Pappano releases the shackles

By Mark Pullinger, 23 October 2016

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“Pappano and his Orchestra... painted the chiaroscuro contrasts with the boldest of strokes”

Reviewed at Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma: Sala Santa Cecilia, Rome on 22 October 2016

Beethoven, Fidelio (Concert performance)

Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor

Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Leonore

Simon O'Neill, Florestan

Günther Groissböck, Rocco

Sebastian Holecek, Don Pizarro

Julian Kim, Don Fernando

Amanda Forsythe, Marzelline

Maximilian Schmitt, Jaquino

Marco Santarelli, First prisoner

Antonio Pirozzi, Second prisoner

Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Pappano releases the shackles: an uplifting Fidelio in Rome