After hearing the voice of soprano Wang Xia, anybody can understand why Prince Calaf succumbs to Turandot's attraction.
Wang won the audience's heart and applause on Friday night for her impressive performance of the princess.
As Turandot, Wang does not appear on stage until Act II. With her first notes, the exceptional warmth and seductiveness of her voice in its middle range seemed to make Turandot's reputation for coldness and harshness unbelievable. Yet in the following aria of vengeance, she went on to display to us Turandot's steely qualities.
"It is not Wang's debut of the role neither her last time, but I believe it is one of the best nights she sings Turandot," said Yu Long, conductor of the opera.
"Wang is definitely the best Turandot in China. Her voice matches the role," said Lun Bing, a local classic music critic.
Usually Turandot is considered cold-blooded and most Western sopranos portray her in this way. Yet, this time, Wang brought out a somehow warm and soft woman who pursues real love.
After the dress-rehearsal on Thursday, the soprano shared her interpretation of the princess.
"Like most Chinese people, I could not understand the harsh princess and thought Puccini's story was not reasonable when I first read it. In most versions I have watched, she is cold and rigid," said Wang, who have sung the role more than 30 times since 1996 at the National Opera House of China (Then called China Central Opera House).
"But the more I play her, the more I understand her. People all possess instincts for self-protection. But when our strategies for safety veer toward the self-destructive, our inner world is no longer a heaven; it's a hell," Wang said.
Her understanding of the role and the story has developed little by little as she performed with different opera houses under different directors, she said.
"Princess Turandot has barricaded herself in a prison of irrational fear and loneliness. Her people suffer the by-product of her self-imposed incarceration, a nation-wide regime of cruelty and terror. But through the power of love, Turandot finds the courage to open her heart and, in doing so, she gives liberty to everyone she touches," she said.
"Thus, from time to time, Turandot has become my favorite role among dozens of characters I have played."
According to her, Li Wei, director of this production, shares some common views over the characters, and provides a very Chinese setting to tell the story. "We try to tell the story from a Chinese angle rather than that of Italian or other Western people. And the simple and modern setting and costume have avoided all the performers limited in a stereotyped approach of story-telling and characterization," she said.
Born in Northeast China's Jilin Province, Wang started to learn music at a very young age with the Changchun Film Orchestra. From 1979 to 1983 she studied vocal at the Arts Institute of PLA and became a vocalist with the Performing Arts Ensemble of PLA after graduation.
In 1988, Wang passed the audition to join the Central Opera House of China and soon was sent to further study in Japan. Two years later, she won the first prize of Japan International Vocal Competition.
In 1995, when the Central Opera House planed to premiere "Turandot" in China, Wang defeated all the competitors and became the first Chinese Princess Turandot. Her performance achieved great success and ever since, she has been considered the best choice of the role in China.
Besides Turandot, what remains most exciting in Wang's career so far is sharing the stage with the Three Tenors at the Forbidden City on June 23, 2001. She and sopranos Yao Hong and Ma Mei and tenor Dai Yuqiang performed live arias of "La Traviata" to thousands and millions of people around the world watched on television.
(China Daily September 4, 2006)
