Il barbiere di Siviglia

“Il barbiere di Siviglia” is commonly considered as Gioachino Rossini’s masterpiece. It premiered in Rome in 1816, ever since it has been one of the most popular and successful works in the world of opera. For his new production at the Vienna State Opera, the director Herbert Fritsch has created a colourful slapstick party” (Der Standard) and assembled a gifted and dedicated ensemble of excellent vocal quality and marvelous acting skills, with Bel canto star Juan Diego Flórez as Conte Almaviva, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya as Rosina and Étienne Dupuis as Figaro. Rossini specialist Michele Mariotti sweeps the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper into lusty playing.

Rossini Festival Pesaro: Guillaume Tell

“The Rossini Festival supplied brilliant solutions” to the challenges of Rossini’s rarely performed work composed in the style of French “grand” opera. On the rostrum Gianfranco Mariotti, graduate of Pesaro’s Rossini Conservatory and one of the the world’s most sought after conductors for this repertoire, and “may be the only one person more appreciated in Pesaro than Juan Diego Flórez,” who performs the role of Arnold Melchtal in this production. (Opera Today)

Verdi, La Traviata

This production from the sumptuous Teatro San Carlo in Naples has two elements that make it different from all Traviatas prdocutions before: It is performed in the full length as Verdi wrote it. Phenomenal young conductor Michele Mariotti disregards the traditional cuts and plays entire work, which allows for better understanding of protagonists’ motivations. Italo-Turk stage director Ferzan Özpetek makes a minor change in the second act, with a major impact: Germont père was once a client of Violetta’s. This casts her relationship with Germont fils in a new light and adds more drama to the narrative. The stage design by Dante Ferretti, winner of three Academy Awards for The Aviator, Sweeney Todd and Hugo, is quoted as “a visually opulent yet strictly conservative affair” (Financial Times).

Matilde Di Shabran

“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).

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.