A BRITISH premiere in rural Dorset is always a cause for celebration and few companies know how to do it better than Dorset Opera, which stages professional productions of major works as part of their annual Summer School project.

Puccini's powerful and tragic work, unfinished by him, has been given a fresh completion, written by Luciano Bario, which enjoyed its British premiere performance at the Dorset venue to wide acclaim, giving the opera a poignant ending different from usual productions.

Set in Peking, the grisly plot includes execution by hanging, suicide, torture and sadistic cruelty - not exactly a barrel of laughs but Puccini's exquisitely intelligent score more than makes up for the gruesome plot.

The opera's main claim to fame of recent years is due to one aria - Nessun Dorma - but there is a rich feast of gorgeous music throughout this major work.

A starry cast is led by Wei-long Tao as the suitor of the Ice Princess Turandot, played with steely majesty by Christine Groeneveld, but it is Janis Kelly who brings forth the tears for her peerless performance as the sacrificial servant Liu. Although a convincing actor as the embattled suitor, Mr Tao's singing was mildly disappointing in that it displayed the resonance and depth of a baritone rather than the soaring heights most associated with the role.

A steeply raked stage gives the large chorus the opportunity to be seen among the crowd but this creates its own challenges as the singers negotiate their way hesitantly upon the precipitous slopes.

A particularly fine orchestra of around 50 musicians under the baton of conductor of Jeremy Carnall almost succeeds in stealing the entire show from under the noses of the singers in a memorable evening of wonderful music superbly played.