A new Turandot for Cagliari’s centenary season
Sardinia’s principal opera house marked one hundred years since Turandot’s premiere with a new staging by Spanish director Rafael R. Villalobos — a contemporary, dystopian reading that traded fairy-tale Peking for a reflection on power and authoritarian control. Into that conceptual frame, the Teatro Lirico cast Ewa Płonka as one of the production’s title interpreters.
On the podium, Michele Gamba led the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. Opening-night coverage noted applause for the cast even as the radical staging divided parts of the audience — the familiar tension when a landmark score meets a provocative production, and when a major dramatic soprano holds the centre.
The performance contract
According to the theatre’s cast listing, Płonka sang Turandot on four evenings:
- Wednesday 24 June 2026
- Sunday 28 June 2026
- Tuesday 30 June 2026
- Thursday 2 July 2026
Across those dates she shared the run with other Turandots while anchoring the production’s vocal identity. Reviewers described her as a Turandot of pedigree — sharp upper register, projection strong enough to govern Puccini’s large orchestration, and a stage presence that treated the princess as an icon of pure power.
Outstanding work under pressure
Cagliari showed what “outstanding work” means for an artist of Płonka’s rank: not only singing Turandot beautifully, but carrying a contested new production with composure and vocal authority. When staging divides a house, the title role becomes the evening’s fixed star. That is the territory of a soprano already trusted at La Scala, Covent Garden, and Seoul — and why this Sardinian contract belongs among the recent performances that define her current supremacy in the role.
Read more in Why Ewa Płonka is the best Turandot alive, browse production images in the Gallery, and follow what comes next on On Stage.