On the occasion of the new performance of Cinderella (La Cenerentola) by Gioachino Rossini, on stage at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from January 21st through February 10th, the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago presents a discussion to introduce Rossini’s opera, led by prof. Jesse Rosenberg and some cast members.
Rossini’s enchanting fairytale heroine returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage in classic style. Cinderella (La Cenerentola) tells the story of the downtrodden daughter of a selfish father, Don Magnifico. When Prince Ramiro (disguised as his own valet, Dandini) meets her, they fall instantly in love, leading — after a few complications — to a heartwarming happy ending. Rossini’s score provides endless sparkle, with Cenerentola’s and Ramiro’s arias abounding in fabulous vocal virtuosity. There’s also hilarity, thanks to the antics of Magnifico and Dandini. Two rising stars, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya and Jack Swanson, will be joined by the incomparable Alessandro Corbelli to lead Lyric’s cast in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s world-famous production led by the exciting Taiwanese conductor Yi-Chen Lin.
During the discussion, prof. Jesse Rosenberg, expert of 19th and 20th century Italian opera, will present on the historical origins and characteristics of Rossini’s work, with an in-depth look at the artistic and cultural value of this opera. Together with Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, performing as Cinderella, Alessandro Corbelli, baritone singer who will perform as Don Magnifico, and Enrique Mazzola, Music Director of Lyric Opera, they will uncover some of the specificities and behind the scenes of the new production by Lyric Opera.
Free with registration. Doors open at 5:30pm CT.
Please register each participant individually, using the form on this page.
For more information about the performance, visit www.lyricopera.com
Photo © Lyric Opera of Chicago
The practice of opera singing in Italy was included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023. To celebrate this important event, the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago presents a series of initiatives dedicated to Italian opera.
“The practice of opera singing in Italy” was born in Central Italy in the 17th century from the evolution of Italian language and then expanded throughout the peninsula and later abroad, thanks to the emigration of opera singers and theater producers. The practice of lyric singing has historically played a function of social aggregation through the sharing of musical and literary skills and the use of natural or traditionally defined acoustic spaces, in which it is not necessary to use technological instruments of voice reproduction thanks to the power of the voice of opera singers.
For more information, visit the dedicated website for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Jesse Rosenberg is a specialist in 19th- and 20th-century Italian opera, with articles published on Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi and papers read at national and international conferences on opera and film music history. His research interests include musical aesthetics and the convergence of music with fields such as literature, poetry, and theology. Rosenberg is a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Opera (Macmillan, 1992), Pipers Enzyclopädie des Musiktheaters (Pipers, 1996), and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan, 2000). He received the Outstanding Dissertation Award and Excellence in Teaching Award from New York University and is on the Faculty Honor Roll at Northwestern University.
Born in Russia, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya is a graduate of the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow and a former member of the Youth Opera Program at the Bolshoi Theatre. Engagements include Il barbiere di Siviglia (Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Arena di Verona, Bayerische Staatsoper, Florence, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Basel), L’italiana in Algeri (Verona, Concergebouw Amsterdam), La cenerentola (Vienna State Opera, Rome, Basel), Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini Opera Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin), Moïse et Pharaon (Rossini Opera Festival, Festival D’Aix-en-Provence, Opera de Lyon), I Capuletti e i Montecchi (Rome), Nabucco (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Opera House, Arena di Verona), Norma (Carlo Felice Genova), Werther (Verona) and Roberto Devereux (Palermo). She has worked with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Jurowski and Michele Mariotti. Awards include laureate of the Elena Obraztsova International Competition of Chamber Music, Grand Prix at the Muslim Magomaev International Competition, First Prize and Audience Prize at the Debut Classical Singing Competition (Germany), Audience Prize at Viotti Singing Competition and Best Young Singer at the International Opera Awards (2020). Future engagements include Maometto II (Naples), Anna Bolena (Berlin), La Cenerentola (Chicago, Vienna) and Carmen (ROH, Vienna).
Alessandro Corbelli was born in Turin and studied under Giuseppe Valdengo and Claude Thiolas. He is considered to be one of the best performers of the Mozartian and bel canto repertoires today. Since 1989, he has sung regularly at Milan’s La Scala (Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Lodoiska, Le Comte Ory, La Cenerentola, Fedora, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), London’s Royal Opera House (L’Italiana in Algeri, Così fan tutte, La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, La Fille du régiment, Il Turco in Italia, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Adriana Lecouvreur), the Vienna Staatsoper (Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Puritani, La Cenerentola), the New York Metropolitan Opera (La Cenerentola, L’Italiana in Algeri, Gianni Schicchi, L’elisir d’amore, La Cenerentola), and the Paris Opera (La Cenerentola, L’Italiana in Algeri, Così fan tutte, Madame Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, La Fille du régiment, Adriana Lecouvreur). He has also appeared on the stage in Munich, Cologne, Geneva, Madrid, Barcelona, Toulouse, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Florence, Turin and at many of the great festivals (Edinburgh, Salzburg, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro). He made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1985 in La Cenerentola (Dandini) and was invited back to perform in Don Giovanni (Leporello) and sing the title roles in Gianni Schicchi and Don Pasquale. More recently, he played Don Magnifico in Los Angeles and Chicago and then again at the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper and the Rome Opera. His other roles include Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and London, Gianni Schicchi at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Geronio (Il Turco in Italia) at the Aix Festival (2014) and in Santiago, Chile, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) in Houston, Il Signor Bruschino at the Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées, and Dulcamara at the Metropolitan Opera. Last season he sang the role of Fra Melitone (La Forza del destino) for the first time at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. Alessandro Corbelli has lent his voice to numerous recordings, including Adriana Lecouvreur (ROH London), Gianni Schicchi and Don Pasquale (Glyndebourne). He was awarded the Premio Abbiati della critica musicale Italiana for his interpretation of Leporello at Milan’s La Scala and he received the Rossini d’Oro for his performance as Don Geronio in Pesaro.
Enrique Mazzola, Lyric’s Music Director—only the third in the company’s history— is renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and a specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi. Lyric audiences first experienced the Italian conductor’s artistry in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2016/17, and subsequently in Bellini’s I puritani in 2017/18. During 2019/20, he led Verdi’s Luisa Miller to launch the company’s Early Verdi Series. Mazzola’s first opera as Lyric’s music director, Sir David McVicar’s new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, opened the 2021/22 season, followed by Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love as well as Verdi Voices and Rising Stars in Concert. Mazzola is Principal Guest Conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and served as Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France from 2012 to 2019. Symphonic guest work has included the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Brussels Philharmonic. He has conducted bel canto works for The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the major houses of Florence, Strasbourg, Berlin, Zurich, Moscow, and Tokyo, in addition to a historic Meyerbeer cycle for Deutsche Oper Berlin. Past major European festivals have included Glyndebourne (including DVD releases of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Poliuto), new productions in 2019 for Bregenz (Rigoletto) and Salzburg (Orphée aux Enfers), Pesaro (Rossini Opera Festival), Venice, and Aix-en-Provence. Mazzola was born in Barcelona, Spain, into a musical family, and grew up in Milan, where he studied violin and piano, earning diplomas in composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Milan. Enrique Mazzola is the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Endowed Chair.
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