Rossini: La gazza ladra ***
Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 12th April 2017
Everyone knows the overture to La gazza ladra. It’s the one that begins with a pair of snare drums snarling across opposite sides of the orchestra which then launches into a pompous military march. Rossini’s opera itself is rarely performed. It’s 200 years since the 1817 première at La Scala, where it clocked up a respectable 150 performances to 1841, but nothing since. High time then for a new production, entrusted to film director Gabriele Salvatores who delivers a traditional – if fussy – staging, but it was music director Riccardo Chailly, a respected Rossinian, who drew boos at the curtain call.
Alex Esposito (Fernando), Michele Pertusi (Il podestà) and Rosa Feola (Ninetta)
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano | Teatro alla Scala
Read the full review on Bachtrack.