Leads Bring Uneven Debuts to ‘Turandot’

Ian DeNolfo, the new Calaf in Puccini’s “Turandot” for Los Angeles Opera, is the kind of singer who will sacrifice his voice for a role. You see the train wreck coming, you hope it can be averted, and after it happens, you admire the reckless courage and stamina as the person picks up the pieces. But it’s not a pretty affair.

DeNolfo joined two other new principals--all of them making company debuts--on Friday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. His vocal troubles started early, with glorious, stentorian tones alternating with dangerously off-pitch attacks and upward swooping into notes. By the time he answered Turandot’s final riddle in the second act, he was growing noticeably hoarse, and his voice began shutting down.

In the third act, he finished “Nessun dorma” without eliciting any of the push-button bravos that always follow that hit tune. But he persevered and as long as he was pushing full out managed to recover some of that earlier ringing tone.

Nina Warren, the new Turandot, was pretty much always pushing full out, courting stridency and pushing sharp, in her impossible entrance aria, “In questa reggia,” even in those passages that allowed more subtlety.

Still, her vocal strength never wavered, and her acting, in the new ending by Luciano Berio, was persuasively conflicted, especially in contrast with her imperious earlier demeanor.

Svetla Vassileva was the new Liu, bringing rich, dark tone but not much vocal warmth or finesse to the role. Even so, in her acting, she made the role a pillar of strength instead of the usual sacrificial lamb.

Her suicide was consciously calculated, rather than impulsive. It was an admirable moment.

The rest of the cast was previously reviewed. Kent Nagano again conducted.

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This cast will repeat Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Audrey Stottler, Franco Farina and Hei-Kyung Hong will sing Turandot, Calaf and Liu, respectively, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. $30 to $155 on weeknights; $34 to $165 on weekends. (213) 365-3500.