You might call it youth serving youth. One of the finest singers to emerge in the 1990s, Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova made this disc when she was thirty-two, by which age Gioacchino Rossini had written all of the operas represented within and twenty-five others. Kasarova, who counts Maria Callas among her idols, is an aficionado of the bel canto style and says she finds Rossini's low-voiced roles, many of which were influenced by castrato singing, interesting for their variety of vocal demands, as the many specialized categories of voice we have today weren't so set then. On this program of arias and duets with tenor Juan Diego Flórez she sings the parts of heroes en travesti (male parts played by women) from 'Semiramide' and the little-known 'Bianca e Fallierro,' serious heroines from 'Armida' and 'La donna del lago' and comic roles from 'L'Italiana in Algieri' and 'La Cenerentola' as well as the tenor title role from 'Otello,' transposed as one might hear it done at a gala benefit. Of course Kasarova's voice is beautiful, smooth and rich, but most impressive is her absorption of the characters and their various moods. Perhaps she really has taken the Callas model to heart.
