Italian conductor and musicologist Alberto Zedda has died in Pesaro at the age of 89. A leading authority on 19th century Italian opera, the maestro was a world expert on Rossini – a passion, which was central to his esteemed career. He was one of the founders of the Rossini Opera Festival and a committee member of the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro.

^{Alberto Zedda}

Zedda was born on January 2, 1928 in Milan where he studied with Antonio Votto and Carlo Maria Giulini and where he made his conducting debut in 1956 with Il barbiere di Siviglia. So began a life-time love affair with the operas of Gioachino Rossini.

In 1957, Zedda won the International Italian Radio and Television Competition for conductors and invitations quickly followed from across Italy and overseas, launching his international career. He conducted at all the important opera houses in Europe as well as at San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera where he served as Director of Italian repertory, Covent Garden and the Mariinsky.

Zedda was Music Director of the Festival della Valle D’Itria of Martina Franca and, most notably, the long-standing Director of the Rossini Opera Festival, held annually in August in Rossini’s birthplace of Pesaro. Founded in 1980 with the aim of raising awareness of Rossini’s neglected operas, the Festival is renowned for its passionate investigation of the composer’s musical repertoire and heritage.

Zedda recorded several Rossini operas for Naxos including Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola (with Joyce DiDonato) and La Donna del Lago. He also collaborated with scholar Philip Gossett on a complete critical edition of all Rossini’s operas.

Asked by an interviewer in 2015 which was his favourite, he he nominated Semiramide, set in ancient Babylon, saying: “Well, it is difficult because there are so many things in Rossini. He is one of the richest composers. But personally, I liked particularly Semiramide because it is not only a beautiful opera, a big opera, but it is the most [specifically] Rossini.”

Asked by the same interviewer what qualities singers need to sing Rossini well, he replied that they have to have “this capacity to create something. Rossini needs his interpreters… You need a beautiful voice, technique, intelligence but you need particularly a creative participation.”

Zedda was also an international authority on Handel and Bellinl. Renowned for his research on vocal ornamentation and authentic performance styles, he was responsible for the revision of numerous works by Vivaldi, Handel, Donizetti, Verdi and, of course, Rossini.

Australian conductor Daniel Smith, who studied and worked many times with Zedda in Pesaro, paid the following tribute: “The world owes this man a great debt. If you have seen an opera by Rossini, chances are he had something to do with it. In the century before Maestro Zedda, operas by Rossini were rare to find on stage. He was Rossini. One can easily research his legacy online, but those, like myself, who had the privilege to learn from him over many years, remember not only the complete philological genius, but also the infectious enthusiasm he instilled in all of us to learn the long forgotten secrets of the Rossini and bel canto styles. A recurring image from all who knew him, we will all remember his smile and eyes which always lit up like only a great Rossini crescendo could.”

Zedda was still conducting just months before his death. He was scheduled to conduct La Cenerentola at Teatro Rossini in Pesaro in February but had to withdraw due to illness. Though he retired as Director of Rossini Opera Festival in 2015, he continued in his work at the Rossini Academy held annually in July, saying: “Not only will I work with the Accademia, I also hope to improve my participation and give more time to them. For me, this is the most important task especially for a man of my age and of my experience. The only advantage to become old is to get more and more experience and then you can transfer this to young people and this is the only important thing that we can leave.”

Zedda passed away on March 6.