“Il Turco in Italia” è un capolavoro nascosto di Gioachino Rossini

Il Turco in Italia is not exactly unknown, but it is a rarity compared to the canonical trilogy of Rossini comedies: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, and L’Italiana in Algeri. It may have suffered from the feeling that “The Turk in Italy” was a sequel to “The Italian Girl in Algiers.” And in some ways it was–but in a more interesting way it is a sequel to something else entirely

. The brilliant librettist Felice Romani was hanging out with Rossini in Milan in 1814, where they had just produced Aureliano in Palmira and had a commission for a second opera. What was in rehearsal at La Scala while they were at work on it? Così Fan Tutte, the final masterpiece of Mozart and Da Ponte, in its second local outing. The young Italians were paying attention; Romani chose a story with a poet in search of a plot, who pulls the strings of the onstage characters like Don Alfonso, and puts them in a series of disguises and amorous confusions. The music too has its Mozartean echoes; the result was Il Turco, with La Scala's Fiordiligi moving into the part of Fiorilla. It was popular for decades, roughly until the smash hits of young Verdi forced theaters to prune the old repertory to make room for the new. It was also popular enough to make the list of operas brought to America 200 years ago in the first-ever season of Italian opera here. Teatro Nuovo is honoring that arrival with a cast of brilliant Rossinian comedians: Kresley Figueroa as the heroine Fiorilla, Vincent Graña as the visiting Turk, Mattia Venni as the befuddled husband, Max Alexander Cook as the lover-boy tenor and Hans Tashjian as the poet who makes it all happen (and writes it all down). Elisa Citterio and Derrick Goff share the direction of Teatro Nuovo’s famed period-instrument orchestra. A few seats remain for performances in Montclair (July 12) and Manhattan (July 16), as well as for the Mozart-Da Ponte companion piece: Il Don Giovanni, as revised by the librettist in 1826 for New York (July 11 and 15). SUMMER 2026 Mozart: Il Don Giovanni (Da Ponte's 1826 edition) July 11, 3:00 pm Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University July 15, 7:30 pm Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Rossini: Il Turco in Italia July 12, 3:00 pm Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University July 16, 7:30 pm Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Pre-opera events start 90 minutes before each opera. NEW this year - both NJ performances are in the afternoon TICKETING Support Teatro Nuovo to help opera’s future. No gift is too small or too large! DONATE Teatro Nuovo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law. 29/06 Comunicato Stampa Info: Teatro Nuovo · 820 West End Ave Suite 9E · New York, NY 10025-5384 · USA Teatro Nuovo’s 2026 Program is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. bellaunavitaalloperablogpost.com