The Barber of Seville by Rossini, De (2022/2022), Dirigit per Ruth Berghaus, Director musical Diego Matheuz, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany

Under the alias Lindoro, the wealthy Count Almaviva, supposedly a student, has conquered the heart of the beautiful Rosina. But Doctor Bartolo, the girl's jealous guardian, intends to marry his ward himself and therefore tries to keep all admirers away from her. Luckily, »Lindoro« has the shrewd barber Figaro at his side, who – more or less ingeniously – threads a whole series of complications and masquerades. With »Il barbiere di Siviglia«, the only 23-year-old Rossini created within just three weeks a witty, sparkling, fiery and pulsating masterpiece in the spirit of Italian opera buffa, in which, as is so often the case, the fooled old man is left behind. He used the play »La Précaution inutile ou le Barbier de Séville« by the French poet, secret agent and arms smuggler Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais from 1772 as a template, which tells the story before Mozart's »Le nozze di Figaro«. Rossini's humorously drawn characters, the brilliant solo parts, rousing melodies and fast-paced ensembles come into their own in Ruth Berghaus' timeless production from 1968 (with the ingeniously simple stage design by the young Achim Freyer): it is bursting with liveliness and situation comedy and has lost none of its youthful freshness and vitality even after more than 350 performances.