With a rich, dark voice that’s also startlingly agile, the Venezuelan-born, Italian-educated bass baritone Luca Pisaroni has been praised for his opera performances worldwide, and today’s recital appropriately focuses on vivid, opera-inspired songs that are full of drama and passion.

Schubert’s Three Songs D902 are showpieces that reveal the clear influence of Rossini, and they are followed by a vibrant selection from Rossini’s Péchés de vieillesse and seldom-heard gems by Meyerbeer. Pisaroni’s Liszt selection includes the beautiful Petrarch Sonnets, which display the composer’s masterful gifts as a dramatist, with characteristically virtuosic piano accompaniments delivered by German pianist Justus Zeyen.