"Actor: Paolo Barbacini"

• Falstaff - Giuseppe Verdi | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The present recording was made at a performance in Busseto Verdi's birthplace in the Emilia Romagna region. There in 2001 a whole series of events marked the 100th anniversary of the composer's death. This Falstaff performance along with Aida staged by Franco Zeffirelli constituted the high point of the impressive anniversary celebrations. The small 328-seat Teatro Verdi built in Verdi's lifetime provided the ensemble of La Scala Milan under its principal conductor Riccardo Muti with a particularly captivating backdrop and the mainly young singers including 31-year-old shooting star Ambrogio Maestri in the title role exciting young tenor Juan Diego Florez as Fenton and internationally acclaimed Barbara Frittoli as Alice - gave superb performances.

• Cimarosa - Il Matrimonio Segreto (Travis, Fissore, Baiano) | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £4.95   |  Saving you £10.04 (202.83%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Partly based on the 1766 English comedy 'The Clandestine Marriage' by David Garrick and George Colman, Domenico Cimarosa's Il Matrimono Segreto was a widely popular example of opera buffa in its day. This sparkling comedy tells the story of Geronimo, a wealthy citizen of Bologna, who is trying to arrange aristocratic marriages for his two daughters, Carolina and Elisetta. However his plans seem destined to fail as his daughter Carolina is already secretly married to Paolino, his young secretary. Through a series of humorous situations the young couple confess their marriage and all ends well.