The second fully-staged opera in the Academy of Vocal Arts’ season is The Demon, by Anton Rubinstein. The famed Russian pianist was also a prolific composer, who wrote twelve operas during his lifetime; he also taught composition to Tchaikovsky. Rubinstein’s The Demon is based on the poem of the same name by Mikhail Lermonontov: a demon falls in love with Tamara and has her fiancé killed, Tamara starts to become attracted to the demon and lets him kiss her, but his kiss is fatal, and she falls dead.

Exciting stuff, and it seems odd that The Demon isn’t more popular in Western Europe and North America (a question better addressed on the AVA Opera Blog). The production at AVA, running December 10, 13, and 15 at Helen Corning Warden Theater, will be the opera’s fourth in Philadelphia. Its premiere in the city came in 1922, with the Russian Grand Opera Company’s run at the Forrest Theater; The Demon was most recently presented in concert with the Russian Opera Workshop in 2015.

Led by Music Director Ghenady Meirson, rotating casts sing the performances; JoAna Rusche and Rebecca Gulinello share the role of Tamara, Marco Cammarota and John Matthew Myers are her fiancé, Prince Sinodal, and Ethan Simpson, Timothy Renner, and Christopher Kenney sing The Demon.

Click here for full details and tickets for The Demon, presented by the Academy of Vocals Arts, December 10, 13, and 15.