Ai Weiwei makes operatic debut with ‘Turandot’ in Rome

ROME – Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei makes his directorial operatic debut in Rome on Tuesday with a new reading of Giacomo Puccini’s final, unfinished opera, “Turandot”.

And with a storyline seeping with bloodshed and despotism, a new geopolitical focus and Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv in the pit, the new production — originally meant to have premiered in 2020, but delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic — comes exactly on time.

From the ominous opening five notes, the audience is plunged into an uncertain, violent world and 64-year-old Ai never lets up the pressure.

The production, which opens at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, is a fitting project for an artist known for his installations, sculpture…