---
product_id: 14052924
title: "Rossini: Zelmira"
brand: "juan diego florezkate aldrichgiorgio barberio corsetti"
price: "R2010"
currency: ZAR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/14052924-rossini-zelmira
store_origin: ZA
region: South Africa
---

# Rossini: Zelmira

**Brand:** juan diego florezkate aldrichgiorgio barberio corsetti
**Price:** R2010
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Rossini: Zelmira by juan diego florezkate aldrichgiorgio barberio corsetti
- **How much does it cost?** R2010 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/14052924-rossini-zelmira)

## Best For

- juan diego florezkate aldrichgiorgio barberio corsetti enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted juan diego florezkate aldrichgiorgio barberio corsetti brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Juan Diego Flrez stars in this production of Rossini's opera, conducted by Roberto Abbado.

## Product Details

- **Genre:** Classical / Symphonies, Music Video & Concerts, hard-rock-and-metal-music
- **Format:** Classical, Color, Multiple Formats, NTSC
- **Contributor:** Alex Esposito, Gioachino Rossini, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Gregory Kunde, Juan Diego Florez, Kate Aldrich, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Roberto Abbado
- **Language:** Italian
- **Number Of Discs:** 2

## Images

![Rossini: Zelmira - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71R3-dXm46L.jpg)
![Rossini: Zelmira - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81NGpnwBVvL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Glorious singing ----- Silly staging!
  

*by D***N on Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2012*

Bel canto singing is alive and well and in the contents of this magnificent recording. As expected, Juan Diego Florez delivers one of the best performances ever of some of the most difficult music in the bel canto canon. He is an absolute joy to listen to and his vocal pyrotechnics are nothing short of amazing. In addition, the other members of the cast are also masters of this style of singing. Kate Aldrich as the beleaguered daughter and wife Zelmira delivers grand fioritura even under the most taxing of circumstances. The mezzo of Marianna Pizzoloto as Emma, Zelmira's confidant, is also excellent. Her rendering of "Ciel pietoso, ciel clemente" is one of the high points of the performance. Gregory Kunde as the evil ursurper Antenore started off weakly but improved in later scenes. The rest of the cast were of high standard and accomplishment.This opera (1822)is the last of the Naples series that had occupied Rossini since arriving at the San Carlo at the behest of the manager Barbaja in 1815. He has blossomed and matured as an opera composer in this environment having written by now a total of some thirty scores. Many of these were not only successes throughout Italy but also internationally. He is now the most famous and widely performed opera composer of the day. In this opera one can see his continued development to make the drama (the words) more important and a partner of the music in a seamless whole as truly a "drama per musica". In fact the older practice of an aria solo to reflect a state of mind followed by action recounted in recitative is greatly altered in Zelmira. There are no solo arias but duos with other characters or the chorus or trios or more. The action is going on as the singers are singing in stark contrast to the older methods of composition. This brings greater cohesion of the story and the music in the opera. However in Zelmira this more progressive form of opera development is mixed with older practices such as stopping the action for a florid vocal display as in the older style. The Rossini orchestra is now at its highest development - full use of tympani, horns and brass in addition to woodwinds and strings. His orchestral writing now is as great artistically as his vocal melodic. He is now thirty years old, world famous but tiring of the Neopolitan scene with its bickering critics. Though Zelmira does not have a lasting success his next opera does. That opera Semiramide (Venice 1823) will be a big international success. It will garner him offers from all over the operatic world and he, at the zenith of his powers, can pick and choose and he does - Paris.There is only one word to describe this production "silly". Yes and distracting and annoying and a waste of money and effort. The use of mirrors showing maneuvers of writhing bodies under the stage, bodies being carted around, male nude bodies being bathed by comely females bely the directors lack of faith in Rossini that people will not be interested enough to pay attention to the opera but need some "entertainment" while the action is going on. A few gestures were creditable; the large "classic" statues reclining and then floating, the Greek word (psidos) etched large on the backdrop and then falling into dust and seeing images of the players on stage interacting in the background on a different size scale seemed integral to the plot. The breast feeding is obnoxious (titering little boy stuff) and the wrong legend. The whole production reeks of lack of true inspiration with too big a budget to waste on extravagant nothingness. As the EU nations are now on economic hard times I imagine the powers that be in Pesaro will not allow such artless waste of money and resorces to happen again.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Non è Rossini questo.. ma è Rossini davvero... ed è straodinario!
  

