The Madness of it All

Pesaro - August 12, 2010

On December 27, 1814, the day after the premiere of Sigismondo Rossini sent his mother a letter and on the envelope he drew a squat wine bottle (flask=fiasco, a flop) to tell her how his newest piece had been received by the heretofore Rossini-mad Venetians. After the success of his Tancredi it came as a great disappointment. Since that time the work has been seldom performed though there is a recording of a performance from 1993. Its a work few people, myself included, have heard or seen but the music is very familiar. Wait a minute! How can that be? Queries my faithful reader, one eyebrow raised quizzically. You've never heard it or seen it but you know the music? Well though prolific Rossini was also frugal – if he knew there was a good chance that a work would never be heard again elsewhere he simply lifted the parts he could use and fitted them to new words and situations.
After Michele Mariotti, a young conductor fast becoming a favorite here in Italy, acknowledged the welcoming applause he launched into the opening sinfonia and I swore for a minute I had wandered into a performance of Il Turco in Italia by mistake. Then when the curtain rose the Polish courtiers – according to the libretto but here a group of voyeurs in a 19th century mental hospital (more about that later) – started singing and I swore I was back at last month's opening of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. And so it went for a good part of the evening – but I eventually gave up on Name That Rossini Tune and sat back to enjoy the music whatever its source. And there were some extremely lovely things that he wrote for Sigismondo that did not show up – to the best of my knowledge but I may be wrong as I'm no Rossini scholar - elsewhere. In particular the duets for the title character and Aldmira his wronged wife, Aldmira's second act Rondo and the scenas for Sigismondo himself. And since these two parts were in the hands of Daniela Barcellona and Olga Peretyatko they were given full value.

King Sigismondo (Daniela Barcellona)in the midst of a fit of madness is observed by his wronged wife Aldimira (Olga Peretyatko).

I make no bones about it, where Barcellona is concerned I adore her. I have never seen her give less than a great performance whither part of an ensemble in a Hasse cantata at Salzburg Whitsun; tearing the house apart here two summers ago, despite being indisposed, in Maomatto II; or in Il Viaggio a Reims in Milan. She shots off the most complex vocal fireworks with ease and more admirably with grace. There never seems to be a sense of strain or effort. But she is also capable of a simplicity that gives dramatic passages full weight. In her final Gran Scena she threw off the frightened mouse persona imposed on her by the director and let us see the full power of both her and Rossini's art.

Moments like this were rare in this production - the two leads (Peretyatko, Barcellona) standing quietly, alone, undisturbed by mimes and extraneous action simply singing gloriously.

Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko's star has risen quickly here at Pesaro, in 2006 she was performing in the Academia Rossiniana's annual production of Il Viaggio the following year appearing as Desdemona in Otello opposite Gregory Kunde. A beautiful woman and natural actress she has the vocal chops to pull off the second Act Rondo with flair if a little unease at the top. Her voice does have a slight metallic edge to it that can sometimes upset the balance in ensembles but the duets with Barcellona were a perfect blend.

Director Daminao Micheletto staged the intense duet between the scheming Ladislao (Antonino Siragusa) and Aldimira (Peretyatko) as a rape scene - for shock value it worked, in the context of the music, like many of his ideas, it didn't.

In the other major role tenor Antonio Siragusa as the villain Ladislao sang with power if little subtlety and at times he resorted to that Rossini-hoot that can be annoying when overused. Of the other singers bass Andrea Concetti provided strong support as both a worthy nobleman and the wronged lady's avenging father. The cast was rounded out by Manuela Bisceglie (Anagilda, Ladislao's scheming sister) who was frankly over parted – as often seems to happen at Pesaro in smaller roles – and couldn't handle her big aria and Enea Scala – a young man to watch – as a co-schemer. The male members of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna gave their usual support as Polish courtiers, Bulgarian soldiers and assorted inmates of the asylum - yes I'll get to the asylum bit in a moment.

The young Maestro Michele Mariotti acknowledges the applause of an audience that obviously recognizes a developing talent - and he's a hometown boy to boot.

This is the second work I've heard conducted by Maestro Mariotti in the past month - both by Rossini. It may sound cliche to say it but he was born to this music - no really he was, he was born in Pesaro, his father is one of the founders and the long time Soverintendente of the Festival. But given the talent that he has shown both last month at La Scala when he stepped in at the last minute and in his conducting of Sigismondo this is not a case of nepotism. He has been working his way up through the houses of Europe and this was his first, but I can only hope not his last, appearance at the ROF.

