IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA Tickets and Dates

The 23-year-old Gioachino Rossini completed his masterpiece Il barbiere di Siviglia with incredible speed - legend has it in just 13 days - which Rossini attributed to "facility and lots of instinct". He adapted Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais' play Le Barbier de Séville, part of a dramatic trilogy that also inspired Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Within a few decades of its 1816 premiere, Il barbiere di Siviglia had been seen around the world, reaching opera houses in New York, Buenos Aires, Trinidad and Ecuador. The opera is characterized by youthful energy and bold wit: these qualities are brought to the fore in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's colourful and inventive production, a popular favourite at the Royal Opera House since its premiere in 2005. Il barbiere di Siviglia has all the right ingredients for comic chaos: an imprisoned young woman, her lecherous guardian and a young noble suitor. Skilfully plotting behind the scenes is Figaro - an irrepressible and inventive character in whom many have seen a resemblance to the young Rossini himself. The score fizzes with musical brilliance, from Figaro's famous entrance aria "Largo al factotum" to the frenzy of the Act I finale, when the five principal voices all pile on top of each other.

`IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

Booking period: 13 September - 11 October 2016

Running time 3 hours 30 minutes with 1 interval

Sung in Italian with English surtitles