Take a tip from Rossini and do it in a delightful way!

From the memorable tribute concert for Alberto Zedda with some real Rossinians:

Cecilia Molinari – Rosina, Nicola Alaimo – Figaro, Maxim Mironov – Conte Almaviva, Carlo Lepore – Bartolo, Michele Pertusi – Basilio.

In a recent interview for the American Rossini Society, Jessica Pratt recalled ” The first opera I saw when I arrived in Rome from Australia over twenty years ago was Tancredi with Daniela Barcellona, Raul Gimenez and Mariella Devia. It was a life-changing event for me. I had never heard singing like that. This music, in the right hands, ascends to heaven. It entered my soul, and I decided to dedicate my life to the pursuit of this very particular repertoire.”

Here Jessica Pratt is in her first performance at the Rossini Opera Festival, sharing the stage with the very same Daniela Barcellona! Thanks to ARS Board member ( and webmaster)  Karl Varnik, for this suggestion!

It’s been 40 years since the modern revival of this masterpiece. One of the Americans there was Lella Curbeli and we were going to clip the video to highlight her performance. But we do not believe in cuts ( particularly of Rossini’s masterpieces) so here you can enjoy the whole performance including Lella’s. Thanks to ARS advisory board member, Molly Kelly for this sugestion.

Alessandro Marangoni visits some of the places in this promotional video for Naxos for whom he has recorded the complete authentic Peches de Vieillesse.

While ROF goers will have to wait until 2026 for Turco ( due to an opaque programming change) we can console ourselves with this snippet from a sizzling Italian film. Sergio Ragni who contributed this excerpt writes that this excerpt “is from a Rai recording dating back to 1958. You can see it all on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVqSBTcTvzk where you will also find the list of performers ( Sciutti, Calabrese, Lazzari, Sanzogno etc). The recording [ in the posting here] is probably from another source but I think the quality is the same as the video on YouTube.”  Thanks, as always to Sergio Ragni for generously sharing his treasures and knowledge.

Reto Muller of the German Rossini Society suggested this work along with the observation: ” An outstanding composition during the great ‘silence’, the main sacral composition between Stabat and Petite Messe. Incredible how Rossini renewed himself and gives his composition a breath of Risorgimento!
The slow beginning and the very fast conclusion corresponds to Rossini’s metronome indication.”

Carla Di Carlo who suggested this, comments: “The most emotional piece [by Rossini] in my opinion, lies in the finale of Stabat Mater conducted by Alberto [Zedda], in particular. It has always given me a feeling of infinte peace “In Sempiterna Saecula”.

We’ve posted the entire work, but the finale ( at about 51:38) is truely transcendent.

This delightful sequence conveys the joy that arises when two artists with very different public personas collaborate.

Thanks to Sergio Ragni for sharing this with us.

While not denying that recordings ( both audio and visual) and live streaming are such a valuable resource for opera lovers, there is NOTHING that replaces the additional rush of joy from fellow audience members when they “almost” bring down the house at the conclusion of an incredible performance. It was actually this performance which made some of us vow to make the trip to ROF to hear her in person. We were not disappointed.  Listen to the end.

Looking back on this year’s Rossini events, one of the most anticipated was the opening on Rossini’s birthday of  the renovated Scavolini theatre in Pesaro. Paolo Bordogna arrived  just in time to give Rossini a special gift, which he shares with us here.