Royal Opera

The Barber of Seville

In Cinemas 25, 26 & 29 Mar 2023
Conductor
Rafael Payare
Orchestra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Cast
Aigul Akhmetshina (Rosina), Andrzej Filończyk (Figaro), Lawrence Brownlee (Count Almaviva), Bryn Terfel (Don Basilio), Fabio Capitanucci (Doctor Bartolo), Ailish Tynan (Berta), Josef Jeongmeen Ahn (Fiorello)
Composer
Gioachino Rossini
Director
Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Set Design
Christian Fenouillat
Duration
3h33 including an interval
Sung in Italian, with English subtitles
Captured live from Covent Garden, London, 15 Feb 2023
Official Event Listing
  • An irresistible performance. Payare’s perky Rossini makes this revival fizz.
    Clive Paget, THE GUARDIAN
    Sure to warm the cockles of your heart. With its distinct visual style and captivating set design, this production is destined to enter the pantheon of all-time Covent Garden greats.
    Franco Milazzo, BROADWAY WORLD
    Nothing short of blissful! Unfaltering opera buffa entertainment. almost every one of the countless gags landed perfectly. With exemplary direction, vivacious playing under Payare’s baton and a singing cast of this quality, it’s a winner.
    David Karlin, BACHTRACK
    A stylish and hilarious triumph. Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina is absolutely outstanding - this is her moment.
    Claudia Pritchard, CULTURE WHISPER

Opera buffa in two acts (1816)

With vocal fireworks, scheming lovers and one very busy hairdresser, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s colourful and witty production of Rossini’s comic opera is packed with fun and mischief.

When Rosina falls in love with a mysterious young suitor who calls himself Lindoro, she must use all her cunning – and a little help from her local barber – to outwit her calculating guardian Dr Bartolo. Expect heart-melting serenades, ridiculous disguises and a fairy-tale ending waiting just out of reach.

From the barber’s famous opening number ‘Largo al factotum,’ with its cry of ‘Figaro! Figaro!,’ to Rosina’s feisty aria ‘Una voce poco fa,’ it’s a riotously entertaining affair. 

Rafael Payare makes his Royal Opera House debut conducting an outstanding international cast that includes Andrzej Filończyk, Aigul Akhmetshina, Lawrence Brownlee and Bryn Terfel.

Royal Opera

The Royal Opera is one of the world’s leading opera companies. Based in London’s iconic Royal Opera House (1858) in Covent Garden, it is renowned both for its outstanding performances of traditional opera and for commissioning new works by today’s leading opera composers, such as Harrison Birtwistle, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Thomas Adès.

See more productions from: Royal Ballet and Opera