Luca Pisaroni; John Irvin; Nino Machaidze; Sergey Romanovsky; Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso; Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai; Carlus Padrissa; Roberto Abbado - Gioachino Rossini: Le Siege de Corinthe

When Rossini's opera Le Siege de Corinthe was premiered in 1826 in Paris it became a huge success all over Europe. The Rossini Opera Festival presents the opera in a new production from Carlus Padrissa of the Barcelona collective La Fura dels Baus, which here has one of its most interesting shows (connessiallopera.it). Artistically Roberto Abbado holds the ranks excellently and supports a well-cohesive and balanced cast (L'ape musicale) where bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni growled fearsomely as Sultan Mahomet, tenor Sergey Romanovsky as Neocles matched a warm tone with pinging top notes, and tenor John Irvin was self-assured as Cleomene, but soprano Nino Machaidze as Pamyra thrilled most of all, as she purred effortlessly through pyrotechnic coloratura (Financial Times).