The Epiphany Festival at Novaya Opera presents a unique Russian-Italian dialogue:Rachmaninoff’s Aleko (1892) and Leoncavallo’s Zingari (1912) are opera-doubles, based on Pushkin’s poem Tsygany (1824).

The plot of Zingari is a typical “romantic cocktail” of the first half of the 19th century: a lonely hero who abandons civilization, a “different”, “wild” nation that is not bound by the civilization conventionalities, and, of course,a fatal entanglement of love and death.There are philosophical problems behind this, primarily the problem of the limits of liberty. The Pushkin poem has been interpreted by composers many times. Zemfira’s song was set to music in chamber vocal pieces by Verstovsky (The Old Husband ballade) and in Zemfira’s song by Tchaikovsky, while the entire poem became the plot of two lyric dramatic operas, Rachmaninoff’s Aleko and Leoncavallo’s Zingari.
Written in two weeks as an exam assignment at the Moscow Conservatory, Aleko is one of Rachmaninoff’s first masterpieces and a very popular one. Drama scenes (the central: scene at the cradle, and Aleko’s cavatina) are surrounded by marvelous, colourful choral episodes (“Oriental” songs and Gypsy dances).

Aleko’s double, Leoncavallo’s opera Zingari, which completely disappeared from the theatrical repertoire a hundred years ago, is undoubtedly a discovery of the Epiphany Festival. Written in the “verismo” style, it reveals a psychological drama of ordinary people. The easily recognizable Russian plot combines perfectly with bright Italian music, with beautiful arias and love duets.