Sergei Prokofiev’s operatic tragedy The Fiery Angel was never performed in the composer’s lifetime – the music’s brittle energy, drama and eloquent lyrical tenderness would re-emerge in his Third Symphony. The narrative focuses relentlessly on Renata, who is haunted by an angel who turns out to be the devil. Director Emma Dante describes the opera as an ‘explosive mix of fantastical realism and endless confusion of nightmares, madness, sexual impulses and cultural clashes’, and this Teatro dell’Opera di Roma production was acclaimed as ‘a presentation of Prokofiev’s masterpiece which sparkles in all its grotesque glory’ (operawire.com).

Cast:
- Ruprecht: Leigh Melrose (baritone)
- Renata: Ewa Vesin (soprano)
- The Landlady: Anna Victorova (mezzo-soprano)
- Mephistopheles: Maxim Paster (tenor)
- Fortune-teller, Mother Superior: Mairam Sokolova (mezzo-soprano)
- Agrippa of Nettesheim: Sergey Radchenko (tenor)
- Johann Faust, The Servant: Andrii Ganchuk (baritone)
- The Inquisitor: Goran Jurić (bass)
- Jacob Glock: Domingo Pellicola (tenor)
- Mathias Wiessman: Petr Sokolov (baritone)

Stage director: Emma Dante
Set designer: Carmine Maringola
Costume designer: Vanessa Sannino
Choreographer: Manuela Lo Sicco
Lighting designer: Cristian Zucaro