*by M***B on Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2013*

"Non è Rossini questo."  (Rossini is not this.) So declares mezzo-soprano Marianna Pizzolato in an interview during the bonus section of this DVD, and ironically I had the exact same thoughts when viewing this extraordinary performance of this amazing opera.  Well, it is indeed Rossini as only Rossini could have written this epic-sized and brilliant work.  However, it is Rossini with many astonishing and unexpected detours from what we normally consider to be the Rossini style. Perhaps the reason for so many of the deviations concerned the fact that the opera was to be presented in Vienna after its initial run in Naples.  Incidentally, Rossini added an extra scene for that Viennese premiere and later even altered the final scene when he presented the work in Paris.  It is the opera in its final Parisian form (which includes both of these alterations) that is offered in this performance.Since the performance comes to us courtesy of the Rossini Opera Festival (usually referred to as "il ROF" in Italy) it goes without saying that the musical aspects will be of the highest standards attainable.  It also goes without saying the staging will be controversial, notorious, and contentious!  Such is the history of il ROF.  In any event the opera is given as a dream sequence with mirrors reflecting the actions on stage and even some of the actions underneath the stage as well.  It is all confusing and districting, but it seems that all the artists were as one with the concept so it all somehow works... somehow... even though the most successful portions of the staging occur when the action is presented in a relatively straightforward manner.  In any event, I would suggest viewing the aforementioned bonus section prior to viewing the opera proper where the stage director and conductor discuss the concept.  It will help make some sense out of this perplexing and chaotic conception of the piece.At any rate, with any Rossini opera it is the singing that matters most and here il ROF not only hits the ball out of the park... but hits a grand slam as well!  The absolute star is Kate Aldrich in the title role... her smooth yet dramatic vocal production is perfect for the part... a part written for Rossini's favorite diva Isabella Colbran.  Next it must be noted that Juan Diego Florèz as Ilo is his usual reliable self... his sweet tones perfectly encompassing the high lying vocal range required in a role written for Giovanni David.  However, the real tenor star is Gregory Kunde as Antenore, whose "baritone" vocal sound probably is a reasonable facsimile of the type of voice that the original Antenore Andrea Nozzari possessed. Incidentally, while Florèz is featured on the box cover... it is Kunde who actually has the meatier and larger of the two major tenor assignments.  The remainder of the cast is also outstanding with the above mentioned Marianna Pizzoloto an excellent Emma and Alex Esposito a very fine Polidoro.  Incidentally, the entire cast not only sings well, but also manages to create believable characters in the process... and that goes for the comprimarios as well.  That fact alone makes the bewildering stage concept somewhat plausible and believable.  Roberto Abbado is the experienced conductor who not only keeps the ensemble completely and perfectly together in one of the most complicated scores that Rossini ever penned, but conducts in a manner which brings out the excitement and drama of the piece.  Indeed, he not only is effective in the overtly pompous sections of the score, but also lovingly interprets the many smaller sections of the composition... such as the many entirely string based interludes... not to mention the extraordinary duet for Zelmira and Emma which is accompanied only by harp and cor anglais.Sound and picture quality as viewed in the DVD version are excellent. Get this in spite of the bizarre staging... It contains some of the most glorious singing ever preserved in sound.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    great music and singing, pity about the rest
  

*by N***N on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2019*

This is a review of Zelmira with Juan Diego Flórez, Kate Aldrich, Gregory Kunde and Alex Esposito.  Lovely music, lovely singing – but … My good woman, who knows even less than I do about opera, claims that the plot is only a peg on which to hang the notes, but I don’t agree: when you have a really crass plot it cannot but detract from the opera as a whole.  And Christ the story line detracts from Zelmira, like a ball and chain around a prisoner’s leg.  When Rossini visited Beethoven the latter patronizingly advised him to stick to opera buffa, and Big B was right.  The music is gorgeous, all the singers are marvellous, the acting wonderful, and Juan Diego Flórez and Kate Aldrich are unforgettable; I just hope in time I will be able to forget the plot.  And the production only makes it worse.  We are translated from ancient Greece to apparently the mid-twentieth century and types in battle fatigues wave pistols around amid the ruined hellenic sculptures and the occasional Greek orthodox priest wanders on and off stage just to make what’s going on a bit clearer.  All this disorientation does not make it any easier to take on board the ridiculuous plot.  And then the director has discovered mirrors, and you find images of the scene projected on the wall behind the stage.  It gave me a nasty turn, that did – I thought I was having a stroke till I sussed out what was going on.  What a pity that such magnificent music and such excellent singers have been sacrificed on the altar of directorial pretension.

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/14052924-rossini-zelmira](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/14052924-rossini-zelmira)

---

*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-02-26*