Gioachino Rossini - L'inganno felice (Alessandro De Marchi)

Information

Composer: Gioachino Rossini

• L'inganno felice

Antonio Garés

Miriam Albano

Giuseppe Toia

Luigi De Donato

Matteo Loi

Theresia Orchestra

Alessandro De Marchi, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: CPO

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The wife of a duke has resisted the advances of a powerful lecher and is "punished" by being abandoned at sea. Shipwrecked, she is rescued by a kindly mine supervisor who takes her in under a different name and passes her off as his niece for ten years. Eventually, the duke—now widowed for the second time—arrives at the place of exile. The two are reunited, the villain gets his due... Nothing new, one might think. But the one-act opera L’inganno felice (“The Fortunate Deception”), which premiered in Venice in early 1812, is bursting with Rossini’s most fiery brilliance, making us forget the familiar plot during its hour-and-a-half run: it ignites and sparkles, dazzles and whirls with the most beautiful melodies, tingling rhythms, and furious orchestral surges that the Barber master could conjure. It wasn’t just the festival that was thrilled!

Alessandro De Marchi (b. 1962) is an acclaimed conductor and harpsichordist, known for his expertise in historically informed performance across a wide repertoire from the late Renaissance to contemporary music, with a focus on Baroque, Viennese Classicism, and bel canto. He has led major orchestras and opera houses across Europe, including the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker. From 1989 to 2018, he directed the Academia Montis Regalis, touring internationally. Since 2009, he has been artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, where he also founded the Festival Orchestra, Cesti Competition, and the ‘Young Opera’ program for emerging vocal talent.