The Kennedy Center premieres a new ending for one of the world's most famous operas on Saturday in Washington, D.C. The opera is Turandot, and its ending has always been, shall we say, problematic.

This Orientalist classic, left unfinished, has had to be completed since Puccini’s death. A new version hands that task to artists with Asian roots. Puccini’s “Turandot” at the Metropolitan Opera, in ...