01/28/17 – Il Barbiere di Siviglia – 1PM

Metropolitan Opera

Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Composed by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Cesare Sterbini

• Sung in Italian
• ESTIMATED RUN TIME 3 HRS 4 MINS
• front page photo credit: Ken Howard/ Met Opera

World premiere: Teatro Argentina, Rome, 1816. Rossini’s perfectly honed treasure survived a famously disastrous opening night (caused by factions and local politics more than any reaction to the work itself) to become what may be the world’s most popular comic opera. Its buoyant good humor and elegant melodies have delighted the diverse tastes of every generation for two centuries, and several of the opera’s most recognizable tunes have entered the world’s musical unconscious, most notably the introductory patter song of the swaggering Figaro, the titular barber of Seville.

Peter Mattei reprises one of his most compelling portrayals, that of the wily barber Figaro. The Met’s popular production of Rossini’s comedic jewel—performed in the full-length Italian version—also pairs bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena as the lovers Rosina and Count Almaviva, with Maurizio Benini conducting.