Turandot: “In questa reggia”

Elena Pankratova sings an excerpt from the title character’s Act II aria in the final dress rehearsal. Production: Franco Zeffirelli. Conductor: Oksana Lyniv. 2023–24 season. Videography by Neville Braithwaite.

[MK-gxvh]

Hearing this I miss the power and the clearnesses of Birgit Nilsson’s voice even more

[atsushifukazawa]

I don't have any intention to criticize an experienced singer. But sincerely it's difficult to understand why the Met hired her as Turandot. Her voice is too light for the role. Her singing is mono-tone. She doesn't have any true emotion. There is no reason why she has to sing this role in the cathedral.
I watched Turandot in Helsinki in YouTube. (It was unfortunately erased by OperaVision's condition. What a pity. People have right to access the best performance.) Young Astghik Khanamiryan sang Turandot, which was absolutely historical singing with full of dignity. Her voice is deeply spiritual. She made this role to be her own's. Perfection and spontaneity. I think casting of each theater should listen to artists without any bias. Collecting big names doesn't touch.

[buddys_dad]

Could Turandot and the conductor agree on a tempo?

[BlackSpock]

Good training for singers is hard to find

[wotan]

I’ve seen this over the top production over the years from the time it was new. The two sopranos who came closest to the mark were Eva Marton and Gwyneth Jones. Most of the others were just loud, with no nuance.

[matthewtravisano]

Having heard her live in this production, she sang it better in performance than this dress rehearsal. Her voice is warmer in person and more accurate.

[freshname]

Pankratova has a surprisingly sweet tone for such a huge voice. Extremely pleasant to the ear. But this practice of posting dress rehearsals on Youtube should be stopped once and fore all. It does not do any favours neither to the Met nor to the singer.

[petergraham]

The differences of opinions expressed here only indicates to me that aural & visual postings on You Tube should not feature dress rehearsals especially when comments there are at variance with what I have heard regarding the actual FIRST performance. It is unfair to the artists to be evaluated in such a manner, IMO.

[sayersbrock]

Yikes, the numerous pitch problems and flat (both in pitch and characterization) singing make this difficult to listen to. Not to mention the drab, overtly soft orchestra. I guess we'll continue to beat the dead horse and ask again: where are the true dramatic voices that can do justice to this repertoire?

[alexandrkolesnikov]

I saw her in Ekaterinburg in Tosca few years ago)

[papagen]

I saw this production with Jane Eaglen and Luciano Pavarotti.
Good times!

[yashin]

I quite like the tone but she seems short of breath and quick to finish some notes. Not as bad as some they show in this role but maybe it was just a dress rehearsal

[Diva_D]

This is sad... the age old saying is "she can look lke Turandot or sound like Turandot" -in this case she is neither...

[veristaconvicto]

What happened to mankind? Will we ever return to the highest standards?

[ciociosan]

Where is Othalie Graham when you need her?

[haarkelln]

@haarkellner she is a new Turandot, with the most beautiful voice and different expresions. We should all be thankful for such a voice. Glad she came to the MET ❤

[Altonahh]

She sounds like Turandot's imaginary little sister. What's wrong with opera singing? You can't listen to any dramatic parts these days, it's terrible, whether it's Wagner, Verdi or Strauss - all artificially enlarged voices without substance.

[marieantoinette]

All those who say that She does not scream and that She sings, listen again. The singer barely opens her mouth, and holds each note for a second or less, and stops singing as quickly as possible.

Just because there is no wobble doesn't mean it's ok now. The orchestra plays extremely quietly, and she does not overpower it - is not able to! I had the opportunity to hear her live.
Such a small voice, which is so forced to oblivion, that I left the hall together with some people. And I was sitting in the front rows.

The singer is terrible and a horror to listen to. Simply really bad.

[thomasdahlen]

No, no, no, BIRGIT NILSSON and Eva Marton.

[vicky-yxdy]

Beautiful voice just terrible phrasing 😊