Fresh from last night's John Fulljames new production premiere of Donna del Lago at the Royal Opera House comes Rupert Christiansen's review, coined "bellissimo canto". Tackling the ostentatious vocal ornamentation of Rossini's Highlander-lite, happy ending opera was Juan Diego Flórez and Joyce DiDonato:
The sun shines out of Joyce DiDonato’s voice, and her ravishingly beautiful Elena caps the show with a sublime account of the lilting “Tanti affetti”. The technically impeccable Juan Diego Florez is all fire and ardour as Uberto, incandescent in runs and roulades, tireless in his production of rock-steady top Bs and Cs. The house went mad with joy for them both.
In his London house debut was thirty-three year old Italian conductor Michele Mariotti, who saddles with Flórez this August for a Graham Vick-directed Guillaume Tell at his family's Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival.