•During the Italian verismo Francesco Cilea was the master of subtle portraits of the human soul. Leopoldo Marenco's libretto was based on Alphonse Daudet's drama L'Arlesienne. For its concert performance of L'Arlesiana, the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra engaged a singer on his way to international renown: Giuseppe Filianoti, who not only has scored a brilliant success in this role in Carnegie Hall but also on the stages of the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Milan Scala.