I will not say the same for stage director Damiano Michieletto - this is the second production I've seen by the Venetian director and I am hoping the last. Last year's La Scala di Seta was amusing and had its charms but it was one of Rossini's farsi and could take his "concept" with little harm being done to either the music or the singers. Not so a work like Sigismondo - an opera very seria.

Let's get the concept out of the way first: according to the very complicated story Sigismondo has fits of madness and hallucinations of the wife he thinks he has had murdered for adultery. Well bright director idea! Why not set the whole thing in an early 20th century insane asylum? What a great idea! Bit of a social message too - show the mistreatment of the mentally disturbed and the people who come to gawk at them; well that's more 18th century but you have to work the chorus in somehow.

Though a fine piece of stage design, Paolo Fantin's setting of an 1900s asylum was peopled by twitching, contorting, jabbering extras whose only purpose seemed to be to distract us as much as possible from the singers.

Now to the execution: fine detailed setting of a period asylum by Paolo Fantin with lots of windows and piles of furniture for extras to push around in the second act. Sort of period costumes by Carla Teti with colour coding because it is an opera audience and they're a little slow - white for the heroine, black and bald for the villain, deep purple for his sister And just so the audience won't have to pay attention to those pesky singers lets have six or seven patients twitching, contorting, clutching at the air, falling all over the place and screaming occasionally - why should the singers be the only ones doing that? And if that doesn't distract them enough how about three ghosts of the supposedly dead wife popping out from under the King's bed? Let's add a fourth for the second act, you can't have the mime playing the nurse in the first act sitting the second out in her dressing room. And that confrontation between the villain and the heroine - nothing like a bit of a struggle while trying to sing roulades and runs so lets turn it into an attempted rape. The King? Make him a paranoid schizophrenic - sort of a frightened rabbit - forget the noble and touching music it only distracts from the concept! And at the end the villain can be dragged into the asylum along with his sister - okay the only bad thing she's really done was to mess up the cadenza in her aria but it looks great with her hair all disheveled and her clawing at the window. And so the evening went!

If nothing else Michieletto's approach engendered a lot of talk during the intermission as well as a fair number of defections. It was also was the hot topic in the breakfast room at the hotel the next morning. Unfortunately little of the talk was about the music or the great performances given by Barcellona, Peretyatko and Mariotti. And that is the real shame in this all. A "concept" completely overshadowed the labour involved in mounting a new critical edition of an unknown piece and the incredible work done by all of the musicians involved.

Oh the madness of it all!

All photos except the curtain call are by Studio Amati Bacciardi for the ROF.

22 agosto - Santa Maria Regina

And Music! Always Music! - II

Ferragosto – the annual exodus of vacationing Italians is now in full swing. Our favourite lunch spot served their last afragato yesterday, our butcher has left thin slicing veal until September and any clothes forgotten at the dry cleaners will be picked up the last week of August. Our neighbourhood streets are mostly deserted as businesses close up and everyone heads out of town. I think it was our friend Robert who referred to Ferragosto as being the period when Italians leave the hot, noisy, crowded cities for the hot, noisy, crowded beaches. And once again this year we've joined the movement from town to shore. The drive yesterday wasn't too bad but I don't even want to think what the Strada di Adriatica will be like on Friday or Saturday.

As the sun was going in last night the beach at Pesaro was deserted - but by Saturday it will a sea of bronzed bodies in various states of undress. The two lily white ones will be Laurent and I.

This is the third year that we've come to Pesaro on the Adriatic coast. Its main claim to fame is that Rossini was born there on February 29, 1792. He left the town at a relatively young age but he still held it in great affection – unlike Mozart who cordially detested his hometown of Salzburg and would probably bridle at being known as its most famous export and its biggest draw. Though Rossini does have pride of place in town it is also known for its beaches, excellent food, good wines and relaxed atmosphere.

