LA Opera on Air broadcasts continue on Classical 90.5 at noon this Saturday, August 1, with a performance of The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, set to an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. Sterbini based his libretto on the 1775 French comedy Le Barbier de Séville by Pierre Beaumarchais. The performance will be sung in Italian and run approximately three hours. James Conlon conducts.
Dashing Count Almaviva has lost his heart to the spunky Rosina, whose doddering guardian is determined to marry her himself. It’s Figaro to the rescue, as the resourceful barber conjures up wacky schemes and strategies to unite the young lovers.
A topnotch cast sails through the score’s bel canto glories, thrilling the audience as characters that are just as vivid today as when they first took the stage. Rossini’s razor-sharp musical wit glints through every scene of this delicious comedy, one of the most playful and popular in the entire operatic repertoire.
THE CAST
Figaro: Rodion Pogossov
Rosina: Elizabeth DeShong
Count Almaviva: René Barbera
Doctor Bartolo: Alessandro Corbelli
Don Basilio: Kristinn Sigmundsson
Berta: Lucy Schaufer
Fiorello: Jonathan Michie
Officer: Frederick Ballentine
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