István Kertész (conductor) "Fidelio" and "La bohème". In March 1960, Kertész was invited to become General Music Director of the Augsburg Opera—a post especially created for him. There he conducted performances of Mozart's "The Magic Flute", "The Abduction from the Seraglio", "Così fan tutte", and "The Marriage of Figaro", earning himself a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of Mozart's work. With exhilarating performances of Verdi's "Rigoletto", "Don Carlos", "Otello" and "Falstaff", and Richard Strauss's "Salome", "Arabella", and "Der Rosenkavalier", Kertész also proved himself a master of the finest of Italian Romantic operas. Invited to the Salzburg Festival, he conducted "The Abduction
Il caso Mortara Il caso Mortara Il caso Mortara (The Mortara Case) is an opera in two acts composed by Francesco Cilluffo to an Italian-language libretto by the composer himself, inspired by "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" by David Kertzer. The opera was commissioned by the Dicapo Opera Theater, New York, and premiered in February 2010. It is the first Italian opera commissioned to an Italian composer by a New York opera company since the times of Giacomo Puccini at the Metropolitan Opera. "New York Times" critic Anthony Tommasini hailed it as one of the most important events of New York's 2010 operatic