Rossini: Tancredi - semi-staged performance
A production of the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro
When most opera fans think of Rossini, they think of the humour of Il barbiere di Siviglia, or else of La Cenerentola, another comic work of his. And of course, they also think of the overtures. When we think of his more serious works, it is most likely the majestic William Tell that comes to mind. This is the occasion for us to marvel at the composer's first Italian and international success, which Stendhal, a dedicated expert on Rossini's oeuvre, considered to be his greatest masterpiece. This is another serious opera, and an early one to boot. No one could be more competent to perform it than this cast made up of the artists of Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival.
Gioacchino Rossini wrote the two-act Tancredi based on a 1759 play by Voltaire. It is strange to think that the world première of this serious opera was preceded a few days earlier by the flop of another work of Rossini's, the entertaining Il signor Bruschino. Later on however, on 6 February 1813, when the new piece was staged at Venice's Teatro Fenice, the composer was so afraid of yet another fiasco that he spent a good portion of the performance hiding under stage, so that nobody could see him if it was a failure. The story originates from Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. The original Venetian version of Rossini's opera employ a lieto fine, or happy ending, although the composer also created a tragic finalé for it later on. The Rossini Opera Festival is held each August in Pesaro, the composer's birthplace. The aim of the festival is to help audiences get to know the composer's legacy in all its variety. The cast performing the work at Müpa Budapest is an international one, with the celebrated young Russian soprano Maria Barakova in the title role.
Conductor: Nikolas Nägele
Performers:
Tancredi Maria Barakova
Amenaide Giuliana Gianfaldoni
Argirio Sergey Romanovsky
Orbazzano Nicolò Donini
Roggiero Chiara Tirotta
Isaura Valeria Girardiello
Featuring:
Coro Ventidio Basso (choirmaster: Giovanni Farina)
Pannon Philharmonic
