Performer: Dario di Vietri

Roberto De Simone's staging evokes a fabulous out-of-time China, and perfectly accompanies the majesty of Puccini’s last and unfinished opera. De Simone chooses to stop the opera at the point of Puccini's death, without Franco Alfano's finale.

The tradition of Grand Opera is well and alive. The genius of Saint-Saëns shone marvellously through this brilliant interpretation, which essentially did justice to the heart of Opera, a dash of madness mixed with high theatricality.