Rossini News

February 10th: Verdi's " Il Trovatore " returns to the Metropolitan Opera in a lusty production by David McVicar, with Sondra Radvanovsky singing potently as Leonora.

'Tis the season at the Music Center for holiday entertainment. "Mary Poppins" is flitting about the Ahmanson Theater; the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale are decking Disney Hall with musical delights; and on Sunday, Los Angeles Opera unveiled its offering: a light-hearted, cartoon-bright rendition of Gioachino Rossini's "The Barber of ...

There is a collective sigh of pleasure, then a giggle. Katharina Thalbach has given the Deutsche Oper audience just what it wanted.

That reality was reinforced Sunday afternoon with the debut performance by the Baltimore Opera Theatre before a modest, appreciative, audience at the Hippodrome.

A drunken soldier and a music teacher, both courting a young lady and neither who he pretends to be.

BUSY to the point of bursting, Scottish Opera's vigorous co-production with the NBR New Zealand Opera of Rossini's shining comic opera at the Festival Theatre is a captivating yet strangely disconcerting affair.

Michael Dailey as Don Ramiro and Betany Coffland as Cinderella in the fall 2009 Opera San Jose production of La Cenerentola.

Joyce DiDonato Since I am always interested in how to think of an evening's program as a journey in its entirety, I was delighted to see that Joyce DiDonato explicitly declared the structural strategy of her San Francisco Performances recital last night in Herbst Theatre with accompanist John Churchwell.

Joyce Di Donato's Colbran, the Muse follows much the same recital-as-biography format as Cecilia Bartoli's Maria Malibran disc,though the arias are exclusively by Rossini and the orchestra is exclusively modern instruments.There are some gems here a touching reading of Desdemona's prayer, "Dehcalma, o ciel, nel sonno" from Otello, and a cameo ...

Bay Area music lovers have known about the brilliance of the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato longer than most, thanks to her breakthrough Merola performance as Rossini's Cenerentola and a triumphant Schwabacher Debut Recital back in the mid-'90s. Images View Larger Image Yet I doubt that even her biggest local fans - and yes, I am one - could ...

If you're inclined to wish Joyce DiDonato good luck, please do it with the Italian phrase, " In bocca al lupo ." Please do not ask the mezzo-soprano to "break a leg." Images She's been there, suffered that.

LAST Saturday, I sang in one concert and listened to another. Rossini was primarily a composer of comic opera, which he did brilliantly.

If you've watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon, you've likely heard music from "The Barber of Seville." Really, if you've watched TV at all, you've likely heard its familiar chorus, "Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!" Gioacchino Rossini's comic opera has been a favorite with audiences since it premiered in Rome in 1816.

A Scottish widow with twin passions for birds and music has left most of her 10 million pound fortune to New York's Metropolitan Opera and a British nature charity.

REMEMBER Dorothy's exclamation to her little dog Toto in the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz?" "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," she said as the two emerged from the tornado-transported farmhouse into the magical Technicolor of Oz.

Rossini's "La Cenerentola," or "Cinderella," sets the fairy tale to music. It's a classic.

There's a whole generation of pop culture junkies who can trace their knowledge of Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa 'The Barber of Seville' to cartoons.

The Italian Girl in Algiers, with Tiziano Bracci as Mustafa and Karen Cargill as Isabella.

OperaDelaware has lots of fun with Gioachino Rossini's comedy of connivance and deceit, "The Barber of Seville." Fine ensemble singing and solid orchestral support combine with well-paced direction to make for a lively and funny performance.

Yeghishe Manucharyan as Amenaide's conflicted, marriage-arranging, pregnant-lady-executing father, with Ewa Podles as Tancredi.