Comical opera in 2 acts written in 1828. The men have once again gone to war and the solitary ladies surrounding Comtesse Adèle de Formoutiers are thoroughly bored.

Much-travelled philanderer Comte Ory intends to exploit this situation shamelessly. He charms the ladies and attempts to seduce Adele disguised first as an eremite, later as a nun.

Adèle is torn between her longing for a man and the demand to protect her virtue. Thanks to a blunder towards the end of the opera she achieves both objectives.

The first act is situated in a fun fair, a place as dreamy as it is wicked. The second act plays inside a villa containing a swimming pool (in the orchestra pit).

With his projections Georg Lendorff generates dynamic, stunning changes of scene, supporting both the poetic and the playfully erotic aspects of the opera.

It is hardly feasible to stage Rossini on a modern stage any better than the orchestration implemented by Bauersima in the second act, one of the highlights of Rossini's career as a composer, and the transfer into modern-day fashion is implemented without efforts.

Deutschlandradio Kultur