“There truly is a Rossini miracle!” (Deutschlandradio). Acclaiming the mastery of tenorissimo Juan Diego Flórez and the breathtaking young soprano Olga Peretyatko in the lead roles, the press hailed the premiere of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as the “high point of the festival” (the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel).
Ciro in Babilonia
Gioachino Rossini was only 20 years old when he wrote his fifth opera, Ciro in Babilonia, for the Teatro Comunale Ferrara in 1812. In this production from the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro (Italy), stage director Davide Livermore sets the action in the 1920s, with period black-and-white film inserts, lavish costumes in the Art Nouveau style, and decors highlighted by “Babylonian” elements. The production was a wildly cheered hit with the audience.
Mosè in Egitto
From the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro comes a thought-provoking interpretation of Rossini’s azione tragico-sacra “Mosè in Egitto”. Topping the cast of high-caliber vocalists are Sonia Ganassi and Dmitry Korchak as two lovers drawn into the political turmoil of their time. Director Graham Vick’s interpretation centers on a condemnation of all religious fundamentalism. Designed by Stuart Nunn, the set evokes a bombed-out edifice and provides a chilling setting for Rossini’s haunting melodies. With the gifted Roberto Abbado on the podium, “the music is free to carry its timeless message” (La Stampa).
Adelaide di Borgogna
From the Rossini Festival in Pesaro comes the first staged performance since 1825 of “Adelaide di Borgogna”. Set in medieval times, the libretto relates the tale of a king’s widow who is used as a pawn in diplomatic and amorous intrigues. “Adelaide” stars sought-after mezzo Daniela Barcellona as Ottone, and, in the role of Adelaide, young Australian soprano Jessica Pratt, who possesses a natural-born bel-canto voice. Director Pier’ Alli ha devised a modern, stylish look for his production, which interweaves medieval aspects with ironically used elements from the time of the opera’s genesis.
Sigismondo
Filled with beautiful, original music, Rossini’s rarely performed “Sigismondo” was resurrected at the 2010 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. The press called the production a “perfect symbiosis of music and stage work” (Quotidiano Nazionale). Director Damiano Michieletto sets the first act in a realistic “insane asylum” of past times; the second take place in an elegant palace. Mezzo Daniela Barcellona portrays the mad King Sigismondo with fierce intensity and flowing coloraturas; also outstanding are Olga Peretyatko, Antonino Siragusa and Andrea Concetti. Leading the orchestra with supreme musicality is Michele Mariotti, principal conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and acclaimed maestro at La Scala, the Met and other leading houses.
Demetrio e Polibio
Rossini’s very first opera, written when he was a teenager, was premiered i Rome in 1812 and revived at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2010. Young stage director Davide Livermore, heading a production of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino, turns the libretto into a ghost story, setting the action at night, behind the stage of an opera house. Thanks to various “phantasmagorical” tricks, Livermore creates an enchanting atmosphere that is musically rendered by the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini under Corrado Rovaris. Each giving outstanding performances are the four young soloists Maria José Moreno, Victoria Zaytseva, Yijie Shi and Mirco Palazzi, “stars of the highest international order” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Le Comte Ory
The work was recorded at the Rossini Opera Festival in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro, a festival that is internationally renowned for ist innovative stagings and musically impeccable productions. ‘Le Comte Ory’ boasts a young, dynamic and international cast headed by tenor Yijie Shi, who ‘outstandingly mastered’ (Il Giornale) the title role, and María José Moreno, ‘a countess with an extremely supple coloratura, great stylistic refinement and seductive elegance’ (Il Giornale di Vicenza). Paolo Carignani conducts the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna with verve and brio.
La Scala di Seta
In this colorful and exuberant production by Damiano Michieletto, ‘one of the truly new voices in stage direction today’ (L’Unità), Rossini’s ‘La Scala di Seta’ becomes an Almodóvaresque spectacle ‘that transforms all the singers into extraordinary actors’ (La Stampa). Leading the young and spirited cast is Maestro Claudio Scimone, a key figure in the international Rossini Renaissance, who conducts the Orchestra di Bolzano e Trento with precision and incisiveness, highlighting the Rossinian instrumental
colors as well as the comical and sentimental currents of the score’ (Il Giornale di Vicenza).
Zelmira
The Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Rossini’s birthplace, is internationally renowned for its innovative stagings and musically impeccable productions of Rossini’s works. In this staging of the dramma per musica ‘Zelmira’, the Festival once again lays claim to this reputation. Stage director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti ‘delivers a production of great visual fascination and dramaturgical intelligence’ (Corriere della Sera). This rediscovery should help ‘Zelmira’ return to theaters everywhere.
La donna del lago
Giocacchino Rossini (1792-1868) is known today above all as a composer of comic operas. However, he was much more than the admittedly brilliant creator of “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Cenerentola.” The intensive study of his oeuvre over the past decades has brought to light Rossini’s multi-facetedness: Rossini was an important figure and major musical precursor both in the field of opera buffa and opera seria. Following a popular trend, Rossini wrote a number of works in which the rigid boundaries between opera buffa and opera seria are blurred. One example is the romantic melodrama in two acts “La donna del lago”, which was premiered in Naples in 1819. It was based on the novel “The Lady of the Lake” by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. (Donizetti’s successful “Lucia di Lammermoor,” written about 15 years later, was also based on a source by Scott, who was extremely popular in Italy at that time.) It is the most romantic of all of Rossini’s operas: the beautiful Elena, the daughter of a Scottish rebel, wins the heart of the king who, without knowing her true identity, offers her a ring that ultimately helps Elena find happiness. Love, jealousy, political intrigues and royal benevolence set the accents in this melodrama, which is closely connected to the nature, forests, lakes and mountains of the Scottish highlands. Rossini’s wish to depict the Scottish spirit on the opera stage led him onto musical paths that he had never trodden before. Acclaimed movie director Werner Herzog stages this production from Milan’s La Scala. The title role is sung by the fascinating American belcanto soprano June Anderson. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.