Caramoor presents Rossini's Ciro in Babilonia.
by Paul Pelkonen
It is a testament to the industry of Giaochino Rossini that opera companies and festivals are still finding fresh works by the composer to perform. One of the rarest is the Biblical drama Ciro in Babilonia (Cyrus in Babylon) which received its U.S. premiere on Saturday night as part of Bel Canto at Caramoor, the Katonah, NY arts festival's yearly exploration of 19th century Italian repertory.
Ciro retells the story of the conquest of Babylon by the Persian emperor Cyrus II. This is the familiar story taken from the Book of Daniel, with Belshazzar's Feast, the "writing on the wall" and the subsequent downfall of Chaldea and the end of the Babylonian Captivity. Rossini chose the libretto (by Francesco Aventi) as an opera that could be performed during the Lenten season of 1812.
This Old Testament epic was soon eclipsed by the success of Rossini's later works. But that didn't stop the composer from recycling some of the best bits of Ciro into the scores of L'Italiana in Algeri and most noticeably The Barber of Seville. The autograph score is lost, but it proved possible to reconstruct Ciro from a piano rehearsal score. The opera has been recorded twice, and is occasionally revived.
by Paul Pelkonen
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| Ewa Podles (left) and Jessica Pratt sing a love duet against a digital starfield in Act II of Ciro in Babilonia. Digital projections by Paolo Cuppo. Photo by Gabe Palacio © 2012 the Caramoor Festival |
Ciro retells the story of the conquest of Babylon by the Persian emperor Cyrus II. This is the familiar story taken from the Book of Daniel, with Belshazzar's Feast, the "writing on the wall" and the subsequent downfall of Chaldea and the end of the Babylonian Captivity. Rossini chose the libretto (by Francesco Aventi) as an opera that could be performed during the Lenten season of 1812.
This Old Testament epic was soon eclipsed by the success of Rossini's later works. But that didn't stop the composer from recycling some of the best bits of Ciro into the scores of L'Italiana in Algeri and most noticeably The Barber of Seville. The autograph score is lost, but it proved possible to reconstruct Ciro from a piano rehearsal score. The opera has been recorded twice, and is occasionally revived.
