A musical joyride!

The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini

Toledo, OH – The world’s most famous (and most boastful) barber takes audiences on a joyride of music and madcap comedy in Gioacchino Rossini’s sublimely funny The Barber of Seville. Toledo Opera’s first mainstage production of the 2004-2005 features, in the three leading roles, a trio of stellar singers: baritone Marco Nistico (Figaro), mezzo-soprano Jane Dutton and tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan.

Opening night of The Barber of Seville is Saturday October 2, 2004, with subsequent performances Friday, October 8, and Sunday October 10, 2004. All performances take place at The Valentine Theatre. Tickets range in price from $16 to $90 and are available online at www.toledoopera.org beginning September 7, 2004.

Thomas Conlin will conduct the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Conlin has achieved recognition as a conductor throughout the United States and Europe, and recently won a Grammy for his recording of George Crumb’s Star-Child. The production also features men of the Toledo Opera Chorus and local actors.

Kay Walker Castaldo is the stage director and lighting design is by David Gano.

Neapolitan baritone Marco Nistico sings Figaro, Seville’s most ingenious jack-of-all-trades. Acclaimed for his vocal artistry, Mr. Nistico’s singing career has taken him to many theaters in Italy and throughout Europe. In the spring of 2005, he will debut at New York City Opera in Carmen.        

Starring as the feisty and fearless ingénue Rosina is mezzo-soprano Jane Dutton. Ms. Dutton’s illustrious career takes her to leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, and her recent debut at the Gran Theatre de Liceu in Barcelona.

Count Almaviva, Rosina’s hugely rich and hopelessly infatuated suitor, is sung by busy tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan. In demand throughout North America, Mr. Manucharyan’s recent and future engagements include his portrayal of the Duke in Rigoletto with Baltimore Opera and his debut at New York City Opera as Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles. Also featured in the cast are basso buffo Carlos Conde as Rosina’s avaricious and over-attentive guardian, Dr. Bartolo, Jamie Offenbach as the music teacher Don Basilio and mezzo-soprano Susan Nicely as Bartolo’s maid Berta.

THE STORY, IN BRIEF: In 18th-century Seville, Count Almaviva is in love with Rosina, a ward of the inordinately overprotective Dr. Bartolo, who plans to marry her himself – both for her beauty and for her money. Almaviva employs Figaro, barber to Bartolo and factotum to anyone in Seville who can pay his fee, to help him gain entrance to the virtual prison that is Rosina’s house. Figaro uses several wily stratagems to foil the Doctor and his oily ally, Rosina’s music teacher Don Basilio. He sends Almaviva to the house first as a drunken soldier and then as a substitute teacher for Basilio. Although wildly daring, filled with adventure, and almost perfect in both planning and execution, neither scheme quite succeeds, but in the end, with some deft thievery, bold deception and flagrant trespassing, each of which justifies Figaro’s fee, the quivering couple are united in the long-anticipated happy ending in which, among other things, Bartolo is mollified by the promise of a sizeable dowry from Almaviva.

BACKGROUND: Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) composed nearly 40 operas in less than 20 years and greatly influenced the development of the art form. His success was due mainly to his inventive tunes and the simple and direct impact of his compositions. Astonishingly, it took him only two weeks to complete the score to The Barber of Seville.

The libretto, by Cesare Sterbini, was based on Beaumarchais’ play of 1775, the first in a series of three featuring the Sevillian factotum Figaro. The second in the series, La folle Journée – The Crazy Day, 1784 – better know by its subtitle Le Mariage de Figaro, had already received definitive treatment by Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte in 1786.

PERFORMANCES DATES, TIMES AND LOCATION

The Barber of Seville will be performed on Saturday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m., with additional performances on Friday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 10 at 2:00 p.m. All performances are at The Valentine Theatre.

For more information or to order tickets, call Toledo Opera at 419-255-7464 or log on to the Toledo Opera web site located at www.toledoopera.org.