Every summer a Rossini festival is organized in the Black Forest, in a small town of Bad Wildbad. The festival consists mainly of operas by Gioachino Rossini – often rarities. Why in this small town? Well, Rossini had been there on a bathing holiday, so of course that is worth a festival.
My first opera on the festival was a truly rare small comic
opera by Rossini called “Adina”, which was shown in the royal opera of the
baths. A truly charming venue, but on hot weather really hot. The story of the opera is idiotic as usual. Adina
is a slave at the seraglio of the caliph of Bagdad. The Caliph is in love with her,
and they plan a marriage. Adina cannot, however, forget the love of her youth –
Selimo, who is dead. But then, of course, Selimo appears, he is alive and the
youngsters plan to escape. The caliph finds out their plans and they are
caught. Selimo is condemned to
death. Adina begs for mercy and faints and her necklace is revealed. It is
a gift from the caliph to the love of his youth. Helas, Adina is his daughter. Selimo is saved
at the last minute and the youngsters are re-joined.
Even though the story was pure fluff, the music was truly
beautiful and enjoyable. All the soloists (all in all five people, so for once
you could easily remember who is who) were good singers and the hero and
heroine were both young and beautiful (as they should be).
The role of Adina was sung by soprano Sara Blach and I have to say that she had an incredible voice. The role was truly demanding with tons of ornamentations, but she managed to sing it and sing it well. But I think that my real favourite was Shi Zong who sang the role of Mustafà. His performance contained just the right amount of comic elements and when he also sang well, it was a pleasure to see and hear him. Special thanks go to the director Jochen Schönleber, who had made sure that the singers really acted their roles on the stage.
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