Rossini: La Scala di Seta (complete opera recorded live at Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, August 2009)

"[Lepore] puts in a very fine effort as Blansac, moving and reacting convincingly and singing with a firmness of tone which makes the character stronger and more realistic, perhaps supplying a better voice than Rossini's original interpreter...Jose Manuel Zapata manages the coloratura with no discernible difficulty but his top notes become thin and lose quality...[Peretyatko] both sounds and looks good. Her voice has a shine and a command of coloratura." (International Record Review)

"The cast is uniformly good. With her film-star looks and shiny top register, Olga Peretyatko has a lot of fun as Giulia, Carlo Lepore shows off as the vacuous Blansac, Jose Manuel Zapata makes an engaging Dorvil, and Paolo Bordogna proves an expert clown in the buffo role of Germano." (BBC Music)

"The most appealing member of the cast is Olga Peretyatko as young Giulia, who is exceptionally attractive...and sings with a lyric sheen, until her soprano gets fluttery at the very top. Jose Manuel Zapata's tenor brings a Mediterranean warmth to the role of Dorvil, though a tearing sound disfigures some of his top notes...The authoritative presence of Claudio Scimone in the pit is a plus, ensuring a clean-cut Rossini style" (Gramophone)

Rossini's sparkling La scala di seta of 1812 weaves a burlesque tale of gentlemen climbing in and out of a lady's bedchamber on a silken ladder. Damiano Michieletto's modern-day production from the Rossini Festival in Pesaro sets the action in the tworoom apartment of the heroine Giulia, sung with 'wonderful suppleness' (Opernwelt) by Olga Peretyatko. The production also features a spectacular grand aria for Blansac (Carlo Lepore) extraneous to the work. Leading a young and spirited cast of Rossini specialists is maestro Claudio Scimone, a key figure in the international Rossini Renaissance.

The Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the composer's birthplace, is internationally renowned for its innovative stagings and musically impeccable productions.

This colourful and exuberant production was staged by Daminano Michieletto, "one of the truly new voices in stage direction today" (L'Unita). Damiano Michieletto made his international debut at the Wexford Opera Festival in 2003 with a highly-acclaimed production of Weinberger's Svanda Dudák, named Opera Production of the Year by the Irish Times.

Claudio Scimone, a key figure in the international Rossini Renaissance, conducts the Orchestra di Bolzano e Trento and leads a cast of Rossini specialists including Daniele Zanfardino, Olga Peretyatko and Anna Malavasi.

Running time: 127 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS