/ Modified nov 20, 2014 2:13 p.m.

Rossini's "Armida" - November 29, 2014

Rossini Opera Festival

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Classical 90.5's next full-length opera broadcast is at noon this Saturday, November 29, with a Rossini Opera Festival performance of Armida by Gioachino Rossini, set to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata (1581) by Torquato Tasso. The broadcast will run approximately three and one-half hours.

The subject matter for Rossini’s 1817 opera Armida was widely popular from the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries. There are almost 100 operas and ballets that employ the story of the Saracen sorceress and her desire for the Christian warrior Rinaldo. Rossini’s treatment of the Torquato Tasso epic poem that inspired his work contrasts with his other operas and demonstrates his range and capabilities, especially in the first and third acts in which the world he created is darker, more sensual, and magical than that of the source material. Of special note is that there are seven tenor roles written for the opera, rendering it, according to some, “un-performable.”

The Rossini Opera Festival is an international festival entirely devoted to Gioachino Rossini and it takes place in his hometown of Pesaro, Italy, along the Adriatic Sea. The Festival was founded in 1980, using funds donated to Pesaro by Rossini himself when he died in 1869. Its mission is to revive, to perform on stage, and to study the musical heritage connected with the composer. The festival takes place each year in August and consists of several fully-staged productions featuring leading bel canto singers and rising stars as well as a wide variety of workshops, discussion and special concerts. Its long-time artistic director is conductor and Rossini scholar Alberto Zedda. The music ensemble for the Festival performance of Armida is the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna with the Coro (chorus) del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna. Carlo Rizzi conducts and Andrea Faidutti is the chorus master.

THE CAST
Goffredo/Ubaldo: Randall Bills
Rinaldo: Antonino Siragusa
Idraote/Astarotte: Carlo Lepore
Armida: Carmen Romeu
Gernando/Carlo: Dmitry Korchak
Eustazio: Vassilis Kavayas

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