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

Enea Scala (Otello) and Dmitry Korchak (Rodrigo)

Eleonora Buratto (Desdemona) and Evgeny Stavinsky (Elmiro)

Dmitry Korchak (Rodrigo) and Antonino Siragusa (Iago)

Dmitry Korchak (Rodrigo) and Eleonora Buratto (Desdemona)

Otello, Act 2 finale

Evgeny Stavinsky, Eleanora Buratto, Dmitry Korchak and Enea Scala

By Mark Pullinger, 12 August 2022

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“tenor testosterone flies in three sweaty duets”

Reviewed at Vitrifrigo Arena, Pesaro on 11 August 2022

Rossini, Otello

Rossini Opera Festival

Yves Abel, Conductor

Rosetta Cucchi, Director

Tiziano Santi, Set Designer

Ursula Patzak, Costume Designer

Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai

Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso

Enea Scala, Otello

Eleonora Buratto, Desdemona

Dmitry Korchak, Rodrigo

Antonino Siragusa, Iago

Evgeny Stavinsky, Elmiro

Adriana di Paola, Emilia

Antonio Garès, The Doge

Julian Henao Gonzalez, Un gondoliere, Lucio

Pizzi’s elegant, black and white Barbiere convinces again in Pesaro

Laura Servidei, 10th August

Rossini’s most famous masterpiece returns to Pesaro in Pier Luigi Pizzi’s beloved production, with a solid cast.

***11

Anastasia Bartoli a regal Ermione at the Rossini Opera Festival

Laura Servidei, 9th August

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

****1

L’equivoco stravagante returns to the Rossini Opera Festival

Laura Servidei, 8th August

Rossini’s ill-fated farce finds new life in the intelligent and enjoyable 2019 production by Leiser and Caurier at the Rossini Opera Festival, featuring a great cast under the unwavering baton of Michele Spotti.

****1

The Rossini Opera Festival comes home! Bianca e Falliero in Pesaro

Laura Servidei, 7th August

Jessica Pratt leads a strong cast in a beautiful performance of one of Rossini’s unjustly forgotten masterpieces, under the spectacular baton of Roberto Abbado, despite an unremarkable new production by Jean-Louis Grinda.

***11

Adelaide di Borgogna returns to the Rossini Opera Festival

Laura Servidei, 13th August

The ROF presents a new, cheeky production of Adelaide, by Arnaud Bernard, based on a unoriginal but very well executed “meta-theatrical” take, with an exemplary cast.

****1

Aureliano in Palmira in Pesaro: where the barber was born

Laura Servidei, 12th August

The Rossini Opera Festival revives a 2014 production by Mario Martone with a young, vibrant cast.

****1

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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.