Music: Gioachino Rossini Libretto: Giovanni Schmidt Festival Theatre Running Time: 4 hours and 19 minutes, with 2 intermissions Armida: Renée Fleming, Rinaldo: Lawrence Brownlee, Goffredo: Bruce Ford, Gernando: Barry Banks, Carlo: Barry Banks, Ubaldo: Kobie van Rensburg Featuring: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Choir Conductor: Riccardo Frizza Director: Mary Zimmerman In the opera composed in 1817, described by director Mary Zimmerman as “a buried treasure, a box of jewels”, Renée Fleming is to sing opposite no fewer than six tenors. The strange story of Rossini’s opera seria is about a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison, making them victims of lustful pleasures. Zimmerman treats the piece which, she says, “has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element”, with her usual refined dramaticality. Lawrence Brownlee is the great bel canto talent discovered in the past years. Experts regard him as the “perfect Rossini tenor” whose singing leaves the audience “gasping for air”. The American Bruce Ford is similarly a bel canto star, with significant success behind him in several Händel, Mozart and, certainly, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti roles. José Manuel Zapata from Valence has earned his position in this piece through his outstanding interpretation of the main roles in The Italian Girl in Algiers (Rossini) and La Sonnambula (Bellini). The American Barry Banks is a favourite of the fans of Italian opera, who has earned the greatest success of recent times in La Fille du Régiment, La Cenerentola and Lucia di Lammermoor. South-African Kobie van Rensburg performs on European stages primarily, appearing in roles of the great Baroque, Mozart and Italian bel canto operas requiring a flexible voice, brisk coloratura and deep musicality.

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