Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

Rossini was 24 years old when in 1816 he wrote his seventeenth and most famous opera The Barber of Seville in an astonishing three weeks. Michael Hampe’s humorous direction of his 1988 live performance at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival stands out with its fast tempo that makes for a highly exuberant production. Ezio Firgerio’s appealing stage and Mauro Pagano’s colourful costumes heighten the comic effect. The musical direction of conductor Gabriele Ferro strikes a beautiful balance between a vibrant orchestral performance and a superb ensemble of singers. The irresistible Cecilia Bartoli as Rosina leads a cast that also includes David Kuebler, Gino Quilico and Carlos Feller.

“This is an effective, straightforward traditional performance under Gabriele Ferro, with Cecilia Bartoli in excellent voice, making this an irresistible production which should be in every collection.” Classical London

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9 / NTSC

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), DE, GB, FR, ES, JP

Running time: 185 minutes

Production - John Cox

Video Director - Brian Large

Set Designer - Robin Wagner

Costume Designer - Patricia Zipprodt

Lighting Designer - Gil Wechsler

The stellar cast of this popular opera includes superb singers as well as excellent actors like Kathleen Battle, Leo Nucci, Rockwell Blake, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Enza Dara

Critical praise for this production: “One of [the Met’s] most ingenious stagings in recent years…made to order for a great Rossini ensemble” (New York Times ) – and for this ensemble: “Battle’s coloratura flowed with astonishing ease and grace, beautifully varied in color” (New York Times). “Alongside Battle’s stunning Rosina, the cast is close to ideal…Blake’s Almaviva is extraordinary…Nucci is a remarkable Figaro…Furlanetto makes a formidable Basilio, Dara an irresistible Bartolo” (Répertoire )

This DVD is in fact the "break a leg" version which sees Joyce DiDonato perform her role in a wheelchair - a story which has occupied international headlines last year - and definitely a DVD which will stand out. The DVD will include bonus features like an interview with Joyce on her stage accident and subsequent wheelchair performances.

Captured at London’s Royal Opera House with an unbeatable cast in a sparkling, colourful production, this Barbiere offers a unique dramatic twist: Joyce DiDonato, who had broken her leg on the first night of the run, insisted on performing. As she said : ”Being trapped in the wheelchair was a quite literal way of demonstrating Rosina's huge desire to break free.”

“The Royal Opera's cheerful and colourful new production of Rossini's most popular work is a copper- bottomed hit.”

The Daily Telegraph

With its unbeatable line-up of singers and conductor, last summer’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at London’s Royal Opera House was always going to hit the musical headlines ... but it ended up making news around the world when the leading lady, Joyce DiDonato, broke her leg on the first night. Undaunted, and still singing with her usual brilliance, DiDonato heroically completed the performance. She then went on to appear in the entire run, wearing a bright pink plaster cast on her leg and whizzing around the stage in a wheelchair.

Virgin Classics, already scheduled to record the production for DVD, thus captured a Barbiere unlike any other.

This was how The Guardian reported the story:

“There is a moment … when Rosina complains that she has cramp in her foot – and the line has never seemed more appropriate than this week at Covent Garden. Joyce DiDonato … would have achieved wonderful reviews for her voice alone: luscious and clear, with a freshness that filled the theatre. It was as good a performance as anyone could remember … but the event that made it extraordinary occurred during the first act on the opening night. DiDonato slipped, hurting her ankle, and sang for the next three hours supported by a crutch. It turned out to be a fracture, but rather than withdrawing from the show she pressed on, singing and acting largely from a wheelchair.

“Whirling about the stage, with a bright pink plaster cast on her leg, her predicament seemed fitting for her character, who is supposed to be imprisoned at home by her guardian … DiDonato wrote that ‘being trapped in the wheelchair was a quite literal way of demonstrating Rosina's frustration and huge desire to break free’ … The rest of the cast was spectacular, too …. If, when the production is revived, Rosina appears on the stage without a wheelchair decorated with a big ribbon, it will seem as if something has gone wrong.”

The Independent made clear that, for all DiDonato’s verve and virtuosity in the face of adversity, this was no one-woman show: “Rossini's Barbiere is packed with showstoppers; but when did we last see it cast at such strength, sung with such tongue- and vocal cord-twisting relish, and conducted with such panache that every number did just that – stopped the show? Answer: the current revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's wild and wacky staging at the Royal Opera House. They must have added a quarter of an hour to the running time in applause.”

Juan Diego Flórez lived up to his reputation as the world’s star bel canto tenor: “Flórez is in amazing form: his runs brilliantly etched, his tone glinting, his top notes seemingly effortless. He held his brilliant final B flat without a quiver of insecurity for what seemed like half a minute,” (The Times), while as the eponymous energetic barber, Pietro Spagnoli delivered Figaro’s numbers “with panache and impressively meaty tone” (The Times). The villains of the piece were not to be outdone: “the expert Alessandro Corbelli showed how much comic fun can be had with crusty old Doctor Bartolo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, booming like a rumbling thunderclap of doom and gloom, made a wicked caricature out of Don Basilio.” (Financial Times)

As for the all-important contribution of the Royal Opera House’s Music Director: “Musically … it was bliss … There is thoughtfulness as well as brilliance in Antonio Pappano's conducting, which gives us greater emotional resonance than usual in this work without diluting its abrasive comedy,” said The Guardian.

The DVD also includes a bonus interview with Juan Diego Flórez, Antonio Pappano, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier and Joyce DiDonato, talking about her role as Rosina and about her career. She has received the highest praise for her recent Virgin Classics recital of Rossini, ‘Colbran, the Muse’: “DiDonato's trills are flawless, her Italian is always precise, and her theatrical sense is magnificent. Musically and dramatically, the disc is perfection.” (Opera News)