The Italian Girl in Algiers, 2007
Minnesota Opera gives 'Italian Girl in Algiers' a superb, playful staging
Captured by pirates, enslaved by a despot, plotting her escape. It may sound like the makings of an intense drama, but Gioacchino Rossini's opera "The Italian Girl in Algiers" is a delightfully fun comedy about the wiles of a woman intent on wriggling out of a bad situation through cleverness and seduction. By Rob Hubbard
Captivating, comic 'Algiers' is opera at its best
Larry Fuchsberg, Special to the Star Tribune
http://furstamongequals.blogspot.com/2007/11/litaliana-in-algeri-misses-boat.html
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7437505?source=email&nclick_check=1
Un Ballo in Maschera, 2007
Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” -- “A Masked Ball” -- is a good example of how great artists never coast.
The maestro had it all in the late 1850s: Triple successes with “Rigoletto,” “Trovatore” and “Traviata” in the early ‘50s, great wealth, a nice house, newly married, acclaimed as the heir to Rossini as the king of Italian opera.
-By Jay Furst
La donna del lago, 2007
"Minnesota Opera's ongoing engagement with neglected bel canto repertory brought opera-goers from both coasts to see their season-opening La donna del lago ? In magnificent form, she [Ewa Podles] received a vociferous welcome for her richly expressive and technically astonishing bravura. She brought the evening to its highest plane, offering truly heroic coloratura singing."
-Gay City News