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Rossini completed all the music for IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA in less than three weeks. This “Opera Buffa”, hated at its first performance only to become a hit within a week, is one of the most performed operas worldwide, and certainly Rossini’s most famous and beloved one. It features numerous Arias that have reached such a status of fame to sound familiar to anyone’s ears (i.e. Figaro’s signature Aria Largo al factotum and Rosina’s final Aria Una voce poco fa ) along with some of Rossini’s most brilliant sextets involving the entire company.

In the form of comedy, IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA tells the story of Rosina who refuses to marry Doctor Bartolo, her guardian, as she is in love with Lindoro (the Count Almaviva in disguise). After many twists and tricks, and thanks to the strategic help of Figaro, Lindoro (the Count of Almaviva) and Rosina finally succeed in getting married.

This production from Venice’s Teatro La Fenice was an immediate hit when it was staged in April 2008.

Opera Buffa in 2 acts, approx 2h37.

Music: Gioacchino Rossini; Libretto: Cesare Sterbini, based on Beaumarchais's comedy "The Barber of Seville"; Conductor: Antonino Fogliani; Director: Bepi Morassi; Set and Costumes: Laura Crisman; Lights: Vilmo Furian

Cast - Roberto Frontali, baritone: Figaro; Rinat Shaham, mezzo-soprano: Rosina; Francesco Meli, tenor: Count Almaviva; Bruno de Simone, baritone: Doctor Bartolo; Giovanni Furlanetto, bass: Don Basilio

History of the Opera

An opera based on the play had previously been composed by Giovanni Paisiello, and another was composed in 1796 by Nicholas Isouard. Though the work of Paisiello triumphed for a time, Rossini's later version alone has stood the test of time and continues to be a main¬stay of operatic repertoire. Rossini's opera follows the first of the plays from the Figaro trilogy, by French playwright Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, while Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro composed 30 years earlier in 1786 is based on the second part of the Beaumarchais trilogy. The original Beaumarchais version was first performed in 1775, in Paris at the Comédie Française at the Tuileries Palace. Rossini is well known for his fast work at composition, and true to his style, all the music for Il Barbiere di Siviglia was completed in under three weeks; though the famous overture was actually borrowed from a prior Rossini opera, Aureliano in Palmira. Barbiere's first performance on February 20, 1816 was a disastrous failure: the audience hissed and jeered throughout, and several on-stage accidents occurred. However, many of the audience were supporters of one of Rossini's rivals who played on "mob mentality" to provoke the rest of the audience to dislike the opera. The second performance met with quite a different fate, becoming a roaring success. It is curious to note that the original French play of Le Barbier de Séville endured a similar story, hated at first only to become a hit within a week. As a staple of the operatic repertoire, Barber appears on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America, where it appears as Number 5.
 
Act I - Place, Seville, Spain. Time, the seventeenth century. The square in front of Dr. Bartolo's house

In a public square outside Dr. Bartolo's house a band of musicians and a poor student named Lindoro are serenading, to no avail, the window of Rosina ("Ecco ridente in cielo"/"There laughing in the sky"). Lindoro, who is really Count Almaviva in disguise, hopes to make the beautiful Rosina love him for himself - not his money. Almaviva pays off the musicians who then depart, leaving him to brood alone.


Figaro approaches singing (Aria: "Largo al factotum della città"/"Make way for the factotum of the city"). Since Figaro used to be a servant of the Count, the Count asks him for assistance in helping him meet Rosina, offering him money should he be successful in arranging this. (Duet: "All'idea di quel metallo"/"At the idea of that metal"). Figaro advises the Count to disguise himself as a soldier and to feign drunkenness in order to gain entrance to the house and, for this suggestion, he is richly rewarded.


Dr. Bartolo's house

The scene begins with Rosina's cavatina: "Una voce poco fa"/"A voice just now". (This aria was originally written in the key of E-major for a mezzo-soprano voice, but it is sometimes transposed a 1/2 tone up into F-major for coloratura sopranos to perform, giving them the chance to sing extra slightly-traditional cadenzas sometimes reaching high D's or even F's, as is the case of Diana Damrau's performances.)

