Demetrio e Polibio (2012)

What a pleasure to listen to Demetrio e Polibio, wrote major Italian daily La Stampa after the premiere of Rossinis very first opera at the 2010 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, attributing it an undeniable fascination. The work was given its first performance in Rome in 1812. It is still unclear whether Rossini was 14 or 18 when he wrote it. The libretto is a far-fetched tale of feuding kings, mistaken identities, disguises and cruel fates typical of the late 18th-century opera seria. Young stage director Davide Livermore, heading a production of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino, turns the libretto into a ghost story, setting the action behind the stage of an opera house, when everyone has left and all that remains are the spirits of an opera that yearns for the breath of life. Livermore creates an enchanting atmosphere that is given a perfect musical rendering by conductor Corrado Rovaris (Music Director of the Opera Company of Philadelphia) and the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini. (bron: Arthaus)