Rossini By The Sea 2006 – Enjoying The Unexpected
Rossini Opera Festival 2006 Signed L to R by: Darina Takova, Víctor Pablo Pérez, Bruno Practicò and Michele Pertusi
The Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy, had as many surprises on the stage inside as the weather had outside. The month of August in this resort town is usually filled with sunshine, but this year, the festival’s first week was filled with cloudy days, intermittent rain showers, fluctuating humidity and some choppy waters, rare for the Adriatic resort town. As unexpected as the weather was, the outcome of the main operatic productions, proved equally topsy-turvy.
First was L’Italiana in Algeri, one of Rossini’s most popular endearingly tuneful comedies, followed by the festival premiere of Torvaldo e Dorliska, an opera semi-seria. In another debut was Adelaide di Borgogna, presented in concert form.
Audiences were most likely expecting the fast-paced L’Italiana, to rise to the top of the performance scale with the relatively obscure Torvaldo on the bottom end. Torvaldo has never garnered a lasting reputation in the Rossini canon, as say, The Barber of Seville or Semiramide have, and has failed to inspire much musical appreciation in operatic circles.
