For nearly a century, conductors, directors and composers have been trying to finalize and fulfill the promise of “Turandot,” Puccini’s ultimate, unfinished opera. A who’s-who of 20th-century artists have tried and mostly failed. Until this past Friday night, December 2, in Amsterdam. At Dutch National Opera, director Barrie Kosky premiered a new production which makes four key—some might argue radical—changes to the work. In the process, he redeems “Turandot,” making it both more dramatically coherent and more faithful to the music that Puccini wrote. This is the first version to present the three-act opera in under two hours, and it may well also shift forever the way “Turandot” is performed in the future.
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