Two centuries ago, La Scala’s audience didn’t appreciate The Turk in Italy. The opera was cancelled after just a dozen performances, because the proud Milanese suspected Gioachino Rossini of basing his work on An Italian in Algiers, penned a year earlier for the stage in Venice. Fortunately it didn’t prevent the composer from enjoying success on other stages, or using the inspired overture in his subsequent operas. In spite of this, The Turk in Italy was largely forgotten for over a century, finally making a return during the 1950s with the unforgettable Maria Callas as Fiorilla, Don Geronio’s wife.
Rossini’s rarely performed opera buffa comes to the Kraków Opera directed by Włodzimierz Nurkowski and under the baton of Tomasz Tokarczyk. What can we expect from this hidden treasure? There will be musical gems including Fiorilla’s charming arias, and comical bass duets – it’s worth noting Wojciech Gierlach in the title role of Selim, trying to convince Don Geronio to sell him his wife. A highlight is the colourful quintet with a “Turkish” choir at the end of act 2. More than anything we are guaranteed outstanding dramaturgy, erotic tension and a comedy of errors – terrific fun all round.
Igor Kuranda, Karnet magazine
Composer: Gioacchino Rossini
Director: Włodzimierz Nurkowski
Music director: Tomasz Tokarczyk
Set and costume designer: Anna Sekuła
Choreographer: Violetta Suska
Premiere: 4 March 2016
