The rarely performed Italian opera "Mefistofele" will return to Moscow's Bolshoi Theater on Saturday for the first time in almost 120 years.
Rejected by contemporary audiences for its experimental musical style and length – the original was over five hours – "Mefistofele" has since come to be recognized as a masterpiece of the genre and is the only completed opera by Italian composer Arrigo Boito.
The show follows the life and death of the legendary German scholar Faust, who sells his soul to a demon in exchange for infinite knowledge and worldly pleasures.
"For the first time in almost 120 years, Moscow audiences will see a production of this rare gem of the Italian operatic repertoire," the Bolshoi Theater said in a post on social media.
Ildar Abdrazakov, who will be playing the demon, described the production as "wonderful."
"This is a magnificent work, one of the greatest ever written for my voice type, the bass," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Mefistofele" premiered in Milan in 1868 and was last shown at the Bolshoi in 1909.
