Patrick Guetti

In a court trial, Joan of Arc is charged with high treason ... Dmitri Cherniakov presents a modern reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky’s least frequently performed opera, set entirely in a courtroom, with soprano Elena Stikhina in the title role.

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.