IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro
August | 2024
"Lorenzo Passerini is 100% committed to shaping the orchestra: his hands and gestures denote a special attention to bending the instruments to his will. All this attention results in a crystal-clear, vaporous sound, tempi that are always perfect and not frenetic, and a careful use of dynamics that are never exaggerated. The chorus appears in four musical numbers and is very well prepared with a compact and precise sound. A great success, a fresh and vital Barbiere, longer than it is performed in the world but at the same time faster and smoother. The Rossini Opera Festival again teaches how an opera should be performed."
Fabio Tranchida - Il trillo parlante
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"The evening is musically impressive across the board. First of all, there is the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini, which, under the direction of Lorenzo Passerini, vigorously enhances the verve and liveliness of the score, inviting everyone to let themselves go musically throughout the entire opera."
Thomas Molke - Online Musik Magazin​​
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http://omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele2024/PESARO-2024-il-barbiere-di-siviglia.html
"This staging, happily revived last night as the fourth title of this year's Festival, is also accompanied by a good musical result, which relies on the conducting of Lorenzo Passerini, at the head of the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini. Rossini, very attentive in his control of the stage and never pretentious in his ostentatious search for dynamics and rhythm, measured and polite in his crescendos, at times even light and intriguing in his search for timbral details that gradually become more and more appreciable after a symphony that is perhaps not too original and imaginative, as well as stingy in its colours and attentive more to the speed of its tempi, but certainly precise."
Alessandro Mormile - Connessi All’Opera
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"After a frenetic start to the Symphony, to say the least, Lorenzo Passerini's conducting was convincing in its admirable holding of these accelerated tempi both in the orchestra and on stage, within a reading that was swift, brilliant and almost without caesura - or breathless, one might say. This was ably supported by the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini and the Ventidio Basso Theatre Chorus prepared by Giovanni Farina."
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Davide Annachini - L’Opera International Magazine​
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"Lorenzo Passerini's baton proves to be extremely functional in his contact with the stage and the vocal cast during the concertati, the impassable finale of the first act, and in all the tightrope walking sections written by Rossini. Typical in the productions in which he conducts are the extremely energetic and tight gestures and gestures that keep an eye on every single part of the operatic machine. Rhythmic precision, sound quality and harmony with the fortepiano masterfully played by Maestro Michele D'Elia in the alternation of arias and recitatives."
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Giuseppe Scafuro - streetnews​
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"Conductor Lorenzo Passerini and the Orchestra Sinfonica Gioachino Rossini interpreted the famous overture in a sincere and engaging manner, highlighting the various protagonists and paying attention to every detail. The crescendo was fluid and exciting, with special mention for the percussionists Matteo Fratesi, Francesco Vichi and Lorenzo Borione. The overture was fortunately performed with the curtain closed and Passerini, perhaps aware that he had all the eyes of the Vitifrigo Arena on him, tended to exaggerate his gestures, adding a touch of theatricality."
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Laura Servidei - Backtrack
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"Supported by Lorenzo Passerini's committed and attentive direction, Rossini shines both in stylistic felicity and personal demonstration."
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Sierge Martin - Le Soir​​
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https://www.lesoir.be/615867/article/2024-08-13/pesaro-2024-rossini-reconnu-maitre-de-la-scene
"Timing was at times very tight, but always with an eye firmly on the stage for Lorenzo Passerini's conducting, which nonetheless stood out for its balance of dynamics and a choice of agogics that allowed the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini to offer a sound carpet rich in levity but also not without stimulating underlining. Rossini to offer a sound carpet rich in levity, but also not without stimulating undertones."
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Simone Manfredini - Operaclick
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https://www.operaclick.com/recensioni/teatrale/pesaro-vitrifrigo-arena-il-barbiere-di-siviglia
"Everything is vital, sparkling, energetic, starting with Lorenzo Passerini's conducting. At the helm of the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini, he was able to find a sound carpet rich in colours, dynamics, with sustained tempos and great attention to the voices."
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Marco Sonaglia - OperaTeatro
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https://www.operateatro.it/it/recensioni-Opere/Pesaro-Un-Barbiere-di-qualita
"The Ventidio Basso Choir was as good as ever and the Rossini Symphony Orchestra, conducted well by Lorenzo Passerini, was more than correct."
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Antonio Armellini - HUFFPOST​​
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"The successful return of ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’ to Pesaro was led by the spirited and absolutely precise conductor Lorenzo Passerini, making his Rossini Opera Festival debut conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini."
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Pavel Unger - Opera Slovakia
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"Lorenzo Passerini, conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini, gives a touch of sparkling brio."
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William Fratti - OperaLibera
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"In the pit, conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini, Lorenzo Passerini does his utmost to make a score that he seems to know like no one else shine; his nervous and perfectly measured conducting, with its chosen tempi and brilliant colours, subtly dictates the rhythm of the evening."
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François Lesueur - ConcertClassique​​
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"Lorenzo Passerini's conducting (full performance, with all recitatives) chooses fairly tight tempi but does not renounce colouristic emphases and, on the whole, keeps the balance between stage and pit well even in the most frenetic of ensembles."
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Gabriele Cesaretti - Rivista Musica
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