Alex Esposito's sexy Mustafà at Rossini Festival

Alex Esposite as Mustafà

One of our favorite Mozart singers just wrapped a stunningly sexy turn in an opera by another composer. Alex Esposito caused a lot of opera glasses to be raised with his shirtless Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Rossini Opera Festival. The performances, which ended on Thursday night, were also broadcast live on Rai Radio 3.

The cast also included Anna Goryachova as Isabella, Yijie Shi as Lindoro and the delightful Mario Cassi as Taddeo. The singers were a hit with audiences, but so was the production, which was directed by Davide Livermore. The whimisical costumes were by designer Gianluca Falaschi and the scenes and lighting were by designer Nicolas Bovey.

Yijie Shi, Alex Esposito and Mario Cassi

Esposito now returns to Mozart with a turn as Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera and Publio in La clemenza di Tito at Monnaie in Brussels. However, the performance that we're looking forward to is his turn as Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in Venice next summer.