Puccini’s last opera is all about riddles. The Emperor of China rules over the Forbidden City of Peking. His unmarried daughter, the Princess Turandot, has refused her hand to all her princely suitors by putting them to a test. She sets them three riddles; if they do not answer them correctly, they will lose their heads. As unlucky suitors fail and fall, up steps Calaf, a prince of the Tatar people. Daniel Kramer’s new staging in Geneva transposes the old fairy tale to a futuristic world where Turandot’s magic holds sway. In a dystopian game show, reminiscent of Hunger Games, the Princess presides over a surveillance state in which men are culled and the reproduction of the human race is conducted in breeding labs.

In the ethereal afterlife, there is no time or space. The shades, freed from their earthly cares, celebrate the greatness of the Goddess of Truth. Shrouded in eternal glory, she sits triumphant, flanked by Beauty and Goodness, while at her feet lies Suffering in her mantle of blood. In the midst of this chorus of praise, a discordant lament rises: “To live! Who will give me back the thrill of life?” The voice belongs to Guercœur, who died in the prime of life after falling in love with Giselle and freeing his people from a tyrant, assisted by his friend Heurtal. Unable to rest, Guercœur begs to return to his fleshly form. Truth warns him: two years have already passed on Earth where nothing lasts forever. His fall from paradise could be brutal…

Don Giovanni was commissioned by the Prague Opera immediately after the success of The Marriage of Figaro: Mozart and Da Ponte wanted to build on their success and chose a subject that had triumphed just a few weeks earlier in Venice, a Don Giovanni composed by Giuseppe Gazzaniga. Revisiting the theme of the Seville Cheat – a prevalent subject in theatre since the mid-17th century, especially through Molière’s powerful incarnation, and in a ballet by Gluck in Vienna in 1761 – Da Ponte focused the work on the libertine character of Don Juan, no doubt drawing inspiration from his friend Casanova (who in fact helped make changes to Act 2, Scene 9, and attended the Prague première).

With its lively dances, ghost scenes and touching arias, Hamlet was Ambroise Thomas’s single great success of the Paris Opera, remaining in its repertoire for decades after the 1868 premiere. On the opening night, the title role was sung by a baritone, as has become the custom ever since. With the rediscovery of the original score in recent years, it transpires that Thomas originally scored the role of Hamlet for a tenor. In this new production of Teatro Regio Torino, the tenor John Osborn is the tormented prince, singing the celebrated monologue “To be or not to be” (“Être ou ne pas être”). Sara Blanch sings Ophélie, whose pyrotechnic aria in the mad scene is a pièce de résistance for a coloratura soprano. Under the musical direction of Jérémie Rhorer, the production is directed by Jacopo Spirei.

Guercœur, the knight and a freedom fighter, meets with an early death and ends up in heaven. But his soul is unable to rest and begs to be returned to earth. At the Opéra national du Rhin, Stéphane Degout plays the title role under the direction of Ingo Metzmacher, while Christof Loy’s staging explores the boundaries between the two worlds.