While the handful of days that Gioachino Rossini, in his early twenties, spent composing L’Italiana in Algeri is perhaps a theatrical legend, the lively rhythm of the music, which punctuates and underscores the amusing dramatic flourishes, combined with the modernity of the theme, immediately elevated the opera to legendary status. Almost certainly based on a true story, the opera is a concentration of vitality, a joyous musical mechanism.

Maestro Zanetti conducts the performances from May 3 until 12. The cast includes Maharram Huseynov and Fabrizio Beggi as Mustafà, Chiara Notarnicola as Elvira, Alessandra Della Croce as Zulma, Alberto Petricca as Haly, Bogdan Mihai and Chuan Wang as Lindoro, Teresa Iervolino and Anna-Doris Capitelli as Isabella, Bruno Taddia and Vincenzo Taormina as Taddeo.