One of the reasons that Turandot is a problem opera is that the two main roles are so unsympathetic, so it’s left to Liù to conquer the audience’s heart. Anita Hartig accomplished that in no uncertain terms: throwing her soul into the tragedy of the character and giving us a voice which perfectly combined strength and sweetness. Both the scene where she explains that Calaf once smiled on her and her subsequent death scene were the vocal highlights of the evening. Faced with such competition, how can the singer of the title role respond?