Karis Tucker

This 2021 Deutsche Oper Berlin performance is directed by Christof Loy and stars soprano Sara Jakubiak in the title role. Riccardo Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini is a four-act opera set during the Renaissance period. The plot concerns an arranged marriage between Francesca and Giovanni, also known as Gianciotto, who is impersonated by his handsome brother Paolo, and with whom Francesca falls passionately in love.

Christof Loy continues his exploration of early 20th-century opera at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Respighi's rarely heard La fiamma. Imposing choruses and sweeping tableaux drive a drama of suspicion, desire and public frenzy, heightened here by Carlo Rizzi's musical direction and a cast led by Olesya Golovneva and Georgy Vasiliev. Premiered in 1934, the work mirrors a society sliding towards authoritarianism, its show trial carrying an unsettling emotional charge. Respighi's score moves beyond the colours of the Trilogia romana, blending impressionist shimmer, Russian influence and a renewed fascination with Italian Renaissance sound worlds.