As its probably going to be our last year here – for a while at least – we decided to stay a bit longer and break up the opera going – sort of a one night on, one night off for Laurent. This year's programme is adventurous even for Pesaro. Two of the works are being presented for the first time at the Festival and one of my favourites is being revived. The well known work is La Cenerentola, the Swan of Pesaro's take on the Cinderella story. I still treasure the old Glyndebourne recording from 1953 with the great Vittorio Gui, who spearheaded much of the Rossini revival, conducting. Its a work I've seen several times and never tire off. It has been said that Rossini's music is brilliant but often heartless – a listen to any of the music he wrote for Angelina (Cinderella) will give lie to that thought. I was looking forward to seeing Kate Aldrich in the title role but she has been replaced at rather late notice by Marianna Pizzolato, who was fantastic in Zelmira last year so the disappointment is tempered. Appearing with her will be Lawrence Brownlee, the young American tenor who has become one of the leading Rossini singers of our time. This will be the first time I've heard him live so there is much anticipation.

This is Paolo Fantin's design for the set for Sigismondo. Now this is an opera about a King of Poland in the 15th century - and what we have here is straight out of The English Patient. This evening should be very interesting.

Sigismondo was a complete failure at its premiere in 1814 and it appears not to have been revived again until 1992 in Rovigo. In his early work on Rossini Francis Toye dismissed it out of hand as not worth being talked about. Normally in the world of opera if a work disappears from the repertory it's for a good reason but we shall see. But should the opera be less than inspired the casting alone makes its a must-see: Daniela Barcelona is singing the title role and I have yet to see a performance by her where the sparks haven't flown and the audience on their feet cheering. Olga Peretyatko will be the “wronged” wife – dear lord was every wife in operadom wronged? Again she is a singer I've much enjoyed in the past at the Festival. The conductor is the young, I'd almost say very young, Michele Mariotti, who lead a quicksilver Barbiere di Siviglia last month at Scala. So anticipation is high there also.

The third work is as little known, Demetrio e Polibio - this was Rossini's first attempt at a full-scale opera and is rather unusually scored for strings only. The casting is perhaps not as starry as the other two but Yijie Shi was a good Comte Ory last year and I've enjoyed Maria Jose Moreno in several things in the past three years. And it'll be chance to hear another unfamiliar piece. From a musical point of view it should be an interesting week.

But it won't stop at music. There are plans afoot to do a few days trips to some of the more interesting spots in the Region with Urbino being number one on the list. And another day trip is planned to Rimini – 20 minutes away on the train – for the sole purpose of having a drink on the terrace of the Grand Hotel. Both Laurent and I love Amacord – Fellini's nostalgic and slightly melancholy memories of his home town. Many scenes are set on that terrace and we both want to have our pictures taken, in our Borsalinos, sipping our aperitvo and enjoying the sea breezes.

And then there is the food! Those perfectly cooked seafood lunches at H2NO, aperitivos at El Cid and dinners at Ristorante Bristolino "Lorenzo e Bibo". Though we were sad to see that the Ducale in the Piazza del Popolo has been boarded up - they had a great buffet spread and an entertaining owner/chef. But since we'll have a few more days than we normally do there will be chances to try some of the new places that have opened up.

As we sat at El Cid last night at 6 last evening sipping our aperol-sprtiz and watching people stroll, bike and run by, I mention to Laurent that if you thought about it Pesaro is little bit seedy, a touch run down at the heels. He smiled and said: Yes it is, isn't it! And we took both grabbed another pizza square. I guess we both enjoy a little bit seedy and slightly run down at the heels.

12 agosto - Sant'Euplio di Catania

Pesaro - La Scala di Seta

One of the great joys I've found since moving here is that I am seeing performers in person who I've read about, who's recordings I have listened to or who I've heard on broadcasts for years - Abbado, Pollini, Bartoli, Scholl and the list goes on. When I looked at the programme for this year's Festival I must admit I recognized quite a few names - Florez, Aldrich, Kunde - but one name did jump out: Claudio Scimone, listed as conductor for La Scala di Seta. When looking at the programme notes I was surprised to see that he had not appeared at Pesaro since 1985 when he conducted his own critical edition of Maomatto II. The absence of this well-respected and internationally known conductor and Rossini authority from the Pesaro podium is a mystery. But he was there this year and I had the privilege of seeing live someone who's recordings, particularly with I Solisti Veneti, I have listened to for years.

Written in 1812 La Scala is one of Rossini's five one-act farsi composed for the Teatro Giustiniani in Venice and one of five operas he wrote that year. It is a slight piece based on a slighter French play about a secretly married couple, an unwanted suitor, a meddling servant and the silken ladder used to enter the young lady's bedroom. Rossini wrote some charming music for it, the best known piece being the overture.

