Director Dmitry Chernyakov turns three Rachmaninoff operas into one story of Pushkin’s Miserly Knight at the Zurich Opera

Dmitry Chernyakov’s production “Rachmaninoff: The Three Operas” has opened at the Zurich Opera House. The composer never conceived of “Aleko,” “The Miserly Knight,” and “Francesca da Rimini” as a trilogy; Chernyakov and conductor Gianandrea Noseda are the first to bring them together in a single production. Known for his unexpected interpretations of classic operas, the director has devised a narrative thread linking three entirely unrelated stories: In his production, they are all about the Miserly Knight. Anton Dolin reports on the premiere.