You might call it youth serving youth. One of the finest singers to emerge in the 1990s, Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova made this disc when she was thirty-two, by which age Gioacchino Rossini had written all of the operas represented within and twenty-five others. Kasarova, who counts Maria Callas among her idols, is an aficionado of the bel canto style and says she finds Rossini's low-voiced roles, many of which were influenced by castrato singing, interesting for their variety of vocal demands, as the many specialized categories of voice we have today weren't so set then.
On this program of arias and duets with tenor Juan Diego Flórez she sings the parts of heroes en travesti (male parts played by women) from 'Semiramide' and the little-known 'Bianca e Fallierro,' serious heroines from 'Armida' and 'La donna del lago' and comic roles from 'L'Italiana in Algieri' and 'La Cenerentola' as well as the tenor title role from 'Otello,' transposed as one might hear it done at a gala benefit. Of course Kasarova's voice is beautiful, smooth and rich, but most impressive is her absorption of the characters and their various moods. Perhaps she really has taken the Callas model to heart.

Also available on Blu-ray

Based on a play by Carlo Goldoni, Rossini’s La Gazzetta revolves around a man who strangely tries to find a husband for his daughter by placing an ad in the newspaper. The Opera Royal de Wallonie closed its 2014 season with this opera buffa. This production was directed by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, and includes for the first time a Rossini quintet, which was discovered in 2012 and has been given its rightful place in Act One. Subtitles are available for this production in Italian, English, French, Germany, Japan, and Korea.

In an age of ultraspecialization that obsesses over minute detail, artists such as Nicola Alaimo remind us that, as elsewhere, in opera versatility is a virtue. The youthful Mr. Alaimo has an impressive CV, broad in scope and variety. His chosen musical home is, of course, 19th century melodrama, ranging from his beloved Rossini, to Bellini, Donizetti and the major works of Verdi. Nonetheless, Mr. Alaimo is thoroughly comfortable with an earlier repertoire comprising Mozart and the Neapolitans, and also with the music of a later era. The giovane scuola had no great love for baritones, but Mr. Alaimo has sung Puccini, Cilea and his Neri Chiaramantesi in Giordano's Cena della beffe made it's mark on opera lovers. The results speak for themselves and his career is there for all to see. Doubters may seek out major venues, conductors or directors where or with whom Nicola Alaimo has not performed- they will not find any, however. Mr. Alaimo has sung Rossini not only all over the world, but also close to home in a long successful partnership with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as Dandini in Cenerentola, don Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Aliprando in Matilde di Shabran, the title role in Guillaume Tell, dom Pomponio in Gazzetta, and the Duke of Ordow in Torvaldo e Dorliska.

It is no secret that Rossini never wasted his energy and, partly out of haste and partly out of laziness, he was always ready to resurrect pages of music which would have otherwise been destined to oblivion. Thus, when in 1822 he was invited by Prince Klemens von Metternich to commemorate with suitable music the Congress of the European heads of state which would take place in Verona-to "harmonize" the souls, as it were-this proclaimed "God of harmony" gladly accepted. Il vero omaggio ("sincere" act of devotion toward the Austrian Emperor) was a recycling of the pastoral cantata La riconoscenza, performed by Rossini in Naples the year before. The sequence of pieces which constitute Il vero omaggio confirm Rossini's own statement: the musical nature of the cantata is quite similar to the first act of a normal opera. As such, it was enjoyed by the public of the period, partly due to the fact that the performance was staged. What distinguishes such a cantata from an opera is not, indeed, the visual aspect, as one might assume, but rather the absence of a veritable dramatic design. The subject of the cantata was thus a mere pretense for staging a public panegyric to the Austrian Emperor by means of a grandiose concert of vocal music. The work is interpreted here by conductor Herbert Handt.