“Mosè in Egitto contains some of Rossini’s finest music. Without knowledge of it, we cannot hope to understand Rossini’s growth as a composer and musical dramatist in Naples.” These words by Philip Gossett, University of Chicago professor and preeminent Rossini Scholar frame the Mosè in Egitto Symposium that took place on the same day that Chicago Opera Theater reintroduced the masterpiece to Chicago audiences for the first time since 1863.

Professor Gossett was joined in this Speaker Series by Professor Emeritus Charles Brauner of Roosevelt University, who edited the new critical edition of the opera premiered by Chicago Opera Theater. Other distinguished scholars and musicologists featured in the event included the University of Iowa’s Professor Roberta Marvin, and Northwestern University’s Professor Jesse Rosenberg.

This event was financed in large part thanks to the Distinguished Achievement Award made to Professor Gossett and the University of Chicago by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York.

Recorded Saturday, April 17, 2010 at University of Chicago Gleacher Center.