Marianna Pizzolato

Juan Diego Florez stars in the only available DVD version of Zelmira, filmed at the celebrated Rossini Festival in the composer s home town of Pesaro. The final opera Rossini wrote for Naples is a dramatic and musical tour de force and a magnificent showcase for the bel canto superstar of our time. Recorded in high definition at the 2009 Festival, Giorgio Barberio Corsettis production places the classical tale, set during the Trojan Wars, in modern times and modern dress Joining Juan Diego Florez are a major international cast, described as near miraculous by Opera Today and led by American mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich in the virtuosic title role But the evening remained another distinguished triumph for Juan Diego Florez as Prince Ilo, whose arrival in his homeland, to rescue Zelmira, was marked by a dazzling tenorial display which evoked a nearly twenty-minute ovation

L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies. “L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers)” is a two-act opera buffa by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Angelo Anelli. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on May 22, 1813. “L'italiana in Algeri” is the first opera buffa that Rossini wrote shortly after his first full-length work, “Tancredi.” Recorded live at the Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilia, Italy, on Sunday, February 22, 2026, at 3:30 P.M. (Central European Time).

The Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège revisits the beloved fairy tale of Cinderella with their new production of La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini’s opera buffa.

NABUCCO may be Verdi's first masterpiece, and not just because of that amazing Chorus of Hebrews which is justly beloved by everyone who hears it. Dramatically, this opera is tightly constructed, with believable characters in an intense conflict over values and beliefs. And Verdi's music, however early in his career, however distant from triumphs like LA FORSA DEL DESTINO or AIDA, is highly animated, revealing inner turmoil and outer passions with beauty and economy. The ensembles are especially impressive, building to satisfying heights of emotional release for the singers and the audience. And Placido Domingo is a wonder to behold and hear. Even though his original voice was baritone, which he managed to transform into a tenor voice, he doesn't SOUND like a baritone to me. B-U-T his performance is so committed, so deeply interfused with Verdi's music, so generously integrated to the younger singers around him, that the waters part.

Hermione, whose consort Pyrrhus has fallen in love with Andromache, is torn apart by hatred and love. When Adromache yields to Pyyrhus, in order to save her son, Astyanax, Hermione is overcome with jealousy and invites Orestes to avenge her. Dominated by a desperate, inextinguishable passion for her, Orestes accepts. But love is stronger than hatred and when Orestes returns with his dagger dripping blood, Hermione is seized with pain and collapses on the ground cursing him. From the Rossini Opera Festival, 2008.

Polenzani and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo - and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rom turn Rossini's "Stabat mater" into a celebration of "Italian-ness" in their first appearance at the Salzburg Festival.