Roberto Abbado

"This is a family tragedy, and in many ways, it is a very contemporary story." This is how Robert Wilson described Il trovatore, or Le Trouvère in its French version, commissioned from Verdi after the incredible success of the premiere of his Italian version in 1853. With a few changes and alterations to the original music, this version was first performed in 1857 at the Paris Opera. A light show unique to the stage director unfolds in the cold architecture, creating the perfect framing for Verdi’s music, dramatic and dark in this timeless opera.

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

1828. After witnessing the brutal repression of revolutions in monarchist South, three young friends join Giuseppe Mazzini's patriotic cause, seeking to finally unify Italy under a republican government. Their idealism will clash with the inevitable disillusionment as they grow apart over the following decades.

When Rossini’s opera Le Siège de Corinthe was premiered in 1826 in Paris it became a huge success all over Europe. The Rossini Opera Festival presents the opera in a new production from Carlus Padrissa of the Barcelona collective La Fura dels Baus, “which here has one of its most interesting shows” (connessiallopera.it). Artistically “Roberto Abbado holds the ranks excellently and supports a well-cohesive and balanced cast” (L’ape musicale) “where bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni growled fearsomely as Sultan Mahomet, tenor Sergey Romanovsky as Néoclès matched a warm tone with pinging top notes, and tenor John Irvin was self-assured as Cléomène, but soprano Nino Machaidze as Pamyra thrilled most of all, as she purred effortlessly through pyrotechnic coloratura” (Financial Times).

This thought-provoking, modern-day interpretation of Rossini's 'Mosè in Egitto' sets the scene for superior music-making at the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro. For conductor Roberto Abbado, the transposition of the action to the present day releases the energy of Rossini's music. At his disposal is a cast of top-quality vocalists such as the “refined bel canto artist(Bresciaoggi) Sonia Ganassi as Elcia, and the “outstanding” Dmitry Korchak as the Pharaoh's son, two lovers fatefully drawn into the political turmoil and catastrophes of their time. Also among the protagonists are the “thoroughly brilliant” (DeutschlandRadio Kultur) baritone Alex Esposito as Faraone and, in his Rossini Festival debut, young, full-bodied bass Riccardo Zanellato as Moses. Conductor Roberto Abbado “inspired his musicians to deliver a spectacular performance” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

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.