MN Opera Presents Rossini's Cinderella

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast Minnesota Opera's 2010 production of Rossini's Cinderella, with Roxana Constantinescu and John Tessier, on Wednesday, February 29, at 8 p.m. The broadcast will honor Gioachino Rossini's 220th birthday — or is it his 55th?

Here's some quick trivia: One certainly could joke that it's Rossini's "55th birthday." But to make the gag and get the math, one must subtract two, because there is no Leap Year Day in century years that aren't evenly divisible by 400. There was no February 29, 1800. Or in 1900 either.

So, only 53 Leap Year Day anniversaries since Rossini was born Feb 29. 1792, making February 29, 2012 his 53rd birthday.