Turandot at Hungarian State Opera, Opera House

The riddles are three, but death is one... Ice that sets you aflame, but grows colder from the fire. White and dark. If she sets you free, you'll become her slave. If she takes you as her slave, you'll become a king. Come here, stranger, you who are pale with terror. What is this ice that makes you burn?' Turandot: Carlo Gozzi's stage play about the beautiful but cold-blooded Chinese princess and her riddles has inspired countless artists over the years, none more so than Giacomo Puccini, who used it as the basis for his final and perhaps most marvellous opera, although his death left it incomplete. At the world premiere, after the moment Li? stabs herself to avoid revealing Calaf's name, conductor Arturo Toscanini gestured for the orchestra to pause and turned to face the audience. 'This,' he told them, 'is where the Maestro put down his pen.' Balázs Kovalik's spectacular production shows the work in its full glory.