Saturday, May 2	8 pm		Tuesday, May 5	8 pm
Friday, May 8	7 pm		Sunday, May 10	2 pm

Sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage.

Behind the beaded curtain of this wacky harem is Rossini’s effervescent comedy, The Italian Girl in Algiers. Vivica Genaux (Rossini’s Cinderella 2002) ignites the stage in her signature role as the feisty Isabella - reincarnated as an Amelia Earhart-style aviatrix of the 1930s. From the moment she crash-lands on the Algerian coast, we know she’ll outfox the gullible Mustafà - and rescue her beloved Lindoro. With the amazingly handsome tenor William Burden (Narraboth in Salome 2001) as Lindoro, Earle Patriarco (Rossini’s Figaro 2003 and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly 2007) returning to his comic roots as the bumbling Taddeo, and - in his Pittsburgh debut - rising Italian bass Paolo Pecchioli as Mustafà. Three Pittsburgh Opera resident artists take crucial secondary roles: Deborah Selig (Elvira), Katherine Drago (Zulma), and Liam Moran (Ali). Music Director Antony Walker presides in the pit, and Chris Alexander, acclaimed for his Pittsburgh stagings of Fidelio and Ariadne auf Naxos, directs.

Reviews from recent Minnesota Opera performances of this production starring Vivica Genaux:

“The brash, self-assured heroine is one of Rossini’s greatest creations and Genaux’s performance is simply spellbinding.”
- Rochester Post-Bulletin

“…a superb, playful staging… David Woolard’s costumes amid Robert Innes Hopkins’ inventive oversized toy box of a set prove the ideal frosting for this tasty cake of a production.”
- Pioneer Press

Cast and opera are subject to change without notice.