Knowing the Count only by the name of Lindoro, Rosina writes to him. As she is leaving the room, Bartolo and Basilio enter. Bartolo is suspicious of the Count, and Basilio advises that he be put out of the way by creating false rumours about him (this aria, "La calunnia è un venticello"/"Calumny is a little breeze" is almost always sung a tone lower than the original D major).
When the two have gone, Rosina and Figaro enter. The latter asks Rosina to write a few encouraging words to Lindoro, which she has actually already written. (Duet: "Dunque io son...tu non m'inganni?"/"Then I'm the one...you're not fooling me?"). Although surprised by Bartolo, Rosina manages to fool him, but he remains suspicious. (Aria: "A un dottor della mia sorte"/"To a doctor of my class").

As Berta attempts to leave the house, she is met by the Count disguised as an intoxicated soldier. In fear of the drunken man, she rushes to Bartolo for protection and he tries to remove the supposed soldier, but does not succeed. The Count manages to have a quick word with Rosina, whispering that he is Lindoro and passing her a letter. The watching Bartolo is suspicious and demands to know what is in the piece of paper in Rosina's hands, but she fools him by handing over her laundry list. Bartolo and the Count start arguing and, when Basilio, Figaro and Berta appear, the noise attracts the attention of the Officer of the Watch and his men. Bartolo believes that the Count has been arrested, but Almaviva only has to mention his name to the officer to be released. Bartolo and Basilio are astounded, and Rosina makes sport of them. (Finale: "Fredda ed immobile"/"Cold and unmoving").
 
Act II - Dr. Bartolo's house

Almaviva again appears at the doctor's house, this time disguised as a singing tutor and pretending to act as substitute for the supposedly ailing Basilio, Rosina's regular singing teacher. Initially, Bartolo is suspicious, but does allow Almaviva to enter when the Count gives him Rosina's letter. He describes his plan to discredit Lindoro whom he believes to be one of the Count's servants, intent on pursuing women for his master. In order not to leave Lindoro alone with Rosina, the doctor has Figaro shave him. (Quintet: "What, Basilio! what do I see?").

When Basilio suddenly appears, he is bribed to feign sickness by a full purse from Almaviva. Finally Bartolo detects the trick, drives everybody out of the room, and rushes to a notary to draw up the marriage contract between himself and Rosina. He also shows Rosina the letter she wrote to "Lindoro," and convinces her that Lindoro is merely a flunky of Almaviva.

The stage remains empty while the music creates a thunder storm. The Count and Figaro climb up a ladder to the balcony and enter the room through a window. Rosina shows Almaviva the letter and expresses her feelings of betrayal and heartbreak. Almaviva reveals his identity and the two reconcile. While Almaviva and Rosina are enraptured by one another, Figaro keeps urging them to leave. Two people are heard approaching the front door, and attempting to leave by way of the ladder, they realize it has been removed. The two are Basilio and the notary and Basilio is given the choice of accepting a bribe and being a witness or receiving two bullets in the head (an easy choice, he says). He and Figaro witness the signatures to a marriage contract between the Count and Rosina. Bartolo barges in, but is too late. The befuddled Bartolo (who was the one who had removed the ladder) is pacified by being allowed to retain Rosina's dowry.
 

ARTISTS’ BIOS

Rinat Shaam - mezzo-soprano, Rosina
Rinat Shaam Mezzo-soprano Israeli born mezzo-soprano, Rinat Shaham has received accolades for her operatic and concert performances internationally. In 2004 she made a spectacular debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in the title role of Carmen and received the highest of praise from the British musical Press. Shaham subsequently made her Covent Garden debut in 2006 as Cherubino in the new production of Le Nozze Di Figaro conducted by Antonio Pappano and staged by David McVicar. She was also heard in this role at the Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim. Shaham made her actual debut in Berlin as Melisande in the revival of Pelleas et Melisande under Michael Gielen and subsequently also returned as Dorabella under Simone Young and Dan Ettinger. Shaham made her debut in Tokyo in 2005 singing her first Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Giovanni Furlanetto - bass, Don Basilio
Giovanni Furlanetto studied at the Pedrollo Conservatory of Vicenza, where he graduated in singing under Luisa Romana Righetti while he was having his first professional experiences as an actor. He immediately became popular winning in 1988 the Opera Company of Philadelphia - Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and performing in many important Italian and foreign productions.

