Rossini’s Otello

Alternative title: Otello
Synopsis: Radio broadcast of a concert performance of Rossini’s opera. The American tenor John Osborn sings the title role with Anna Caterina Antonacci as Desdemona. Evelino Pido conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra and Chorus in the Theatre Chatelet, Paris.
Series: Opera on 3
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Transmission details: 11 Dec 2010 at 18:00
Duration: 180 mins

Notes: The performance was recorded in Paris in November 2010. Both programme sources credit two performers for the role of Iago. According to Concerto.Net, Zapata replaced Schmunck, who had initially performed the role http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=6945 (accessed 12/2010).
General: "Rossini’s Otello was written for performance in Naples and first given in 1816. It many respects it has been overshadowed by Verdi’s operatic masterpiece but Rossini’s opera marks a real development in his dramatic style. The libretto gives a different emphasis to some of the characters both in Shakespeare’s original and in Verdi’s version most notably Iago. Rossini writes Otello, Iago and Rodrigo as tenors and his librettist replaces the important stolen handkerchief with a letter. The whole opera takes place in Venice with the Cypriot location forgotten." (BBC programme information)
Textual information: Francesco Berio di Salsa’s libretto is based on a French translation of Shakespeare’s play by Alexandra Wilson.

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