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
Adina
World Premiere Recording on DVD and Blu-ray
Few of Gioachino Rossini’s operas are less well known than Adina. This production by Rossini Opera Festival and Wexford Opera Festival revives a masterwork of glittering arias and rich orchestral textures. The oriental tale, where Adina is a slave in a Baghdad seraglio, is set by Rosetta Cucchi on a giant and colorful wedding cake. The vocal star Lisette Oropesa “gave a splendid rendition as Adina. Her voice was brilliant, shiny on top, warm and round in the middle.” (Bachtrack)
Aureliano in Palmira
Since 1980 Pesaro, the Italian town at the Adriatic Sea, is celebrating its most famous son: Gioachino Rossini. Besides the well known and famous works of the master, in the intimate setting of the Teatro Rossini also the creations which fell into oblivion were performed. In 2014 “Aureliano in Palmira” was for the very first time part of the festival’s repertoire: a great work about love, war jealousy, loyalty and magnanimity.