This week the Rossini Opera Festival is set to open with a rarely performed work, “Eduardo e Cristina.” It will be the first time the work is produced by the festival. In this premiere, the Fondazione Rossini will perform a new critical edition, edited by Alice Tavilla and Andrea Malnati. The production will bring some of the best Rossini singers of our time as well as a rising star Anastasia Bartoli.

Bartoli will make her Rossini Opera Festival debut as well as her debut in the role of Cristina. The role will mark her latest Rossini opera following performances of Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and the composer’s “Stabat Mater.”

This will be one of her biggest assignments to date following performances at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Parma, and the Teatro Regio di Torino where she has been acclaimed for her “agility and fire.” Over the years, the soprano has moved into some of the most dramatic roles in the Italian repertoire, including Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth” and Abigaille in “Nabucco,” as well as other major Verdi operas.

Now audiences around the world will get to discover the rising star when “Eduardo e Cristina” is broadcast worldwide on Rai5. Following the Rossini Opera Festival, the soprano will make her role debut as Lucrezia Contarini in “I Due Foscari” at the Teatro La Fenice. She is also set to perform “La Bohème” and the title role of “Tosca.”

Recordings

For those who want to hear more from Bartoli, here she is in a Verdi Gala as well as clips of “Ernani” from the Teatro La Fenice, among others.