Il turco in Italia is one of Rossini's wittiest but most neglected works. It is full of ingenious and freshly composed invention. It is Rossini's first collaboration with Felice Romani - Bellini's librettist - on this opera and Romani understood perfectly Rossini's love of pastiche and parody. He provided a commedia dell' arte scenario that gave Rossini plenty of opportunity to mock traditions he had helped to cultivate in the first place. The plot of Il turco is delightfully salacious and among the many jewels in the score, the duet for Geronio and Selim, in which the Turk tries to persuade the ageing husband to sell his wife to him, is widely considered one of the composer's masterpieces. Cecilia Bartoli has been heralded as the most exciting, accomplished and beautiful Rossini singer to appear in the modern era, remarkably similar in range, presence and temperament to Rossini's great love, the fiery Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran. The flirtatious, high-spirited and beguiling young wife is a perfect role for such a vivacious and expressive singer like Bartoli. A strong cast will also feature two of today's most accomplished basses, both known for their dramatic abilities - Ruggero Raimondi as Selim, the Turk and Paolo Rumetz as the ridiculous husband, Don Geronio.