The Rossini Opera Festival arrives in New York. The 45th edition of the event was presented in the headquarters of the Italian Consulate of the Big Apple, in the presence of the Consul General Fabrizio Di Michele, the Mayor of Pesaro Matteo Ricci, the Superintendent Ernesto Palacio and the Artistic Director Juan Diego Flórez. ROF 2024 is scheduled in Pesaro from 7 to 23 August. The billboard, never so extensive, will cover a period of seventeen days, four more than usual, to offer greater opportunities to attend the shows to the public who will be in the city from all over the world, also coinciding with the events in Pesaro, the Italian capital of culture 2024.
Five works will be proposed: two new productions (Hermione And Bianca and Falliero) and three takes (The bizarre misunderstanding, The Barber of Seville And The trip to Reims of the young people of the Rossinian Academy). The concert program includes the world premiere in the review of the sources of Ravenna massthe Cantata The real tribute, two lyrical-symphonic concerts and five Belcanto concerts. The program will close with the concert performance of Trip to Reimsto celebrate the 40thor anniversary of its first performance in modern times at ROF 1984.
The Festival will be inaugurated on 7 August at the PalaScavolini, a new theatrical space reopened within the already famous PalaFestival, from Bianca and Falliero, no longer performed at the ROF since 2005. Roberto Abbado will conduct the Rai National Symphony Orchestra and the Ventidio Basso Theater Choir. The cast includes Jessica Pratt, Aya Wakizono, Dmitry Korchak, Giorgi Manoshvili and Nicolò Donini. The show is entrusted to Jean-Louis Grinda, with Rudy Sabounghi for sets and costumes and Laurent Castaingt for lights. The three performances will be held on 11, 14 and 19 August.
The premiere of theExtravagant misunderstanding, already seen with great success at ROF 2019. Michele Spotti will lead the Gioachino Rossini Philharmonic and the Teatro della Fortuna Chorus in the show created by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier with sets by Christian Fenouillat, costumes by Agostino Cavalca and lights by Christophe Forey. The singing company includes Maria Barakova, Nicola Alaimo, Pietro Adaíni and Carles Pachón. Repeats on 12, 16 and 21 August.
At the Vitrifrigo Arena on August 9th it will be the turn of the second new production, Hermione, absent in Pesaro since 2008. Michele Mariotti will conduct the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Ventidio Basso Theater Choir. The staging is by Johannes Erath, with sets by Heike Scheele, costumes by Jorge Jara, video by Bibi Abel and lights by Fabio Antoci. In the cast, Anastasia Bartoli in the title role, flanked by Victoria Yarovaya, Enea Scala, Juan Diego Flórez and Antonio Mandrillo. Repeats on 13, 17 and 20 August.
The fourth opera on the bill, scheduled at the Vitrifrigo Arena from August 10th, will be The Barber of Seville. The show, created by Pier Luigi Pizzi, will be directed by Lorenzo Passerini, leading the G. Rossini Symphony Orchestra and the Ventidio Basso Choir. In the singing company, Maria Kataeva, Andrzej Filonczyk, Jack Swanson, Carlo Lepore and Michele Pertusi. Repeats on 15, 18 and 22 August.
The 36to edition of the Accademia Rossiniana “Alberto Zedda”, starting on the 1stor July, will close on July 15th at the Rossini Theater with the usual Final concert. The students, directed by Davide Levi, will be protagonists, on 16 and 19 August at the PalaScavolini, of Trip to Reims conceived by Emilio Sagi and taken up by Matteo Anselmi. The singers of the Accademia Rossiniana will also perform in Salons Rossiniconcerts held in the historic villages of the province, and in the concerts at the Rossini National Museum.
The concert program is packed, with ten events all scheduled at the Rossini Theatre. We will begin on August 11th with an absolute premiere: the Ravenna Mass, performed in the revision of the sources by Ferdinando Sulla, also director of the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini and the Coro del Teatro della Fortuna, as well as the soloists Jorge Juan Morata, Tianxuefei Sun and Alejandro Baliñas. The Cantata will follow on August 15th The real tribute, with Giulio Cilona leading the Gioachino Rossini Philharmonic and the Teatro della Fortuna Choir. The cast includes Sara Blanch, Victoria Yarovaya, Ruzil Gatin and Alejandro Baliñas.
There will be two i’s Lyrical-symphonic concerts: on August 18th Alessandro Cadario will conduct Gregory Kunde and the Gioachino Rossini Philharmonic; on August 20th Jacopo Brusa will conduct Giorgio Caoduro and the G. Rossini Symphony Orchestra. Five are also planned Bel canto concerts: protagonists Eleonora Buratto (12 August), Pietro Spagnoli (13 August), Ramón Vargas (14 August), Sara Blanch (17 August) and Daniela Barcellona (21 August). On August 22nd Delphine Constantin-Reznik, (harp) and Roman Reznik (bassoon) will be the protagonists of Rossinimania.
ROF 2024 will close on August 23rd at the PalaScavolini with the concert performance of the Trip to Reims. Diego Matheuz will conduct the Rai National Symphony Orchestra and the Ventidio Basso Theater Choir, as well as a cast composed of Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Maria Barakova, Sara Blanch, Karine Deshayes, Jack Swanson, Dmitry Korchak, Nicola Alaimo and Vito Priante.