Opera buffa in two acts. Libretto by Cesare Sterbini based on the comedy of the same title by Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais. Music by Gioachino Rossini. Premiered on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. First staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 18 September 1847. Last performance as part of the Liceu season on 30 June 1997 (at the Teatre Victoria).

Despite being whistled on the first night, the most famous opera buffa of all time won undying fame for its composer, Gioachino Rossini. He wrote it in under two weeks, using materials from the overtures to two previous operas, a technique that often enabled him to work fast. It tells of the efforts of grumpy old Bartolo to keep Rosina away from all suitors except one: himself. Bartolo is the archetype of the old world battling against modernity, here embodied by Count Almaviva, assisted by Figaro, the barber. This version by Joan Font (of Comediants) uses devices from popular and street drama that are characteristic of that company’s style. In the end love triumphs over everything and everyone, as in any opera buffa. The characters and plot created by Beaumarchais in 1775 are magnificently set off by the lively, sophisticated music.

GALLERY

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Conductor  Giuseppe Finzi

Stage Direction  Joan Font (Comediants)

Scenography and Costumes  Joan Guillén

Lighting  Albert Faura

Choreography  Xevi Dorca

New production
Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux and Opera Australia

Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Length of performance

Act I: 95 min.
Pause: 30 min.
Act II: 60 min.
Total time: 3 h 10 min.

FOCUS ON…

GIUSEPPE FINZI, CONDUCTOR

Conductor Giuseppe Finzi conducts the San Francisco Opera production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot,” Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. (Photo by D. Ross Cameron)

Giuseppe Finzi holds degrees in Piano from the Conservatorio N. Piccinni – Bari, in Orchestra conducting, Chamber vocal music at Conservatorio G. Verdi – Milano and a Master in conducting at the Accademia Chigiana – Siena.

After a long experience in the music staff of the Teatro alla Scala, where he worked alongside Riccardo Muti and the most important names of the international scene, he made his debut in 2003 with Tosca at the Teatro Rendano-Cosenza, which was followed by productions of La Traviata, L’Elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Carmen and Così fan tutte (the latter at the Piccolo Teatro-Milano with the soloists and the orchestra of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala).

Since 2011 he is the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Opera, where, after his debut with L’Elisir d’amore and La Bohème in 2008, he has conducted more than 70 performances of Aida, Turandot, Entführung aus dem Serail, Faust, La Fanciulla del West, Carmen, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Rigoletto as well as new productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème and symphonic concerts.In 2012 Carmen at the Deutsche Oper Berlin marked his German debut and the beginning of an international career followed by The Nutcracker at the Teatro San Carlo-Naples, new productions of Idomeneo at the Theater Lübeck, Rigoletto at the Teatro Massimo-Palermo and Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Carmen, that he also conducted in Menorca, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Liceu of Barcelona, L’elisir d’amore at Teatro San Carlo of Naples, , Turandot at the Bregenz Festival.

Among his recent and future engagements: the opening of the season at the Korea National Opera with a new production of Les pêcheurs de perles, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville in occasion of the 200th anniversary of the premiere, La Traviata in Essen, his return in Bregenz with Turandot, a new production of Don Pasquale in San Francisco, as well as Nabucco at the Opéra Monte-Carlo and La fille du régiment in Barcelona.

The conductor’s web site: http://giuseppefinzi.com/eng/index.php