The cast take their bows in front of the reflected floor plan of a modern apartment which just happens to be the address of the theatre. Let's hope it doesn't give some developer ideas!

Director Damiano Micheletto updated the action to today with i-pods, track suits and espresso machines with little harm to the story. Again we had a large mirror tilted to reflect the stage floor which showed the floor plan of a very nice modern flat on the first floor of Via Rossini 2 which just happens to be the address of the theatre we were sitting in. As the overture began stagehands began to drag furniture, plants, lamps and units (including a functioning kitchen sink) into place under the watchful eye of a real estate agent. As the action progressed singers mimed flattening themselves against walls to overhear conversations, opening doors or holding those same non-existent doors closed. The action was fast-paced, at times frenetic and had a bit of the a TV5 comedy touch to it. Though it did beg the question as to why a vibrant young lady who lived in her own very classy apartment, had a vaguely oriental houseboy and jogged in the Piazza Ducale with i-pod in place would need her guardians approval to get married or sneak her husband into the house.

Olga Peretyatko (right with Paolo Bordogna) was the young lady in question - and as well as giving a deft performance of the music she look pretty damned hot whither in jogging gear or smart casual. It was interesting that she was paired with Jose Manuel Zapata who did not quite fit into the opera singer as movie star mold which seems to be preferred amongst casting directors today. A short, stocky bear of a man with a sweet tenor voice I for one could understand the attraction. Carlo Lepore played the slightly greasy Latin lover with a fine comic flair and handled his interpolated aria with ease. Of the other female in the cast, Anna Malavasi, I will simply say that I did not find the slightly sour edge to her voice appealing.

The best performance of the evening came from Paolo Bordogna as the poor put upon house boy Gemano. In his ink-black mop wig, sandals and pajama-like outfit he was obviously meant to be the Oriental houseboy of so many 60-70s movies though in a slight nod to political correctness - and in deference to its many Japanese patrons - it was stereotype with soften edges. Bordogna delivered the most polished singing of the evening and a delightful comic performance.

Conductor Claudio Scimone (centre) joins his young cast - Daniele Zanfardino, Carlo Lepore, Paolo Bordogna, Olga Peretyatko and José Manuel Zapata for a curtain call.

But the real star of the evening was Scimone in the pit leading the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento. He conducted with a brio and joy that turned this, let's admit it, light-weight work into a delight. The obvious pleasure he took was reflected in his face and body language at the curtain calls. He was obviously pleased with the work of his young cast and orchestra and with the applause they were receiving. He was justified - under his expert guidance they had given us two hours* of enjoyment which was the whole raison-être of these pieces.

*Though Scala di Seta was written as an one act opera Pesaro performed it in two acts and include an aria for the Latin lover that Rossini had written for some other use. Artistic director Alberto Zedda explained that in 1812 the creator of the role had not had a particularly good voice so was denied an aria; here they had a fine singer who deserved a chance to show his stuff so another source was robbed to give him the opportunity. It was a very Rossini solution and I'm sure he would have approved.

Sidebar: I was sitting at the hotel pool one afternoon and an elderly gentleman and his wife came out to take a bit of the sun. The gentleman had a ulcer of some sort on his leg and was moving slowly, I helped him and his wife get settled in, moved lounge chairs etc. When they left we exchanged pleasantries and I kept thinking that I recognized him. It was not until he entered the pit the next evening that I realized it was Scimone.

01 settembre - Sant'Egidio

Pesaro - Zelmira

There was a fascination with reflecting glass panels at this year's Pesaro Festival. There was a small variation on one in the Comte Ory and two very large mirrors filled the stage in Zelmira and La Scala di Seta. The mind boggles at the cost of this sort of stage craft in these cash strapped days but at least when the Festival does things they do them big.

The chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna takes their curtain call in front of the huge mirror that reflects the stage floor grid.

For the past three years the Festival has been showcasing Rossini's Naples works (2007- Otello, 2008 - Ermione) and Zelmira, written in 1822, was his last opera for San Carlo and despite a libretto that makes little or no sense was a great success. It soon appeared on major European stages and this year Pesaro presented the new critical editon by Helen Greenwal and Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell of Rossini's 1826 reworking for Paris. An aria added for Vienna in April 1822 was also included. This made for a long evening - Act 1 lasted 2 hours and Act 2 was almost as long. But musically it was time well spent.

