La Cenerentola, even more than Il Barbiere di Siviglia, is the true encyclopaedia of Rossinian singing which, in a barbarically summarized form, could be defined as a singing that must be easy, fluid, light, but in no way inconsistent; a line full of high notes to which the interpreter should never arrive puffing, exhausted, strangled and at the limit of their strength after a risky climb, but should fly over it elegantly and lightly, taking advantage of the fact that Rossini never forces...

Berlin opera company delights with the world premiere of “Dalinda” a long-lost Donizetti opera Poison Murders Unwanted or Donizetti's Futile Struggle with the Neapolitan Censor This must be a musicologist’s dream: while digging around in musty books in the quiet atmosphere of the library of a music conservatory, to come upon scores by Gaetano Donizetti and realizing that this is not yet another version of “Lucrezia Borgia” (there had been but, in...

At times, opera can also be the art of nostalgia and of longing, referring not just to the voices. Liceu has once again restaged in its scene its own production of L’elisir d’amore, one of the most successful productions of the theatre, which has toured around bringing dignity to Liceu’s name.  The staging is signed by Mario Gas as stage director, who started his relationship with this title over 30 years ago. That production was the grandmother of the one...