Seattle Opera presented Rossini's madcap farce "L'italiana in Algeri" in October 2006. The first act concludes with the first of Rossini's brilliant 'crescendo' finales, as all the characters express their confusion and stupefaction and make silly noises:

"My brain is crumbling into dust! There's a terrible racket in my head, and it sounds like a hammer: 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' Or a cannon: "Boom! Boom!" A plucked crow: "Caw! Caw!" or a bell: "Ding!" Onstage, the walls came down to crush the characters during this merry music.

Edoardo Mueller conducted the orchestra of Seattle Opera and Stephanie Blythe (Isabella), William Burden (Lindoro), Simone Alberghini (Mustafa), Earle Patriarco (Taddeo), Sally Wolf (Elvira), Melissa Parks (Zulma), and George Mosley (Haly).

Photo by Rozarii Lynch.