Revival of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA Opens at the Met Opera, 11/18

A revival of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia will open at the Met November 18, with Lawrence Brownlee as the lovestruck Count Almaviva; Isabel Leonard as Rosina, the feisty ward who captures his heart; and Christopher Maltman in his first Met performances of Figaro, the title barber whose skills extend far beyond hair-cutting.Michele Mariotti conducts the performance, which also stars Maurizio Muraro as Dr. Bartolo and Paata Burchuladze as Don Basilio. Bartlett Sher's acclaimed staging premiered at the Met in 2006. The November 22 matinee performance will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which is now seen in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 69 countries around the world.

Isabel Leonard sang her first Rosina at the Met in 2011 and starred in the premiere of the Met's abridged, English-language holiday presentation of the opera the following season. She has also sung Rosina with the Vienna State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Dallas Opera. Earlier this fall, she sang Cherubino in the Met's season-opening new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Her other Met roles have included Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Blanche de la Force in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, and Miranda in the company premiere of Thomas Adès's The Tempest.

Lawrence Brownlee made his Met debut as Count Almaviva in 2007 and returned to the role in 2010. In recent seasons, he has sung the role with Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Berlin State Opera, and Geneva Opera. He sang Rinaldo in the 2010 Met premiere of Rossini's Armida. His other roles with the company have included Don Ramiro in Rossini'sLa Cenerentola, Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, and Arturo in Bellini's I Puritani.

Christopher Maltman has sung Figaro at San Diego Opera and the Berlin State Opera. He made his Met debut as Harlekin in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in 2005 and has subsequently sung three additional roles with the company: Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and, last season, Eisenstein in a new production of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus.

Maurizio Muraro made his Met debut in 2005 as Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, a role he has sung with the company more than 30 times. He first sang Bartolo in Barbiere at the Met in 2008 and repeated the role in 2010, 2011, and 2012. His company repertory also includes Sulpice in La Fille du Régiment and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte.

Paata Burchuladze has sung nearly 100 Met performances in 12 roles. He made his Met debut on opening night of the 1989-90 season as Ramfis in Verdi's Aida and has sung numerous other Verdi roles with the company-including both Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Zaccaria in Nabucco, and Sparafucile in Rigoletto-as well as Ivan Khovansky in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, the title role in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, and Kochubey in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa.

Michele Mariotti made his Met debut in 2012 conducting Bizet's Carmen. He returned in January 2013 to conduct the new production premiere of Rigoletto and last season to lead a revival of I Puritani. He is the Music Director of Teatro Comunale in Bologna, where he has led performances of a varied repertory including Bellini's Norma and I Puritani, Mozart'sIdomeneo and Le Nozze di Figaro, Rossini's La Gazza Ladra and La Cenerentola, and Verdi's La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra. Later this season, he will conduct the Met premiere of Rossini's La Donna del Lago.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia Live in HD and Radio Broadcasts

The November 18 opening performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on November 26 and December 6. The November 18 and 26 performances will also be streamed live on the Met's Web site, www.metopera.org.

The December 6 performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia Fun Facts

With 607 performances since the first Met season in 1883, Il Barbiere di Siviglia is the most popular comic opera in the company's repertory.

Many of the characters from Il Barbiere di Siviglia also appear in Le Nozze di Figaro, which is based on the sequel play by the same author, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais; Isabel Leonard appears in both operas at the Met this season, though in different roles. The third play in the trilogy, The Guilty Mother, was adapted into operas by Darius Milhaud and Inger Wikström, and is referenced in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, in which Beaumarchais is a character.

For More Information

For more information on Il Barbiere di Siviglia, including casting by date, please click here.