Great Comedy Overtures

The flourishing genre of the comic opera had its roots in 18th c. Italian opera buffa, whose irrepressible brio was soon taken up outside the countrys borders. In France it produced opera comique and operetta, and in German-speaking countries Spieloper and Viennese operetta. Some of the worlds most popular comic opera overtures, filled with gorgeous tunes, brilliant orchestration and race-to-the-finish endings, are presented here. They include staples of the concert repertoire such as Herolds dramatic Zampa, the textual delicacy of Wolf-Ferraris Il segreto di Susanna and the vivid color of Lortzings Zar und Zimmermann. The American Conductor, Boston University graduate and multi-first prize competition winner Lance Friedel, here conducting the RNSO, currently enjoys an active career in Europe and the US.