ALEKO (Rachmaninov) Athens 2024 Tassis Christoyannis, Yannis Christopoulos, Myrsini Margariti, Yanni Yannissis

ALEKO by Sergei Rachmaninov
Greek National Opera, Athens, Greece
November 2024

CAST

Tassis Christoyannis — Aleko

Yannis Christopoulos — Young Gypsy

Myrsini Margariti — Zemfira

Yanni Yannissis — An old man

Ines Zikou — Gypsy woman
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Greek National Opera Orchestra

Fabrizio Ventura — Conductor

Chorus of the Greek National Opera

Agathangelos Georgakatos — Chorus master
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Fanny Ardant — Stage director

Pierre-André Weitz — Set designer

Israel Galván — Choreographer

Katarzyna Lewińska — Costumes designer

César Godefroy — Lighting
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Aleko (Russian: Алеко) is the first of three completed operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Russian libretto was written by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and is an adaptation of the 1827 poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin. Written in 1892 as a diploma work at the Moscow Conservatory, it won the highest prizes from the conservatory judges that year[citation needed] and was premiered in Moscow on 9 May 1893.

The Bolshoi Theatre’s premiere took place on 9 May (O.S. 27 April) 1893 in Moscow.

The composer conducted another performance in Kiev on 18/30 October 1893. (Tchaikovsky had attended the Moscow premiere of Aleko, and Rachmaninoff had intended to hear the premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony on 16/28 October, but had to catch a train for Kiev to fulfill his Aleko conducting engagement.) A Pushkin centenary celebration performance on 27 May 1899 at the Tauride Palace in Saint Petersburg featured Feodor Chaliapin in the title role, and utilized the chorus and ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Synopsis

A band of Gypsies has pitched its tents for the night on the bank of a river. Beneath a pale moon, they light campfires, prepare a meal and sing of the freedom of their nomadic existence. An old Gypsy tells a story. Long ago, he loved Mariula who deserted him for another man, leaving behind Zemfira, their daughter. Zemfira is now grown up, has her own child, and lives with Aleko, a Russian who has abandoned civilisation for the Gypsy life. Hearing this story, Aleko is outraged that Zemfira’s father took no revenge on Mariula. But Zemfira disagrees. For her, as for her mother, love is free, and she herself has already tired of Aleko’s possessiveness and now loves a younger Gypsy, one of her own people. After dances for the women and the men, the Gypsies settle down to sleep. Zemfira appears with her young lover, whom she kisses passionately before disappearing into her own tent to look after her child. Aleko enters and Zemfira taunts him, singing about her wild lover. Alone, Aleko broods on the catastrophe of his relationship with Zemfira and the failure of his attempt to flee the ordinary world. As dawn comes, he surprises Zemfira and her lover together. In a torment of jealousy he kills them both. All the Gypsies gather, disturbed by the noise. Led by Zemfira’s father, they spare Aleko’s life but cast him out from them forever.

Quoted from Wikipedia