De Munt debuts ambitious Rachmaninoff triple-play

The in-between season’s inaugural production, Rachmaninov Troika, hosted by Théâtre National, is a doozy. Each evening features not one, not two but all three operas composed by early 20th-century Russian pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff: the gypsy tragedy Aleko, the cynical drama The Miserly Knight and the doomed love story Francesca da Rimini.

It’s an ambitious project on many levels. These one-act operas may not be marathons, but the programme still clocks in at three hours and 40 minutes (with two intermissions). There’s also the fact that times (and artistic values) have changed since 1900. As one of the last champions of Romanticism, a composer who looked to Pushkin and Dante for his themes, Rachmaninoff’s unabashedly lyrical works are rarely performed on contemporary opera stages – and certainly not back-to-back-to-back.

De Munt’s Troika stays true to the spirit of Rachmaninoff while introducing contemporary elements. The cast, some of whom appear in multiple roles throughout the performance(s), are almost entirely native Russian speakers. De Munt’s house orchestra is led by guest conductor Mikhail Tatarnikov of Saint Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre.

The scenography, on the other hand, has been outsourced to Scandinavia. Danish director Kirsten Dehlholm and her company Hotel Pro Forma frame Rachmaninoff’s timeless themes in innovative ways. Dehlholm and her partners at De Munt are especially keen to adapt the conventional opera form to the unique architecture of Théâtre National. (In Russian with surtitles in Dutch and French)