Il turco in Italia

A poet with writer’s block, an elderly cuckold and his flirtatious young wife (and her lover), a charismatic Turk and his former fiancée: these are the ingredients for Rossini’s glittering early comedy, an elegant satire on opera itself and all its absurdities.

Premiered when Rossini was just 22, Il turco in Italia is the composer at his most sophisticated, a salon farce full of ‘double meanings, hypocrisy, smothered anger, forced smiles and asides through clenched teeth’. Driving the drama forwards is an exhilarating score that propels the action from misunderstanding to conflict to climax in a giddy series of ensembles. The effect is witty, disarming and often startlingly modern – a comedy that breaks all the rules, but somehow still ends happily ever after.

Following on from her critically acclaimed Don Pasquale, Mariame Clément directs Glyndebourne’s new production of Turco, conducted by Giancarlo Andretta.

Festival artwork

We have worked with artist Tom Hammick to create a series of images to illustrate the six operas that make up Festival 2021.

You can find out more about Tom’s work at hammickeditions.com and he will be exhibiting works inspired by our repertoire at Glyndebourne throughout Festival 2021. A selection of original works and prints will be available from Glyndebourne Shop.

This work is entitled Out of Blue.

Creative team

Conductor
Giancarlo Andretta

Director
Mariame Clément

Designer
Julia Hansen

Lighting Designer
Bernd Purkrabek

Text by
Lucy Wadham

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Cast includes

Don Geronio
Rodion Pogossov

Fiorilla
Elena Tsallagova

Selim
Andrea Mastroni

Narciso
Michele Angelini

Prosdocimo
Mattia Olivieri

Zaida
Désirée Baraula