The Barber at the Met

[uffeviking]

Anybody listening to this broadcast:

ROSSINI: The Barber of Seville
Fr�d�ric Chaslin/Metropolitan Opera of New York
Elina Garanca; Jos� Manuel Zapata; Franco Vassallo; Bruno Pratic�; Peter Rose
LIVE PERFORMANCE: Met Opera

All of those voices are unknown to me; the reason why I am listening, I want to find out about them. If you are listening, please tell us your thoughts!

[uffeviking]

Here is more about it:

Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Opera in Two Acts

Music by Gioacchino Rossini
Text in Italian by Cesare Sterbini, after the play Le Barbier de Séville by Pierre Auguste Caron Beaumarchais

World Premiere: Rome, Teatro Argentina, February 2, 1816

U.S. Premiere: New York, Park Theatre, May 17, 1819

Metropolitan Opera Premiere: November 23, 1883
 



Cast & Characters

The Cast
Conductor: Frédéric Chaslin
Rosina: Elina Garanca
Count Almaviva: José Manuel Zapata
Figaro: Franco Vassallo
Dr. Bartolo: Bruno Praticò
Don Basilio: Peter Rose


The Characters
Rosina (mezzo-soprano) – Young and beautiful, Rosina is trapped in the house of her guardian, Dr. Bartolo, who wants to marry her for her money.

Count Almaviva (tenor) – A rich and handsome young nobleman smitten with Rosina. Almaviva approaches Rosina in the guise of a poor student to make sure that she loves him for himself and not his title or money.

Figaro (baritone) – The town barber who always manages to be in the middle of whatever's going on. He helps Almaviva devise a plan to take Rosina away from Dr. Bartolo.

Dr. Bartolo (bass) - Rosina's guardian, an old, jealous, greedy quack doctor who hopes to make a fortune by forcing his young ward to marry him. Knowing that Rosina hates him, Bartolo has imprisoned her inside his house. Don Basilio (bass) - Rosina's singing teacher and Bartolo's accomplice.

Fiorello (baritone) - A musician paid by Count Almaviva to serenade the lovely Rosina.

Seargent (tenor) - A policeman.

Ambrogio (tenor) - servant of Bartolo.

Berta (soprano) - servant of Bartolo.



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[bhodges]

Some friends mentioned Elina Garanca this week--they heard her in one of the shows before the broadcast, and liked her very much.  But I haven't heard her, nor any of the others.  The production continues to get great comments.  Apparently the stage has a series of doors, allowing some hilarious entrances and exits.

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

It's barely in to the first act now and haven't heard much of Garanza, but the tenor Zapata sure entered wobbling all over the place. Maybe he has not had time to warm up whereas Vasallo, the baritone Figaro did a good job with his first big aria.

Probably another one of those productions one has to see, just listening leaving something to be desired.

[(poco) Sforzando]

It's barely in to the first act now and haven't heard much of Garanza, but the tenor Zapata sure entered wobbling all over the place. Maybe he has not had time to warm up whereas Vasallo, the baritone Figaro did a good job with his first big aria.

Probably another one of those productions one has to see, just listening leaving something to be desired.

I would have liked to say, "viva Zapata!" but apparently that is not to be. Too bad the wonderful Juan Diego Flórez is not singing the tenor role. It is indeed a clever production, but a major flaw was that much of the action takes place on an overhang built around the orchestra pit; this affects the sight lines if you're sitting upstairs, and worse, hurts the acoustical picture, especially as a small orchestra like that used for the Rossini is not big enough to fill the cavernous spaces of the Met auditorium.

[uffeviking]

I would have liked to say, "viva Zapata!" but apparently that is not to be.

Maybe now you can say a medium enthusiastic "viva Zapata!" because he did improve as the performance progressed, but still not perfect. Maybe he is not the ideal Rossini tenor, which requires every note to be hit right on the head no matter how fast those notes roll around.

The shortcomings you described have been completely corrected for us, the listeners, by the skill of the audio engineers; not fair to you and the other paying audience members sitting upstairs and paying a lot of money not only to hear but see all of the action.

[Sean]

I heard some in the car last night- seemed well sung, and what music this is, the greatest buffa opera, the strongest material throughout and everything perfect and balanced.

[T-C]

Elina Garanca is a wonderful singer. I especially recommend the TDK DVD of Massenet's Werther from the Vienna State Opera production where Garanca is singing in the role of Charlotte. Her voice is a rich and velvety mezzo, which is ideal for Rossini. And she is very good looking too...

Here she is in the Baden-Baden 2007 Gala singing as encore in Spanish: Chapi's Al pensar en el dueno de mis amores. Beautiful (This Gala is available on a DG DVD):

ELINA GARANCA in the Baden-Baden Gala