History in the making

Puccini's opera Turandot, produced by the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) started its second run at NCPA's opera house yesterday. And this time an all-Chinese production is telling the story of the Chinese princess.

Turandot, which premiered in March, is the first opera that NCPA has produced itself. What makes this production so special is that the NCPA commissioned Chinese composer Hao Weiya to write the last 18 minutes of the opera after Puccini died of throat cancer in 1924.

The full-length version that is performed worldwide today was completed by his colleague Franco Alfano in 1926.