Again let's get carping out of the way first: it appears director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti was booed on opening night and I can only think that it was a highly appropriate response not so much for his concept as how he saw it through. The curtain went up as soldiers in modern combat uniforms clambered over three broken statues covered in sand. Okay this was to be an updated production with flack jackets, women in 50s head scarves and priests in Orthodox clergy robes - no great hardship the story happens in Greece so why not? For the next scene the stage floor slide open to reveal a metal grill and the sand tumbled through it - a very effect bit of stage magic - then the revealed statues ascended to the flies and hung over the singers' heads twisting and turning distractingly in the air. But not enough to distract us from Zelmira breast-feeding her father - showing that if Corsetti had not read the play Zelmira is based on, he had at least read the scholar's notes so thoughtfully included in the very fine programme book. The next scene brought that huge mirror which reflected the sandpit under the stage - a warren of tunnels with scurrying people in rags dragging bodies to and fro. Aside from the fact that much of what was going on had little to do with the already obscure plot it was distracting from what was happening musically. And it did little to illuminate the characters or help the singers most of whom just stood around going through some pretty standard - pax the breast feeding episode - operatic gestures. By the end of the first act Corsetti had given up trying to titillate us and we had a standard backdrop, the chorus in a semi-circle and the soloists lined up in front of them (see photos above and left). The second act had a few surprises including some large screen live projections which required that blue screens be trundled on behind the singers. It gave us some powerful close ups of Aldrich and Knude in full throtle but was mostly a display of the wizardry of the technical crew and little else.

But ultimately with a work like Zelmira you are not there for the story or the stage craft but for the music. And on most levels the Festival did major honour to its eponymous composer with what was intended to be the year's showpiece.

Of course a great deal of the interest centred around the return to the scene of his first successes of tenor Juan Diego Florez (right as Ilo) in the role of Zelmira's husband. And he did not fail to deliver what was expected of him. His fans reacted accordingly with a lengthy - I was almost going to say "pro-longed" - ovation at the end of his Act 1 Cavatina. It was undoubtedly thrilling but the top is not quite as free as I have heard it on broadcasts or recording. Ilo is actually a secondary role and the rest of the evening he contributed to some fine duets, trios and ensembles. Where he was least convincing was an actor - not even the newly acquired goatee could convince us that he was the fearless warrior ready to do battle for his wife and country. His boyish good looks that work so well in so much of Rossini worked against him here and again the director gave him little help.

More dramatically convincing was Gregory Kunde's Antenore, the usurper of the throne of Lesbos which is the principal tenor role. Written for the great Andrea Nozzari it is a fearsome piece of vocal writing but Kunde approached it fearlessly and with the required steel in his voice. It was not always a beautiful sound but it was thrilling. A few of the reports tried to foolishly compare the two tenors which is your old apples to apricots comparison or more accurately polished bronze to fired iron.

American mezzo Kate Aldrich (centre, right with Florez and Marianna Pizzolato) was making her Festival debut as the title character and dramatically she fit into the director's concept of Zelmira as the young wife thrown into a partisan's role against her will. Though her singing was never less than beautiful I felt it lacked a certain weight that the role cried out for. She has a lovely mezzo voice more in the Von Stade tradition than the Horne and I kept feeling that a darker voice was needed - the part was written for Colbran and the Act 2 aria added in Paris for Pasta certainly if reports are to be believed voices heavier than Aldrich's. I found myself wishing that she and Marianna Pizzolato had switched roles. As Emma, Zelmira's confident and friend, she gave an object lesson in Rossini singing in her Act 2 (Vienna) aria and throughout the evening. Her's was the mostly consistently strong performance of the evening. Rather strangely Emma, who is so fundamental to the plot, is not included in the general reconciliation and rejoicing of the finale. That did not stop the audience from giving her a resounding ovation during the call.

Of the lower men's voices Alex Espisito handled the role of Zelmira's father well as did Mirco Palazzi as Antenore's evil advisor Leucippo. The chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna processed as priests, bullied as storm troopers and cringed as village woman effectively. Roberto Abbado led the Bologna orchestra in a well-paced performance. Though I question if he needed to be elevated and spotlit to the degree that he was, given that this was a singers' opera.

