The 100th Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2023

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Staged by Hugo de Ana

Comedy in 2 acts by Gioachino Rossini

At the Arena, Verona’s historic opera venue!

The Barber of Seville (in Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia) is an opera in four acts by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. Despite a disastrous opening night – the music teacher tripped over and had a prolonged nosebleed and an unexpected cat wandered on stage – it has gone on to be ‘perhaps the greatest of all comic operas’. Indeed, Rossini himself stayed at home for the second night, until he was awoken by the sound of applause and cheering and his opera has delighted audiences ever since.

Based on a play called Le Barbier de Séville by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais, this is the first of three plays about a character called Figaro.

His second play, Le Mariage de Figaro, was the inspiration for another opera – The Marriage of Figaro by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, therefore, is considered a prequel to the story of Mozart’s opera, although it was composed 30 years later.

The story follows the escapades of a barber, Figaro, as he assists Count Almaviva in prising the beautiful Rosina away from her lecherous guardian, Dr Bartolo. Referenced from eno.org