A composer at the piano: this is the image of Sergei Rachmaninoff that has become ingrained in concert-hall culture. Yet his stage works tell of people destroyed by possessiveness, jealousy and desire. Today, 1 November, Zürich Opera House offers a counterpoint, devoting an entire evening to them: ‘Aleko’, ‘The Miserly Knight’ and ‘Francesca da Rimini’ are on the programme, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. The premiere begins at 6pm.
It is an unusual format: to experience not a single opera, but Rachmaninoff’s three completed stage works in sequence. According to the opera house, the evening lasts around three hours and 25 minutes, with an interval after the first part. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zürich Opera orchestra; the operas are sung in Russian, with German and English surtitles. How Tcherniakov connects the three stories on stage will only become clear in performance. The programme describes them as a study of the darker depths of human nature — a framing that draws attention to their shared underlying darkness.
Three stories, three abysses
‘Aleko’ was written in 1892 as the young Rachmaninoff’s graduation piece at the Moscow Conservatory. The opera takes us into a Roma community and follows a man who seeks freedom but is undone by his possessiveness. With ‘The Miserly Knight’, Rachmaninoff later returned to Alexander Pushkin: at its centre is a father whose relationship with gold poisons his relationship with his son. ‘Francesca da Rimini’ draws on an episode from Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ — a forbidden love whose story is told in hell.
The three one-act operas were written years apart: the early ‘Aleko’ was followed by the two later operas, which Rachmaninoff completed in 1906. They are united not by a continuous plot, but by the question of what people do to one another when desire, power or greed gains the upper hand. This opens up a dramaturgical possibility: the works can comment on one another, mirror motifs or sharpen contrasts. Whether the production shapes them into a continuous arc or emphasises their differences cannot be anticipated before the premiere.
Operas rather than the pianist’s image
Rachmaninoff’s reputation as a pianist can easily overshadow perceptions of his operas. Yet it is precisely the comparison between the three pieces that takes us beyond the familiar image of the virtuoso: the stage works draw on literary sources, from the Pushkin-based graduation piece to Dante’s medieval epic. They call not for biographical guesswork, but direct our attention towards the composer’s dramatic craft: how are literary conflicts transformed into music and theatre?
An evening of three operas also changes what is expected of the audience. Rather than following a single narrative arc, we move between different periods, characters and literary worlds. The interval after the first part divides the evening without separating the three operas from one another. This is precisely where the appeal of the format lies: it can allow audiences to hear a repertoire rarely presented as a complete evening as a coherent experience — provided the differences between the works are not flattened out.
Alongside the conductor and director, well-known voices carry the evening: Vladislav Sulimsky takes the role of Aleko, Elena Stikhina sings Zemfira and later Francesca; Bekhzod Davronov can be heard as Paolo, among other roles. The Zürich production is scheduled to run until 28 November. It invites audiences to encounter Rachmaninoff not only at the concert grand, but as an opera composer — and to explore the surprising affinities between three short dramas.
Original reviewed by the editors · 1 November 2026
