Cecilia Bartoli: the 'Sospiri' Tour, Australia 2011

Tomorrow night I am fortunate to be seeing Cecilia Bartoli perform for the first time at the Perth Concert Hall on the Western Australian part of her “Sospiri” tour.

While carving a niche for herself over the past few years in performing rare and forgotten works from Baroque and Classical masters such as Vivaldi, Gluck and Salieri, a core part of her repertoire comes from the early Romantic composers like Bellini, Donizetti and of course, Rossini.

In this recital she performs romantic songs from these Romantic Masters, to piano accompaniment.  Much of this music is interesting in the fact that the melodies used are sometimes sketches or variations on either well know popular melodies, or even those that form the basis of famous arias that appear in later operas, the Act One trio from Bellini’s Norma being one example, an elaboration on the theme of the song Per Pieta, Bell'Idol Mio.  

This is an artist I never thought I would have the privilege to see live due to her apparent more and more infrequent public performances, so I am looking forward to this immensely. 

A review will follow in a couple of days, if I can survive the excitement.