"Nessun Dorma," Puccini's "Turandot," soprano Lisa Hopkins, daughter of Barbara Keiser Hopkins

“Nessun Dorma” was popularized by tenor Luciano Pavarotti when he sang it at the 1990 World Cup.
Here, my daughter Lisa sings this aria from Puccini’s opera “Turandot” as Calaf, a handsome, young prince who falls in love with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot, daughter of the Emperor of Peking, China.
Princess Turandot would rather see her suitors die than marry anyone. Prince Calaf miraculously qualifies to marry Princess Turandot by answering three impossible riddles, but she still refuses to marry him. Nevertheless, the Prince agrees to being put to death if the Princess can guess his name before dawn the next day.
Princess Turandot commands her servants to find anyone in Peking who might know Prince Calaf’s name and says that if no one reveals the Prince’s name, everyone in Peking must die.
In this famous tenor aria, Prince Calaf muses that “No one will sleep” (“Nessun dorma”) in Peking that night, but in the end, Prince Calaf believes that he will be victorious (“venceró”) in winning the hand of Princess Turandot in love and marriage.
Princess Turandot does not discover Prince Calaf’s name, so Prince Calaf lives and succeeds in marrying Princess Turandot.
Surprisingly at the wedding, she melts into his arms, and they live happily ever after!
Here, my daughter Lisa performs a Kurt Bestor soprano arrangement of “Nessun Dorma” with his orchestra and Jenny Oaks Baker on the violin in the Cox Performing Arts Center at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah.

[@jameshopkins21]

Lisa's performance is magnificent!! So expressive, and totally in character!