Hommage à Séville
Adelaide di Borgogna
Rossini’s opera Adelaide di Borgogna was performed for the first time in Rome in December 1817, inaugurating the 1818 Carnival season. Since then, it has been revived only a few times in modern times, and the first performance in stage form was at the Rossini Opera Festival in 2011. For this new staging of the opera, French director Arnaud Bernard employs a play-within a-play device to portray the characters as singers rehearsing Adelaide di Borgogna for a performance at ROF. The drama outside of the Adelaide narrative in which the cast had their own stories became interwoven with the opera itself: “The evening was a resounding success” (bachtrack.com). “As Adelaide, Olga Peretyatko alternated between alluring vocal warmth and warrior-like grit in razor-sharp coloratura.” Financial Times
Il signor Bruschino
“A wonderful, turbulent comedy about a girl willing to marry, but whose guardian causes problems, rivalties, financial debts, false identities and more. The directing duo – André Barbe and Renaud Doucet – made their debut with this production in Pesaro. They brought Rossini’s wit in music and plot to the point in a very entertaining manner.” This is how the Deutschlandfunk describes Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. Jack Swanson’s and Marina Monzó’s beautiful voices are particularly inspiring with technique and elegance in the colourful, pittoresque and lovingly designed set.
La cambiale di matrimonio
The Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro brings a delightful new production of Rossini’s early work La cambiale di matrimonio (The Marriage Promissory Note) on stage. Particularly noteworthy is the excellent young cast, mainly young singers from the Pesaro-based Accademia Rossiniana, one of the most successful talent factories in Italy. “Giuliana Gianfaldoni, Carlo Lepore, Davide Giusti, Iurii Samoilov, as well as Pablo Gálvez and Martiniana Antonie in the smaller parts please with lean, profound voices and a mature ensemble performance that can only be achieved with careful rehearsal work”, applauds Der Tagesspiegel. Rossini’s comic farce is stylistically audibly influenced by Mozart, rich in beautiful melodies and ensemble scenes, but with his lively parlando style and several strettas already a typical Rossini. The 42-year-old Russian Dmitry Korchak, who is also a regular Rossini tenor in Pesaro, appeared here for the first time on the conductor’s podium, outstanding above all his handling of the recitatives. Laurence Dale, who came to Pesaro for the first time as a stage director, also provides an appealing aesthetic. “A truly outstanding ensemble” Das Opernglas
Le Comte Ory
With the Opéra Comique’s staging of Le Comte Ory in Paris, starring stellar soloists Philippe Talbot, Julie Fuchs and Gaëlle Arquez as well as the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, conducted by Louis Langrée, the Rossini anniversary year starts off with “a masterpiece!” (Télérama). It is staged by a first-rate creative team: Stage director Denis Podalydès and costume designer Christian Lacroix provide stunning visuals, whilst conductor Louis Langrée leads the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, the Choeur Les éléments and a stellar cast of soloists in this delightful fool’s game. Gaëlle Arquez shines with her “superlative technique” (Le Monde). “Pure pleasure!” (Les Échos)
Il barbiere di Siviglia
For his first opera production, Dario Fo, the theatre director known for his brilliant wit, chose to stage Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Netherlands Opera. First mounted in 1987, it was a huge success and a live recording of ist revival in May 1992, the 200th anniversary of Rossini’s birth, has been made.
Fo has said that ‘Rossini is the musician of eating and love. He composes music rich in herbs and aromas, in which you find olives, tomatoes, fish, grapes, roses and rosemary, sheets and tablecloths, dry wine and the laughter of girls.’ His ‘Barbiere’ is a joyful carnival. During the overture he fills the stage with carnival revellers and immediately the commedia dell’arte origins of opera buffa are restored. Visual theatrics abound, never at the expense of the music, but highlighting it, engaging the eye as well as the ear. Fo addresses the heart more than the intellect and Rossini’s comedy comes up dazzling and vital.
La Cenerentola
From the Salzburg Festival 1988 Rossini’s version of the Cinderella story – an exciting mixture of comedy, pathos, coloratura fireworks and masquerade – features bel canto specialists Dame Ann Murray (Angelina) and Francisco Araiza (the Prince). The effervescent and noble score is conducted by Riccardo Chailly, whose masterly display of the Rossini style is visually matched by the ravishing sets of Mauro Pagano and the stylish direction of Michael Hampe. This is a performance of exceptional theatrical surprise and phenomenal vocal agility. (Sung in Italian)
La gazza ladra
This Cologne Opera production, one of Rossini’s most brilliant compositions, was directed by Michael Hampe and boasts a star-studded cast with Ileana Cotrubas, Carlos Feller, David Kuebler and Alberto Rinaldi.
Rossini’s opera is a perennial favourite and tells the story of a servant girl, accused of stealing a silver spoon. She is brought to trial by the Justice of the Peace, whose advances she has repulsed, and is condemned to death. Tragedy turns to comedy when, just before the execution is due to take place, it is discovered that the real thief is a magpie.
Bruno Bartoletti conducts this lively and colourful production, designed by o Pagano.
La Cenerentola
This recording from Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu captures all the vocal sparks and dazzle generated by the two phenomenal singers, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. With his airy, effortless high notes and perfect command of rapid-fire Rossinian parlando, the charismatic Flórez (who also stars in Unitel’s recording of Donizetti’s ‘La fille du régiment’) once again proves that he was born to sing Rossini.