Roma Owsinska sings Rossini's first soprano opera aria

THE SONGBIRD: Polish soprano Roma Owsinska studied piano, flute, and voice in Kielce, then focused on voice at the Academy of Music in Łódź, where she graduated in 1983. She won several regional prizes and made her debut in Lodz as Elena in Boito's "Mefistofele." Her florid roles have included Violetta, Rosina, Norina, Lucia, Gilda, and Madame Herz, with an adjunct focus on bigger lyric roles including Mimi, Amelia, Liu, Leonora, Butterfly, Santuzza, Adriana Lecouvreur, and Lucrezia Borgia. She appears regularly in Poland's opera houses, and has been a guest with companies in Berlin, Dresden, Sicily, Seoul, Bulgaria, Lille, and Amsterdam.

THE MUSIC: Rossini's one-act comic opera "La cambiale di matrimonio" was his first to be professionally produced. Composed when he was 18 years old, its first performance was in Venice in 1810. The overture is often performed in concert and the duet "Dunque io son" was later reused in "The Barber of Seville." Fanny is the leading soprano and sings the jovial florid aria "Vorrei spiegarvi il giubilo"