FRANCESCA DA RIMINI

A rare revival of Zandonai’s masterpiece

Riccardo Zandonai’s masterpiece Francesca da Rimini returns to the Met in a rare revival, the first time the company has staged the work in more than 25 years. Piero Faggioni’s production, which sets the action in Renaissance Italy, stars Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and Italian tenor Marcello Giordani as Francesca and Paolo, the star-crossed lovers whose doomed romance inspired an episode in Dante’s Inferno. Marco Armiliato conducts a cast that also includes the American baritone Mark Delavan as Gianciotto, Francesca’s brutal husband, and American tenor Robert Brubaker as the wicked Malatestino.