Audiences flocked to see this opera about a maid wrongly accused of theft, -  based on something that really happened, and she was executed - after it was first performed at La Scala Milan on May 31st 1817. This stunning production, directed by David Alden, was first seen in Frankfurt in March 2014. There are new singers in the cast for this, the first revival.

Ninetta (Juanita Lascarro – role debut) works as a maid for Fabrizio Vingradito (Barnaby Rae, appearing at Oper Frankfurt for the first time) and his wife Lucia (Katarina Leoson). Preparations are underway for a party to celebrate their son's (Giannetto - Martin Mitterrutzner – role debut!) return from war. Giannetto and Ninetta are in love, which his mother is not very pleased about..... Things start going wrong when some silver goes missing, Ninetta's father (Fernando Villabella – Renato Furlanetto), a deserter, appears on the scene, and Gottardo (the mayor, sung again by our wonderful Kihwan Sim) can't keep his hands off Ninetta. Nicky Spence is back to sing Isacco and Michael McCown, Antonio, the jailer. Pippo is being sung by Judita Nagyová, the mayor's servant Giorgio by Gurgen Baveyan, Ernesto by Thomas Charrois and Carlos Krause is back as the judge.

Performances: December 11th, 17th, 23rd, 25th 2015, January 2nd & 8th (an Opera for Families performance, which begins at 6pm!) 2016 which, all, apart from the performance on January 8th, begin at 7pm

Photo: Alte Oper Frankfurt, Volker Rauch/Shutterstock