Conductor Roberto Abbado takes his bow with l. to r. Alex Esposito, Juan Diego Florez, Kate Aldrich and Gregory Kunde.

It was a long evening but worth it to hear a work so rarely performed - next year they have promised us an even rarer work from the Rossini canon - his 13th and many say unluckiest opera Sigismondo. It appeared first in Venice in 1827 and the disappeared from the stage until a revival in 1992. Francis Toye, in an early biography, said the work was "wholly, irretrievably dead and buried"; and in a later well regarded book Herbert Weinstock dismissed it in a few words. Given that many of the Rossini works we hear today were equally looked down on it should be interesting to hear.

Mercoledi Musicale

Last night we saw the first of the three operas at this year's Rossini Festival - Le Comte Ory, which I will be reporting on later. It has always been my favorite Rossini work and was the first LP* I ever owned. Written for Paris in 1828, Rossini never one to lose good numbers, reused a great deal of Il Viaggio a Rheims that had been written three years preivous for the coronation of Charles X.

It was not until it was revived at Glyndebourne in 1954 that it entered the modern repetorie. Here's the first act finale from a later Glyndebourne production.



Young Comte Ory, a wastrel, takes advantage of the absence of the local gentry at the crusades to try and seduce their ladies. Disguised first as a hermit then as a nun he attempts to enter the castle and the bed of the beautiful Countess of Formoutiers. As Act 1 ends he's been unmasked as the Hermit and news arrives that the Countess's brother is returning with his men from the Crusade.

*For the young ones an LP was a long playing record - a black vinyl disk that you put on a turntable and ... forget it you wouldn't believe me if I told you.

12 agosto - Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal

Pesaro Bound

By the time this is posted - scheduled posting is such a treat - we will be on our way to the Adriatic Coast for our Feragosto break. We - or rather Laurent as driver and me as passenger (notice the passive in passenger)- will be braving the hell that is the traditional August exodus from cities and towns for the beaches and resorts for what our trusty TomTom (GPS) tells us is a 3 hour and 37 minutes drive.

Its a route of approximately 364 km (227 miles)and will take us across the width of Italy and up the Adriatic Coast. We'll be passing through L'Aquila, the scene of the recent earthquake, and the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso. Gran Sasso is a 30 km range of mountains that form the highest part of the Apennines chain. As well as the spectacular scenery that part of the drive involves cutting through the mountains via a 10 km long tunnel. The BBC entry on them reveals some interesting facts about that tunnel and an underground laboratory.


View Larger Map

After we get through the tunnel there will be the pleasure of 161 kms of the A14 - the infamous Strada Adriatico - no doubt bumper to bumper with delays for construction, accidents and just the incredible volume of traffic.

Our destination - as it was last August - is Pesaro, a small coastal town that's main fame rests on two things - its beaches and being the birthplace of Gioachino Rossini. The first accounts for the number of sun-bronzed, bikini clad Italians who crowding the beaches, the second for the number of pasty white Germans, Brits and North Americans wandering through the streets looking for the Swan of Pesaro's birthplace and clutching tickets for the annual Rossini Festival.

This is the 30th year of the Festival and though budget cuts (see yesterday's post) have curtailed the programme it is still a cornucopia of delights for the Rossini lover. I count myself amongst that group. I am disappointed that a planned revival of Sigismondo (a real rarity) was scrapped because of the cash crunch but delighted that they are doing Le Comte Ory this year. Its my all-time favorite of the Rossini works and any opportunity to hear it is worth the trip. And even if Zelmira is an unknown the presence in the cast of the incredible mega-tenor Juan Diego Florez (at the left) and the much lauded American mezzo Kate Aldrich (below right as Carmen in SFO) guarantees that will be a good evening also. The third work is the short one act farsa La Scala di Seta - which most people recognize from the overture. And there is a wealth of concerts and recitals surrounding the main events. The venue for the Zelmira is rather unusual - a sports arena on the outskirts of town. Each year a theatre is constructed at one end of the arena - much like the old Metropolitan Opera did in the days when they played Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Because there are no trattoria or bars in the area a catering firm sets up tables for pre-opera nibbles on the terraces around the arena. Eight euros gets you a selection of local meats, cheeses, olives and a glass of wine from the region; and for the interval Ten euros gets you a glass of presseco and a selection of sweets. Just enough to tide you over until the performance ends and you can go into town and have a very late dinner at one of the many good trattorias.

