Channeling Puccini

The lavish production of Turandot opened yesterday at the opera house of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) as the most ambitious of all the 100 programs in the opening season of the China's new grand theater. With gorgeous costumes, elaborate settings and opera's biggest stars from China, Italy and Russia, the performance has sparked worldwide interest.

What makes this Turandot particularly special is the last 18 minutes, which was scored by Chinese composer Hao Weiya.

Based on the 23 pages of Puccini's last sketches and notes before he died without finishing the opera in 1924, Hao has created new music including Princess Turandot's aria The First Tears and the duet between Calaf and Turandot.