THE BARBER OF SEVILLE Comes to San Diego Opera in February
Rossini's comedic masterpiece returns to the San Diego Civic Theatre
After opening their season with a production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, San Diego Opera will present Gioachino Rossini's comedic masterpiece, The Barber of Seville, at the San Diego Civic Theatre on February 13, 14 & 15, 2026. The opera will be sung in Italian with projected translations in English and Spanish.
Rossini's hilarious prequel to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro was considered a must-see long before Bugs Bunny brought its frenetic overture to an even larger audience. Count Almaviva is in love with the beautiful Rosina, but how can he get past her paranoid and greedy guardian, Dr. Bartolo? Enter the charismatic, quick-witted barber Figaro, who will stop at nothing to play matchmaker for his lovesick friend. The Barber of Seville is filled with side-splitting hijinks, mistaken identities, and some of the most popular opera music ever written.
San Diego Opera's production will showcase the return of Stephanie Doche as Rosina. Doche was last seen in SDO's 2024 Madama Butterfly where she “provided ample vocal allure” (San Diego Story) and “brought valuable vocal and stage presence to Suzuki” (ProOpera). “Superb” (Bachtrack) baritone Dean Murphy debuts at SDO in the role of Figaro; and the “wonderful young lyric tenor” (The Arts Fuse) Minghao Liu is Count Almaviva. Bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi – last seen in the COVID-era drive-through Barber of Seville in 2021 – returns to San Diego to reprise the role of the pompous Dr. Bartolo. Craig Colclough makes his SDO debut as Don Basilio while San Diego Opera favorite and local native soprano Tasha Hokuao Koontz plays Berta.
The Barber of Seville will be accompanied by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Principal Conductor Yves Abel, and directed by Chuck Hudson, whose “bright and boisterous” (Twin Cities Pioneer Press) production of The Barber of Seville was mounted by Minnesota Opera in spring of 2025. Hudson's work has been seen at companies including Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, and San Francisco Opera Center.
Audiences will get a preview of the upcoming production on January 22 at 6:00 PM at Opera Uncorked, part of a series of events that explores opera's history, offers musical insights, and gives a behind-the-scenes glance at the production. Opera Uncorked is led by San Diego Opera's Resident Conductor Bruce Stasyna.
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