Turandot, London Coliseum

Opera is an acquired taste. Whether its the antiquated language choices (ok so some would call them classic), the sometimes rather screamy singing, the often rather rotund, jowly performers or the viciously expensive seat prices, opera is definitely not something you’ll find on the to do list of every Londoner. I have to admit a passing interest in it but this does tend to blossom when my parents are picking up the tab for the ticket rather than when I’m looking at my monthly budget and trying to decide what to allocate that £100 that I have left after all the costs are taken out. Winter coat? Winter boots? Oh no I’ll spend it on three hours of listening to someone fat sing about love and suicide.

Having said that, there have been several occasions when the parentals have shelled out for l’opera and I have loved it. Absolutely loved it. With opera as with many things it’s so very easy to get it wrong. A powerful, well trained, exquisitely beautiful voice singing a fantastically crafted aria can set your soul alive. But if any of the components of a production are in the slightest bit lacking, you are more likely to find your teeth set on edge. The opera I saw the most recently on the olds’ budget was Turandot.

Puccini’s Turandot is “an oriental fairytale of disguised identities, riddles, ritual executions and – of course – powerful, triumphant love” and contains the wonderful aria ‘Nessun Dorma’ which you are probably more likely to recognize as having been kind of a theme tune for the late Pavarotti if you haven’t seen the production before. The English National Opera’s performance of Turandot is at the London Coliseum from October 18 0 December 12 with prices ranging from £20 for a seat right up in the gods to £81 for a seat in the stalls.  Probably worth it, even if you have to sell a Kidney (www.eno.org).

London Coliseum
33 St Martin’s Lane
London, WC2N 4, United Kingdom
+44 870 145 0200