(credit: Andy Wilkinson)

The ending of “Turandot” recording has always been a point of contention for opera goers. The opera is traditionally performed with an ending constructed by Alfano following Puccini’s death, but over the years, composers and librettists have taken a stab at reconsidering this iconic and controversial work. That list includes the likes of Luciano Berio, Derrick Wang, Deborah Burton, and Hao Weiya 

On Feb. 6, a new recording of the famed opera was released with a new ending featuring a libretto by Emmy-winning playwright Susan Soon He Stanton, music by Christopher Tin, and a cast that includes Christine Goerke as Turandot and Clay Hilley as Calàf.

That new ending will now head to the Olympics where Japanese star figure skater Yuma Kagiyama will be competing in the Men’s Singles Figure Skating Finals at the Winter Olympic Games 2026 Milano-Cortina, and will do his free skate to a special version of the music that Tin prepared especially for him.

OperaWire spoke to Tin about the new recording, his inspiration for a new ending of Puccini’s work , and having his music played at the Olympics

OperaWire: When did you first experience Turandot?

Christopher Tin: I first heard “Turandot” as an undergrad at Stanford. Opera wasn’t a focus in my composition seminars, but I was also studying conducting at the time, and it was my Italian conducting professor who first introduced me to Puccini and made me fall completely in love with opera. I had a small collection of scores and recordings of Puccini operas, and I would study and conduct along to them in my dorm room.

OW: When did you realize that you wanted to rewrite the ending of ‘Turandot?’

CT: There was an element of serendipity involved in my writing a new ending to “Turandot.” One day, out of the blue, I received an email from Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director of Washington National Opera. She overheard her teenage son listening to my choral theme “Sogno di Volare” from the video game “Civilization VI.” She listened, liked it, listened to more of my music and invited me to meet with her to start to explore whether I’d be interested in writing opera. Writing an opera was high on my bucket list, of course, and so I started research a few topics that I was interested in, including something based on Arthurian legend and some contemporary novels and films. For months, Francesca and I exchanged ideas about what my first commissioned opera might look like, but it wasn’t until she proposed to me a new ending of “Turandot” that I knew very strongly what I wanted to do. It has been exciting and an honor, as well as a terrific challenge to pay utmost respect Puccini’s work while adding my own touches.

OW: How did you approach the writing and did you use any of the manuscript that Puccini left?

CT: I did a tremendous amount of scholarly research into Puccini’s manuscripts and compositional style, largely through the musicological work of one of the foremost Puccini scholars, Deborah Burton. (She has a new book coming out soon called “The Finales of Turandot: Puccini’s Last Act” where she analyzes the different Puccini endings, including mine.) I also listened to all the other endings that were composed prior to mine, include Alfano I, Berio, and Hao Weiya. All of this was done prior to me even composing a single note. This was, after all, one of the most delicate commissions I’d ever accepted, and I wanted to make sure that I approached it in an unimpeachable manner.

I put a lot of care into every decision, and tried to make them all justifiable from a dramatic, musicological, or cultural standpoint. I used several of Puccini’s leftover sketches, often developing them more than my predecessors did. Because Puccini’s sketches were written to a libretto that we were no longer using (our new libretto was written by Emmy-winning playwright Susan Soon He Stanton), I often needed to find unexpected ways of incorporating them: for example, his “O mio fiore mattutino” theme is now sung by an offstage soldier during a flashback to Princess Turandot’s traumatic assault.

I also incorporated several of the themes from the finished portion of the opera — notably the opening brass motif, Turandot’s “Mai nessun m’avrà” theme of resistance, and of course, “Nessun Dorma.” I would reprise these in strategic moments throughout the new ending: for example, the moment when Calàf gives up his name is now set to a brief refrain from “Nessun dorma,” signaling his evolution from a man who believes that love is to be conquered, to a man who believes that love is something you need to be willing to sacrifice your life for.

Likewise, when it came to composing my own themes, I would sometimes use Puccini’s melodies as a starting point, inverting them or playing them in retrograde, often for symbolic reasons. For example, the opening of Act one starts with a chaotic scene of China in disarray, with a descending theme in the strings (“Indietro, cani!”). In my ending, I take that theme and I play it upside down to signify that under Empress Turandot’s new reign, China is once again on the rise.

A score video which shows my full ending, with commentary about how I approached the piece, is here.

OW: What can audiences expect from your ending?

CT: When Susan and I were commissioned to write a new ending, our challenge was to both give Princess Turandot a little more agency by the end of the opera, and to make the love between her and Calàf more believable. Similarly, my goal was to create something that was perhaps a little closer in language to Puccini’s material than Franco Alfano’s ending, but still in my own musical language.

Through no fault of his own, Franco Alfano’s second ending is a little bit disjointed; and the only explanation for the love between Calàf and Turandot is that he forces a kiss on her, magically transforming her into a complacent lovestruck girl (and it’s worth noting that only after she is safely under his spell, does he give up his name). In our ending, Susan came up with a few plot twists that paint a more plausible picture. First, her father Emperor Altoum has died before the third act and Turandot is now heir to the throne, raising the stakes on her search for Calàf’s name. Secondly, Turandot reveals to Calàf during a heated argument that the story of Lo-u-Ling was a lie, and that she herself was actually the victim of assault. Third, after hearing this admission, Calàf softens his tone, and voluntarily gives up his name to her — a gesture which disarms her. And fourth, after realizing that Calàf is unlike the other would-be suitors, it is Turandot herself who initiates the kiss.

There’s no shortage of opinions on how “Turandot” should end, but I think Susan’s sequence of events is a rather brilliant solution to the plot problems that confounded Puccini himself to his deathbed.

OW: This music will be premiered at the Olympics. What makes this special?

CT: I think it’s any composer’s dream to have their music presented to a global audience at such a high profile event, skated to by an athlete with such musical sensitivity as Yuma Kagiyama. This particular Olympics has special significance for us, though, as it’s the 100th-anniversary of the world premiere of “Turandot,” and Milan is the same city in which the world premiere of “Turandot” took place–which was famously conducted by Arturo Toscanini, who laid down his baton at the exact point where Puccini’s music ended.

OW: Will this music be performed in concert in a complete opera form?

CT: There are two productions of “Turandot” that will be announced in the coming months that will feature our new ending, and hopefully more will follow. I’ll also be conducting a special concert suite of the music in my own concerts.

OW: Christine Goerke is a renown interpreter of the opera. What was it like to work with her?

CT: Christine Goerke is a tremendous singer, a powerhouse of a Turandot, and an absolute pleasure to compose for. Moreover, she’s a great collaborator, and has been encouraging me to continue expanding my compositional voice in the contemporary opera landscape. I’m currently composing for her in my next opera as well, in fact, and I look forward to working with her closely for the next year.

OW: This is getting a recording. What does a recording mean to you?

CT: Functionally speaking, for the vast majority of people, a piece of music simply doesn’t exist unless they can hear a recording of it. Thus I make it a point to try to have a recording of every piece that I’ve written — and while I do love when others make them, I particularly enjoy making them myself. It’s an opportunity for me to put out the music exactly as I imagined it; and in a way, it allows me to enjoy other people’s interpretations even more because I feel like I’ve already said what I want to say.