There is premiere in tne State Opera of Banská Bystrica one by one. ‘Don Pasquale’ by Gaetano Donizetti opera run takes a place in a week, on 17th of March. Then start of preparation for two Russian operas at a time – ‘Aleko’ by Rachmaninoff and ‘Iolanta’ by Tchaikovsky.
Iolanta (Russian: Иоланта) is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. It was the last opera he composed. The libretto was written by the composer’s brother Modest Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish play Kong Renés Datter(King René’s Daughter) by Henrik Hertz, a romanticised account of the life of Yolande de Bar. The opera received its premiere on 18 December 1892 in Saint Petersburg.
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 poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin. The opera was written in 1892 as a graduation work at the Moscow Conservatory, and it won the highest prizes from the conservatory judges that year. It was first performed in Moscow 19 May 1892.
Both operas are directed by Marcello Lippi.