the 1988 Seoul Olympics, also used the Zeffirelli production.

The performance will be conducted by Daniel Oren, music director of the Arena di Verona Festival. It will feature sopranos Olga Maslova, Oksana Duka, and Jeon Yeo-jin as the protagonist Princess Turandot, and tenors Martin Muehle and Arturo Chacon Cruz as Prince Calaf.


유윤종 gustav@donga.com