Gioachino Rossini was only 20 years old when he wrote his fifth opera, “Ciro in Babilonia,” for Ferrara in 1812. In this recording from the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro (Italy), stage director Davide Livermore sets the action in the 1920s, with period black-and-white film inserts, lavish costumes in the Art Nouveau style, and decors highlighted by “Babylonian” elements. “The production ... was a wildly cheered hit with the audience” (Deutschlandradio).
The plot revolves around Baldassare, the King of Babylon, who has captured the wife and son of the Persian king Ciro. Baldassare wants to marry Ciro's wife Amira and kill the child, but after many intrigues, betrayals and battles, good triumphs over evil. Since the work was to be played during Lent, when operas were prohibited, Rossini combined an Old Testament subject with a secular love story and declared the work a “scenic oratorio”.
The lead roles in this festival performance have been entrusted to distinguished stars such as Ewa Podlés (Ciro), whom the press calls “the only true Rossini contralto today after Marilyn Horne,”
the commanding Michael Spyres (Baldassare), and Jessica Pratt (Amira), whose coloraturas and high notes incite storms of applause. Based on the new edition by the Rossini Foundation, the performance reflects the guiding principle of the only festival in the world devoted exclusively to Rossini: next to the performance of the composer's well-known works from well-researched new editions, the revival of all of Rossini's little-known works through musicological research, theatrical performance and publication.