Performer: Eduardo Valdes

Christine Goerke gives a thrillingly fleshed-out performance as the princess Turandot that is everything one wants opera to be.

Amidst mixed vocal performances, competent orchestral playing and spectacular staging, Guanqun Yu took the limelight as a devout and sincere Liù.

Franco Zeffirelli's admired 1987 Turandot honored Giacomo Puccini's chinoiserie fantasy about a cold-hearted princess thawed by love, but musically lacked conviction.