His big versatility as an actor brought him acclaim for his performance in the title role of Don Giovanni in Glyndebourne in 1995 and at the Opera Giocosa di Savona in 1996. During his wonderful career Furlanetto has performed at principal international theatres across the globe, inlcluding the Teatro alla Scala, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Opéra Bastille de Paris, the Oper Frankfurt, and the New Israeli Opera of Tel Aviv, and at such Festivals as Salzburg Festival, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Festival Donizettiano of Bergamo, the Mozart Festival of Madrid. 


Bruno De Simone - baritone, Doctor Bartolo
Bruno De Simone was born in Naples and studied singing with Sesto Bruscantini. He has been the winner of a number of important national and international prizes and has distinguished himself as a perfect interpreter of 18th and 19th Century light opera -- in particular, the repertoire of Donizetti and Rossini. From a very young age, he sang at many important revivals of rarely-performed works of the 1700s. He appeared in Pergolesi’s Lo Frate ‘nnammurato (Teatro alla Scala, under the conductorship of Riccardo Muti) and has been the principal singer in all productions of opera buffa of the 1700s in the last ten years at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He has given many performances of major importance. These include: in Don Pasquale at the Teatro alla Scala in 1994, at the Festival of Macerata in 1996 and at the San Carlo of Naples in 1997 and in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, at La Scala in Milan and at the Opernhaus in Zurich. 


Francesco Meli - tenor, Count Almaviva
Born in Genova in 1980, he began his singing studies at seventeen with soprano Norma Palacios at his hometown’s School of Music.In 2002 he has made his debut in Macbeth, Petite Messe Solemnelle and Puccini’s Messa di gloria, the latter broadcast by RAI, at the Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, and later sang in Don Giovanni and L’elisir d’Amore at the Opera Giocosa in Savona, Almaviva in Barbiere di Siviglia with AsLiCo.


He made his debuts in Lisbon (Edmondo in Manon Lescaut), Bologna (Elisir d’Amore and Sonnambula), La Scala (Dialogues des Carmelites, with Riccardo Muti) and Otello, Fidelio, L’elisir d’amore and Don Pasquale at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Così fan tutte in Florence and Verona. In 2005 he opened the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in Bianca e Falliero and Torvaldo e Dorliska. He made his debut in Zurich in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and in Paris at the Barbican in Don Giovanni, and he opened new productions of Don Giovanni at La Scala and in Valencia. He has sung La sonnambula in Lyon and Paris, to be released on CD by Virgin, Anna Bolena in Verona, Elisir d’amore in Turin, his debut in Verona’s Arena in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He has worked with Luc Bondy, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, and has been conducted by Bruno Campanella, Daniel Harding, Lorin Maazel and Riccardo Muti among the others.


Roberto Frontali - baritone, Figaro

Roberto Frontali is considered one of the most important baritones of his generation.Two of the main British magazines have very positively reviewed his interpretation in Stiffelio at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in may 2007: 


“…the best performance comes from Roberto Frontali as Stankar, Frontali has the stentorian intensity to show us what Verdian drama means” (Financial Times)


“His acting is detailed, his voice powerful, and his phrasing flexible. In one aria, Verdi requires him to make his voice 'suffocated,' 'abandoned' and 'convulsed,' and Frontali creates a vocal tour de force out of the challenge.” (Bloomberg.com)

Besides the Covent Garden performances, in the 2006-2007 season he sung as Nottingham in Roberto Devereux and as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Wiener Staatsoper and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he also played the role of Simone in Simon Boccanegra and Germont in La Traviata at the Berlin Deutsche Oper.