Signed vinyl, CDs, and scores will be available for order on February 6 at the store page.
One week after the album's release, 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, doing his free skate to a special version of the music that Christopher prepared especially for him.
Yuma Kagiyama, 2022 Olympic Silver Medalist, Mens Figure Skating
The story of Christopher's collaboration with Yuma Kagiyama, his choreographer Lori Nichol, and his coach Carolina Kostner, has been a feel-good story in the figure skating community. NBC Sports commentator Mark Hanretty said, during Yuma's win at the NHK Trophy:
This free skate with music specially composed and created as a collaboration between his choreographers and Christopher Tin has ignited such appreciation from the skating community. It debuted at the Lombardia Trophy in Bergamo to rapturous reception. A version of Turandot for Yuma Kagiyama.
I defy anybody not to be moved by the emotion of the music, the story behind the creation of this piece, specially recorded for Yuma... the music so extraordinary, and the skater just sublime, and the combination of the passionate movement that Yuma gives to that music is so emotional. And it just has Olympic moment written all over this piece.
Turandot, Francesca Zambello production, Washington National Opera. Photo by Cory Weaver
Puccini had composed most of ‘Turandot’ before his death in 1924 but the final duet and conclusion to the opera remained unfinished. Commissioned from Christopher by visionary director Francesca Zambello and Washington National Opera, the new ending premiered at the Kennedy Center on May 11, 2024 and was hailed a huge success by the critics and audiences alike.
Its sound and attitude, while contemporary, grow organically from Puccini’s original, like a savvy modern addition on a historic building. Mr. Tin launches their confrontation with a fiercely dramatic duet; the sound is edgier than Puccini but still tonal, and Turandot’s initial insistence on power through violence is Wagnerian in scope and accompanied by blaring brass.
Even without the new ending — and Tin’s splendid musical additions, which draw sensibly from Puccini’s score while applying an entirely new emotional finish — Zambello’s “Turandot” crackles with fresh energy and some truly extraordinary singing.
Tin’s score is exceptional... Tin is a master of musical embroidery and subtle Puccini references abound, connecting the final scene convincingly to what goes before... Christopher Tin should be reflecting on this success. He has established his opera street cred and it’s time for him to commit to a full work. It is talent like his that will lead the next generation into opera houses around the world.
[Translated from Italian]: Christopher Tin succeeded in the balancing act between respecting the Puccini of the two previous acts, the Puccini of the incomplete sketches and his own personality as a composer of today... In my opinion, this ending does not look out of place alongside Alfano's (first or second) and could very well enter the repertoire as a variant of the classical standard.
Composer Christopher Tin is a two-time Grammy award winner. Perhaps that gave him the courage to compose new music in juxtaposition to some of Puccini’s greatest when this is his first opera composition... My hearing was that it was a job well done, interesting in orchestration, pleasing to the ear, and working well coupled to the vocals containing the new libretto.
Musically, Tin incorporates the same fragments Puccini left at his death, though often in novel ways—for instance, the tune for “Mio Fiore,” usually Calaf’s insistent love song, becomes a part of Turandot’s memory of her assault. The neo-romantic mode of Tin’s orchestration feels broadly continuous with the main score, though Tin adds some interesting details from traditional Chinese music and instrumentation.
This new World Premiere also adds the enticing music of composer Christopher Tin to the finale of this production---so we have the ravishingly soaring music of the revered composer Giacomo Puccini as well as the contributions of this refreshing modern composer.
But Tin, who is best known for his film and video game soundtracks, prides himself on making his work accessible. "To me if you've come up with a great melody, boy, you've done 80% of the work, right there," he says. "A great tune lasts forever."
In 2024, Tin made an impressive debut in the opera world when he was commissioned to compose a new ending for the reimagined production of Giacomo Puccini’s venerable opera Turandot, which premiered at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
To craft new music for this revised story, Zambello turned to Tin, a Grammy award-winning composer who has written for film, TV and video game soundtracks.
Puccini died just before he could finish writing the opera, so the Washington National Opera enlisted a pair of powerhouses to write the last 10 minutes of the piece: Grammy-winning composer Christopher Tin (the video game “Civilization IV”) and acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Susan Soon He Stanton (HBO’s “Succession”).
... this reimagining of “Turandot” is a perfect example of opera’s power to cross time and appeal to a modern audience. From its new time period to its complex and riveting tale about nature and the power of love, this production is sure to please everyone from the seasoned opera buff to the first-time viewer.
[Tin's] music convincingly extends Puccini’s idiom to encompass these new dramatic ideas, and draws out shades of meaning that the libretto implies... Zambello and the WNO deserve credit for taking a risk here, and Stanton and Tin deserve kudos for making it pay off.
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Yuma Kagiyama, 2022 Olympic Silver Medalist, Mens Figure Skating
Turandot, Francesca Zambello production, Washington National Opera. Photo by Cory Weaver
Yonghoon Lee as Calàf, Ewa Plonka as Turandot, and Neil Shicoff as Emperor Altoum. Photo by Cory Weaver
