Cristina Deutekom: Puccini - Turandot, 'In questa reggia'

Cristina Deutekom (born Christine Engel, August 28, 1931) is a Dutch opera singer. Renowned for her coloratura technique, she is also known as Christine Deutekom and Christina Deutekom. Her voice was that of a dramatic coloratura, although lirico spinto with an incredible coloratura technique would probably be more accurate. She sang with virtually all the leading tenors of her time: Franco Corelli, Richard Tucker, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus, Carlo Bergonzi and Nicolai Gedda. Deutekom was born in Amsterdam. After some smaller roles, her breakthrough came in 1963, portraying the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at De Nederlandse Opera. She then sang the same role at all major European opera houses and also at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1968. In 1974 she opened the MET season next to Plácido Domingo as Elena in I vespri siciliani. Meanwhile she had been extending her repertoire. Besides the Queen of the Night, her Mozart roles included Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito). She also scored triumphant successes in Italy in the great bel canto roles of Rossini (Armida), Bellini (Norma, I puritani) and Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor). She went on to achieve international fame in a repertoire that also embraced the great dramatic Verdi roles (Abigaile in Nabucco, Lady Macbeth, Leonora in Il trovatore, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elena in I vespri siciliani and the roles that were captured in commercial recordings: Giselda in I Lombardi and Odabella in Attila). Finally, she went on to sing the title role in Puccini's Turandot. Cristina's stage career ended in 1986, when she suffered a heart attack. She turned to giving master classes internationally. As of 2001, she was a guest teacher at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague... en.wikipedia.or...
Lyrics & English Translation
In this palace, thousands of years ago,
a desperate cry rang out.
And that cry, passing down the generations
found refuge here in my soul!
Princess Lo-u-Ling,
sweet and serene ancestress, you who reigned
in your deep silence in pure joy
and defied, unyielding and confident,
the harsh domination (of men),
today you live again in me!
(It was when the King of the Tartars unfurled his seven banners.)
And yet in the time that everyone remembers,
there was dismay and terror and the roar of arms.
The kingdom was conquered!
And Lo-u-Ling, my ancestress, dragged away
by a man like you, like you,
stranger, there in the terrible night
where her young voice was stifled!
(For ages she has slept in her vast tomb.)
O Princes, who in long caravans
from every part of the world
come here to try your fortune,
I avenge upon you, upon you
that purity, that cry and that death!
No man will ever possess me!
Horror of the man who killed her
remains alive in my heart.
No, no! No man will ever possess me!
Ah, in me is reborn the pride
of such great chastity!
Stranger! Do not tempt fortune!
The riddles are three, death is one!
Please Enjoy!
I send my kind and warm regards,