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Calixto Bieito’s circus opens the Rossini Opera Festival: vocal triumphs in Zelmira

By Laura Servidei, 10 August 2025

A production where vocal brilliance battles directorial gimmicks in Pesaro, with a superb cast led by Anastasia Bartoli and Lawrence Brownlee.

***11

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***11

Pesaro

11 Aug 2025

Calixto Bieito’s Zelmira opens the Rossini Opera Festival

By Laura Servidei

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Rome

Lucrezia Borgia: a dark feast in Rome

By Pia Maltri, 16 February 2025

Valentina Carrasco's contemporary staging, with impressive sets and singing, makes for a remarkable show at the Teatro dell'Opera.

*****

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*****

Rome

19 Feb 2025

Lucrezia Borgia: a dark feast in Rome

By Pia Maltri

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Pesaro

Anastasia Bartoli a regal Ermione at the Rossini Opera Festival

By Laura Servidei, 09 August 2024

The ROF presents a new production of Ermione, a title not often performed, with a star-studded cast including divo Juan Diego Flórez.

****1

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****1

Pesaro

10 Aug 2024

Anastasia Bartoli a regal Ermione at the Rossini Opera Festival

By Laura Servidei

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Brussels

Verdi caught in La Monnaie's revolving door: Revolution and Nostalgia in Brussels

By Eleanor Knight, 22 March 2024

A marathon double bill using music from Verdi's early operas largely falls flat in Brussels.

**111

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**111

Brussels

24 Mar 2024

Verdi caught in La Monnaie's revolving door

By Eleanor Knight

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Bergamo

Donizetti Festival’s Il diluvio universale drowned in a torrent of distracting video

By Stephen Pritchard, 17 November 2023

Artistic duo MASBEDO turn Donizetti’s tale of the Great Flood into a climate change polemic. Their unrelenting video overwhelms impressive singing from a cast led by bass Nahuel Di Pierro.

**111

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**111

Bergamo

19 Nov 2023

Donizetti Festival’s Il diluvio universale drowned in video

By Stephen Pritchard

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Pesaro

Eduardo e Cristina: a rarity opens the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with great success

By Laura Servidei, 11 August 2023

A strong cast and an inspiring production deliver the latest opera staged at the Rossini Opera Festival.

****1

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****1

Pesaro

12 Aug 2023

Eduardo e Cristina: a rarity opens the Rossini Festival

By Laura Servidei

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Pesaro

The other Otello: Rosetta Cucchi delivers a powerful staging in Pesaro

By Mark Pullinger, 11 August 2022

Rossini's Otello is rarely performed, mainly due to its three demanding tenor roles, but the Rossini Opera Festival delivers a knockout, both vocally and emotionally.

*****

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*****

Pesaro

12 Aug 2022

The other Otello: Rosetta Cucchi delivers a powerful staging in Pesaro

By Mark Pullinger

Ghent

Beginners’ pluck: cast of first-timers in a first-rate Werther at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen

By Kevin Wells, 07 May 2021

Enea Scala and Rihab Chaieb impress in a concert performance of Massenet's Werther in Ghent.

*****

*****

Ghent

10 May 2021

Beginners' pluck: cast of first-timers in a first-rate Werther

By Kevin Wells

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Antwerp

Mob mentality: a powerful La Juive at Opera Vlaanderen

By Mark Pullinger, 10 March 2019

Peter Konwitschny's production strips away much of the religious symbolism, presenting the difference between Jews and Christians as little more than the dyed colour of their hands.

****1

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****1

Antwerp

11 Mar 2019

Mob mentality: a powerful La Juive at Opera Vlaanderen

By Mark Pullinger

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Venice

A regal, integral version of Semiramide in Venice

By Laura Servidei, 21 October 2018

La Fenice presents Rossini’s monumental farewell to Italy and to 18th-century tradition in Ligorio’s elegant new production with a superb cast.

*****

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*****

Venice

23 Oct 2018

A regal, integral version of Semiramide in Venice

By Laura Servidei

Naples

From darkness to light for Rossini's Mosè in Egitto in Naples

By Lorenzo Fiorito, 15 March 2018

David Pountney’s 2014 staging was revived in Naples with good singing and empathetic conducting.

****1

****1

Naples

19 Mar 2018

From darkness to light: Mosè in Egitto in Naples

By Lorenzo Fiorito

London

Where Bellini started: Opera Rara's Adelson e Salvini

By David Karlin, 11 May 2016

A youthful Bellini opera able to stand on its own two feet? Perhaps not, as Adelson e Salvini gets the Opera Rara treatment.

***11

***11

London

12 May 2016

Where Bellini started: Opera Rara's Adelson e Salvini

By David Karlin

Geneva

David Pountney's distinctive Guillaume Tell takes aim in Geneva

By Elodie Olson-Coons, 11 September 2015

A striking staging of Rossini's Guillaume Tell at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva: well cast, beautifully sung and impeccably choreographed.

****1

****1

Geneva

12 Sep 2015

Guillaume Tell takes aim in Geneva

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Martina Franca

White doves for Mayr's Medea in Corinto in Martina Franca

By Lorenzo Fiorito, 30 July 2015

A rare outing for Giovanni Simon Mayr's Medea in Corinto at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca.

****1

****1

Martina Franca

04 Aug 2015

White doves for Mayr's Medea in Corinto

By Lorenzo Fiorito

London

Hitting the rocks: Damiano Michieletto's Guillaume Tell at Covent Garden

By David Karlin, 29 June 2015

Sadly, Damiano Michieletto and Antonio Pappano's production is more likely to be remembered for its failings – the awful rape scene, its dullness, plus a list of annoying details too long to mention – than for its musical excellence. It’s worth seeing to get a feel of both.

***11

***11

London

30 Jun 2015

Hitting the rocks: Michieletto's Guillaume Tell

By David Karlin

Munich

An unconventional Guillaume Tell in Munich has no heroes

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 18 January 2015

Both the music and the plot are heavily revised in Nunes' imagining of Rossini's final opera. But great performances and a coherent concept earned this unusual production a well-deserved standing ovation.

****1

****1

Munich

20 Jan 2015

Guillaume Tell in Munich has no heroes

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Glyndebourne

Smashing fun for all: Glyndeboune on Tour's La finta giardiniera

By David Karlin, 05 October 2014

La finta giardiniera isn't one of Mozart's greatest operas. But this is about as good a production of it as I can imagine and makes for a deliciously light-hearted evening.

****1

****1

Glyndebourne

06 Oct 2014

La finta giardiniera: Smashing fun for all

By David Karlin