Gioachino Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville” is one of the most fun operas in the entire repertoire. It’s full of humour and romantic encounters, and for a change, nobody dies. The story is set in Sevilla, Spain during the

We celebrate Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) as one of the most successful and popular operatic composers of his time. And although you might never have actually seen or heard a complete Rossini opera, I am sure you know a good many

When we think of Gioachino Rossini, we think of his operas, his big works, however, there are a set of little-known early works that show us a very different side of the composer. Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) started his life in

The premiere of Gioachino Rossini’s opera buffa The Barber of Seville on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome was a verifiable disaster! It probably had very little to do with how the music was performed that evening.

Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 25 January 1817. Press reports were generally favorable, but the singers took a beating. Some critics even spoke of a “fiasco” because there was no applause during the

Why go to Padua in the heart of the winter, travelling five hours by train, and looking at a sad barren landscape of the Veneto to listen to an opera?

Péchés de vieillesse, Vol. 8: Album de château: No. 9. Tarantelle pur sang avec Traversée de la procession (version for choir, harmonium, piano and clochette) From ROSSINI, G.: Piano Music, Vol. 8 (2018) Released by Naxos Rossini: Péchés de vieillesse,

It is not clear when Giaochino Rossini and Olympe Pélissier first met, but by 1832 they were undoubtedly in a relationship. He had departed for Paris in 1830 and had left his wife Isabella Colbran unceremoniously behind. She was an