The summer season continues in Europe with the Rossini Opera Festival finally getting underway.

While this year the festival will be performed in a reduced edition, there will be opera productions including “La Cambiale di Matrimonio,” a rarely performed one-act comic opera that is set to inaugurate the highly anticipated event. For the production, the festival has lined up a cast of veterans including up and coming singers and Carlo Lepore, one of today’s greatest Rossini Buffo baritones.

Lepore is no stranger to “La Cambiale di Matrimonio” as he performed the work back in 1998 at the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. Back then he took on the supporting role of Norton and this year he will sing the lead role of Tobia Mill. With Tobia Mill, Lepore will add yet another role to his already extensive Rossini repertoire.

Lepore has performed over 20 Rossini roles in well-known works like “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Cenerentola” as well as unknown works like “Bianca e Faliero” and ” La Scala di Seta.” It will also mark his return to the Rossini Opera Festival, where he is a frequent guest and has been seen in productions of ” Bianca e Falliero,” “Le Siège de Corinthe,” “Adina,” and “Matilde di Shabran,” among others.

Lepore has been praised by critics for his comic timing and his patter work. Critics have stated “he has a big voice” and a “wide-ranging color-palette to shape every phrase.”

For those who won’t be able to experience “La Cambiale di Matrimonio” live in Pesaro,” the opera will be streamed on August 8 on ItaliaFestival.tv.

Additionally, this season Lepore remains in Italy for productions of “La Forza del Destino” at the Maggio Musicale and “Falstaff” at the Teatro Petruzzelli. He is also slated to perform in Geneva in a production of “La Cenerentola.”

Recordings 

For those not familiar with the bass’ voice, Lepore has an immense discography both on DVD and CD. He has a solo album entitled “Non solo Buffo” and is featured on DVDs of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” from the Arena di Verona, “Il Signor Bruchino,” “La Scala di Seta,” and “Bianca e Faliero” from the Rossini Opera Festival. He is also featured in recordings of “Ariodante.”

Here he is in “Il Signor Bruschino.”

And here he is in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” from the Arena di Verona.