Vasilisa Berzhanskaya: title role in L'italiana in Algeri

Giancarlo Andretta conducts the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and the choir of La Cetra in an early Rossini. In the title role: Vasilisa Berzhanskaya.

Rossini's lyricism in L'italiana in Algeri
In 1813, Rossini was 21 years old, and he easily completed three more operas in that same year: Rossini was unstoppable at the beginning of his career. His L'italiana in Algeri showed the Italians that the eighteenth century of the bel canto was over, but that the art of lyrical singing had survived the revolution, Napoleon and the wars well.

Vocal and instrumental feast
Rossini wrote the title role of the Italian Isabella for his beloved voice type, the characterful and darkly lyrical mezzo-soprano. She is going to fetch back her husband, who has been kidnapped in Algeria, and in doing so, she puts Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers, to shame. The composer wrote the part of her kidnapped husband, Lindoro, for the special tenore di grazia or tenore leggiero, a light high male voice that touches on the vocal colours of the castrati voices that were disappearing at the time. Mustafà's buffo bass completes this vocal trio. Orchestral, too, the work is a feast, with its sparkling overture and the countless rossinian crescendos, which still enrapture the listener.