A night at the opera isn't perhaps the most obvious opening night attraction for a jazz festival, although Italian composers have been integrated successfully into the jazz tradition before, notably through Devonian Mike Westbrook's adaptations of Rossini.
Pianist Danilo Rea and trumpeter Flavio Boltro's reputation for interpreting their fellow countrymen's arias preceded them, with glowing reviews for their Opera CD on one of Europe's leading jazz labels, Act, and in places they lived up to the high praise they've been receiving.
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