And good eating places there are - being on the coast the fish is incredible and there is one pizza place we will have to go back to. It was crowded and noisy, we arrived late as I recall but the pizza and beer were great.

And we are staying at a very unusual hotel: the Hotel Alexander Museum Palace. Sited on the seashore it has been conceived as an art gallery and each of its 63 rooms has been designed by a well-known or emerging Italian artist. The public areas and halls are a "museum" of contemporary Italian art. Clicking on a few of the doors on the website I must admit there are a one or two rooms that I'm praying we won't be staying in - particularly if the evening has involved any quantity of wine.

We're using Pesaro as home base to see a bit of the often neglected Marche region of Italy. At the moment side trips are planned to Fano, Rimini and Ravenna with Urbino a distinct possibility. Other than that sitting by the pool with a book sounds like a very doable option.

And as for the puppies - well they are being taken care of at home in Rome by a very nice lady called Julie. They are still just a little too young to take on vacation with us - though that will come.

09 agosto - Sant'Edith Stein (Teresa Benedetta della Croce)

Mercoledi Musicale

On Friday night I joined a packed house at La Scala - the scene for the last minute seats at the box office was crazy, people cheering as they got their tickets and waving them jubilantly - to see the second last performance of Rossin's Il Viaggio a Reims. My dear friend Opera Chic has written in her trademark style about the opening night and I have little I can add to her already insightful writing. Luca Ronconi's much traveled production is still a major delight and it seems that each new generation is able to field a cast to do it and Rossini's joyous piece d'occasion justice. I was particularly delighted to see Daniella Barcelona once again - she is becoming one of my favorites, I'm hoping to see her in L'Italiana in Algeri in Trieste next month.

A while back my friend Parsi posted this legendary encore from the 1992 Pesaro Festival production.


In response to the ecstatic bravos of the audience at the end of that performance Claudio Abbado led his exceptional forces in an encore of one of the big ensemble pieces. The singers - some of the great Rossini singers of the time - just let go and had fun with the whole thing.

Friday night's cast taking their bows to a cheering, stomping audience. Then turning to applaud along with us for the artistry of Carlo Colla and his puppeteers.

Though we didn't get an encore Friday evening the cheering that greeted the walk around curtain calls went on for a good 10 minutes. An evening of great theatre, great fun and some exceptional singing.

13 maggio - Nostra Signora di Fatima

Anticipation - Festivals

As summer approaches - and I have been assured that it is approaching despite the wet, cool, cloudy, very un-Italian spring - so does the Festival season. Last week the Maggio Musicale signaled the start of music making - classical, jazz, contemporary, rock, heavy metal, you name it - in almost any place that has a theatre, cloister or central piazza in Italy- and that means almost every city, town or village in the country.

Some are very local, others are of a more International flavour - but it would seem that all have one thing in common: massive budget cuts. The Maggio had to cancel two of its opera productions, the Rossini Festival replaced a major restoration of a grand opera with one of the Swan of Pesaro's one act farsas, the Verona Arena and Roma's Baths of Caracalla are playing it safe with old war horses and cutting the number of productions - its hard time all around. I won't go into how short-sighted it is of the current government considering what these events generate in tourist dollars - or even better Euros.

Our Festival schedule is starting to fill up - you may recall that as we left last year's Whitsun Festival in Salzburg - okay its Austria not Italy but its nearby - I was already booking tickets for this year. We're heading up at the end of the month for 5 days of Riccardo Muti, rare Napolentano opera by Jommelli and some killer concerts including one of our favorite groups Accordone. Plus some good food and I may even treat myself to a glass of one of those nice local wines. And in case anyone is wondering - no, we're not taking the puppies on this one. They are a bit too young for travel yet but never fear they will be well looked after.

The next one up is Spoleto's Festival of the Two Worlds and it has some of the most interesting programming around. After a disastrous few years of family in-fighting, Gian Carlo Menotti and Samuel Barber's Festival looks like its back on track with some off-beat but interesting offerings for its 52nd year. How about Woody Allen's production of Puccini's one act comedy Gianni Schicchi? Or a late night tribute to Nat King Cole in the beautiful Piazza del Duomo? Or a revival of Mozart, a French musical comedy that was all the rage on both sides of the Atlantic in 1925? Or an evening of Jerome Robbins ballets in the old Roman Amphitheatre? Or .. or.. and the list goes on. Classical, jazz, experimental, theatre, dance, exhibitions, lectures - the festival appears to be returning to its roots. The thought of all that, another meal at La Pecchiarda and the considerable charms of Spoleto has us planning two weekends as June turns into July - and yes the pups will come on this one.


