Il barbiere di Siviglia: a long history

Gioachino Rossini’s opera buffa Il barbiere di Siviglia is to be performed three times at the Mikhailovsky Theatre — on 12 and 13 March, and 2 April. Mikhail Tatarnikov will assume the role of Musical Director and Conductor.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre has turned to Il barbiere di Siviglia several times in its history. In 1918, Joachim Tartakov’s production was transferred from the Mariinsky Theatre to our stage. The performance marked the birth of the Mikhailovsky Theatre opera company and was repeated 39 times in those first five years. In the mid-1920s, the artist Aleksandr Golovin designed the make-up for Mikhail Rostovtsev, the celebrated artist of the Mikhailovsky Theatre and Abay Opera House, in his role as Dr. Bartolo — a sketch of which is stored in our archives. In a photo taken in the 1920s, Rostovtsev (centre) can be seen wearing the same make-up and a bald cap, perfectly matching the instructions Golovin wrote on his sketch: “Under this wig there should be a second, completely bald one.” The costumes which Golovin designed for Figaro and Don Basilio are seen here worn by the baritone Evgeny Olkhovsky and bass-baritone Pavel Zhuravlenko.