Obituary: Rossini Specialist Alberto Zedda Passes Away At 89

By David Salazar

Famed Italian conductor Alberto Zedda passed away on Monday, March 6, 2017, at the age of 89.

 The conductor was born on Jan. 2, 1928. The conductor famously studied under Antonino Votto and Carlo Maria Giulini debuting in Milan in 1956. The opera of that occasion was Rossini’s “Il Barbiere Di Siviglia,” establishing him as a Rossini specialist for the balance of his career.

 He would conduct all over the world including Bordeaux, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, New York and for a time he was the music director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca and the Pesaro Festival, which celebrates Rossini’s music.

 He made a number of major recordings of Rossini operas including “Tancredi,” “L’Italiana in Algeri,” “La gazza ladra,” “La Cenerentola” and “La donna del lago.” His last recording was a solo album with soprano Olga Peretyatko called, as you might expect, “Rossini!”

 Zedda was also a renowned musicologist who revised numerous works by Vivaldi, Bellini, Verdi, Handel, Donizetti, and of course, Rossini.

 In collaboration with Philip Gossett, Zedda put together complete critical editions of Rossini’s works. He also became a committee member of the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro, Italy.

 Zedda passed away, of all places, in Pesaro, the birthplace of Rossini.

 

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