Though the season at Caracalla has been cut down to one ballet and two operas and both of them standards, the Carmen stars Elina Garanca who has been burning up the stages in London and New York this past two months. And let's admit it there's a reason Carmen is popular - particularly when the Carmen looks this good! And there is still something magical about sitting in the open air at the Baths of Caracalla as twilight turns into a warm summer night that even last year's dreadful Aida couldn't dampen.

August brings the annual vacation trauma of Feragosto - that mass exodus to the beaches of Italy. We've tried to schedule our trip to Pesaro to avoid the traffic as much as possible but we won't count on the GPS's optimistic calculation of 4hr 32min driving time. Last year taught us a lesson. I am constantly amazed at the customer service levels at the Rossini Festival. I had submitted a ticket request via e-mail the opening day of ticket sales. A few days later a very pleasant lady phoned the house to talk about our choices. First she asked if I would be more comfortable speaking English then explained that the available seats for two of the performances I had requested weren't exactly the best and we discussed alternates. So different from the often take-it-or-leave-it attitude at a few other places I could name. That being said we get to see the highly-praised American mezzo Kate Aldrich and Rossini tenor par excellence Juan Diego Florez in Zelmira plus my favorite Rossini opera Le Conte Ory plus the charms of Pesaro and plus the incredible seafood. Plus we're planning a side trip to Rimini - just because its there!

And those are just the planned events as of today. Who knows what else is going to come up in the next month or so.

05 maggio - San Gottardo di Hildesheim

Road to Rossini

We're heading off to Pesaro this morning for a few days of rest, relaxation and Rossini. We'll be driving across Italy and up the Adriatic coast - approximately a 364 km trip which according to the trusty TomTom should take us 3 hrs and 36 minutes. TomTom is ever the optimist!


View Larger Map

Though it's the capital of the region Pesaro is pretty much a sleepy little seaside town known for its beaches, proximity to Rimini and being the birth place of Rossini. Each year since 1980 the Swan of Pesaro has been celebrated with a Festival dedicated to his works. Scholars have researched his work, lost operas have been found and critical editions published. Famous singers have appeared on stage there and careers established. The two works we are seeing are relatively obscure - as indeed most of Rossini was until the 1960s: L’Equivoco Stravante and Maomatto Secondo. The first was written when he was 16 years old and was banned because of it licentious libretto - apparently a young woman disguises herself as a castrated man (!!!) to avoid an unwelcome marriage. The second uses Mohamed the Seconds conquests of the Eastern Mediterranean to tell of love, betrayal and death - your standard opera plot.

So it three days of sun, seaside and song.

22 agosto - Santa Maria Regina

Miss Jones, There's a Conflict in My Schedule

Okay I've got a real schedule conflict on May 30, 2009. We have tickets for two concerts that day at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and its also the last night of our regular subscription at Accademia di Santa Cecilia. MAY 30, 2009!!!!!

The fact that I know about this conflict already scares the hell out of me. I've never planned my life that far in advance in the past sixt fift few years. Six months or so sure but I bought those Salzburg tickets as the 2008 Whitsun Festival was coming to an end - one year before the event - one friggin' year. I mean how the hell do I know if I'll still be in Italy in May 2009 or alive for that matter. Of course optimism is the best approach to this sort of thing but one year in advance?????

So why not buy tickets to events closer to the dates? Well there are two good reasons for that:

1. Often the things we want to go to sell out very quickly or at least the good seats do. Example: the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, on June 22 the best we could do for a performance on August 22 were two high stool seats in the back row of a third tier box, actually two separate boxes.
2. If we don't take subscriptions to things we talk about going and then when we finally decided find out it was two days ago.

So last night I sat down with our kitchen calenders (2008 and 2009 - yes we have that one already) and marked down dates. Keeping in mind that the tickets for next year's opera season will go on sale in November so at that point we'll have plans through to December 2009.

I'm just being optimistic!

18 lulgio - San Frederico