A long obscure Rossini opera set in Syria will be performed for the first time in the United States at New York's Caramoor summer festival, reports.
The festival, announcing its lineup on Wednesday, said that staging the opera was especially timely in light of Syria's bloody civil war but that the
US premiere was "centuries overdue."
"Aureliano in Palmira" revolves around the beautiful queen Zenobia of the Syrian city commonly spelled as Palmyra, which in more recent times has been ravaged by extremists from the "Islamic State" (ISIS) terrorist group.