On Sunday, May 2 at 5:00 p.m., Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” will be broadcast. Participants include baritone José Adán Pérez, tenor Javier Camarena, mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz and bass-baritones Stefano de Peppo and Carsten Wittmoser, among others.

Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, an opera in two acts with libretto in Italian by Cesare Sterbini, based on the comedy of the same name by Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais, has transcended as the comic opera par excellence and reveals the musical and buffo genius of its author.

It will be broadcast on Sunday, May 2 at 5:00 p.m. on the Ministry of Culture’s Contigo en la distancia platform, the official YouTube channel of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) and the Facebook pages of INBAL and Ópera de Bellas Artes.

The work, presented as part of the 2012 season of Ópera de Bellas Artes, had its premiere at the Torre Argentina, in Rome, on February 20, 1816, with the title Almaviva, o la precaución inútil, a deference Rossini paid to Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), a composer who 35 years earlier had written a first opera inspired by and named with the same title as Beaumarchais’ comedy.

The first reaction of the public was one of rejection, especially by Paisiello’s loyal supporters; however, by the third performance the audience fully embraced the new opera and made it an absolute success ever since and to this day.

Giuseppe Verdi said about this work: “For the abundance of authentic musical ideas, for its comic brio and for its truthful declamation, The Barber of Seville is the best comic opera in existence”.

Count Almaviva has arrived in Seville with the firm intention of conquering Rosina. To do so, he pretends to be the modest Lindoro, in order not to be appreciated by the young woman only for his social position. After serenading her, without success, his former servant, Figaro, a famous barber who has an ascendant in the house where the girl lives, suddenly appears. Through him, Almaviva learns that the girl is in the care of a guardian, the old and severe doctor Bartolo, who intends to marry her and, incidentally, take her inherited property. The barber devises a series of tricks so that the young people can meet and exchange vows of love. Figaro’s wit and mischievousness manage to defeat the tutor, who has no choice but to give up his attempts at conquest and give in to the amorous desires of the count and the young woman.

This production, which is part of the sixth virtual season of Ópera de Bellas Artes, was presented at the INBAL venue in 2012 with a great creative team: stage direction, set design and lighting were in charge of Juliana Faesler, supported in stage design and acting direction by Clarissa Malheiros and set design by Sergio Villegas, while the costumes were designed by Mario Marín.

Regarding her stage conception, Juliana Faesler states that she proposes “a critical stance regarding the violence and cruelty under which Rosina lives”, with a series of violated rights, both in her condition as a woman and as a human being.

Baritone José Adán Pérez leads the cast in the role of Figaro, tenor Javier Camarena plays the Count of Almaviva, mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz is the beautiful Rosina, while bass-baritones Stefano de Peppo and Carsten Wittmoser sing the characters of Don Bartolo and Don Basilio, respectively. The cast is completed by Celia Gómez as Berta and Amed Liévanos as Fiorello and the Sergeant. The Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro de Bellas Artes also participate, the former conducted by Xavier Ribes, and all of them under the baton of maestro Marco Balderi.