Gianna Rolandi - Rossini: BARBER OF SEVILLE, Contro un cor, NYCO 1978, High F

THE SONGBIRD: Gianna Rolandi (1952 - 2021) was a leading coloratura soprano at the New York City Opera in the 1970s and 1980s. She made her debut there as Olympia in "Tales of Hoffmann" in 1975 right after graduating from the Curtis Institute and basically stayed on the roster for 15 years in over 30 roles. (You can hear her NYCO debut performances and others on my channel). She was a Met Auditions finalist in 1974 and sang several seasons at The Met (Sophie, Olympia, Rossignol, and Zerbinetta), as well as making many appearances around the U.S. I heard her in San Diego as Ophelia in 1983 and met her backstage! Rolandi also made select guest performances at major venues and festivals abroad before she retired from singing in 1994 at the age of 42. In this clip from a New York City Opera performance in April 1978, Rolandi touches a top F6 in the flourish just before the final cadence begins. THE MUSIC: Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" is one of the most popular operas in the world and has been since soon after its premiere in Rome in 1816. It is based on the first of three plays by Pierre Beaumarchais about Figaro, the clever barber in the title. The music of the opera is believed to have been composed in about three weeks. This aria "Contro un cor .. Cara immagine ridente" for Rosina comes at the beginning of Act Two. Her would-be lover Count Almaviva (already in disguise to her as a poor student) disguises himself as a music teacher and gives Rosina a singing lesson in front of her overbearing elderly guardian who plans on marrying her. The aria is written with a mock formality to lightly satirize bravura operatic tropes; it can be sung in one of a few keys and with an array of cuts and/or cadenzas. For a period of time it was not uncommon for this aria to be replaced by a different showpiece aria such as another Rossini aria, a theme and variations display piece, or the like.