The Barber of Seville by Rossini, K 26 sept 2018, Alates (2018/2018), Juhatatud Pierre-Emmanuel Rousseau, Dirigent Michele Gamba, Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg, France

The opening of the season is going to be festive, appealing to all audiences with this new production of the exhilarating work by Rossini (1792-1868) - one of the most popular in the history of opera. The brilliance with which the Italian composer, then aged twenty-four, adapted Beaumarchais' play is quite extraordinary. The comedy is frenzied and yet structured with a clockmaker's precision and its compelling melodies whip the antics, mischief and tenderness up into a spiral of virtuosity. Everything is designed to irresistibly dazzle the spectators. Stage director Pierre-Emmanuel Rousseau is making his début at the OnR with this opera and intends to paint that magnificent bragger, Figaro, with a certain panache and lustre. Figaro will enjoy serving the blasé nobleman, Count Almaviva,as the Count is thrown into turmoil at the sight of beautiful Rosina, stashed away in a dilapidated Seville palace under the sharp surveillance of a cynical old man... Conductor Michele Gamba, at the head of the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra, is making his début at the OnR.