Il barbiere di Siviglia: a new chapter

On 12 March Il barbiere di Siviglia will be sung in Italian for the first time at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. Ever since Rossini’s opera was first performed at the theatre in 1918, and right up to the most recent production in March 2010, it had always been sung in Russian.

Looking back, we can see that the opera has been almost a permanent fixture in the theatre’s repertoire. Nikolay Smolich’s production was updated in 1982. The director on that occasion was Andrey Bashlovkin. Ten years later, in 1992, this experience helped him to stage his own version. By the end of the 20th century, his production had been performed at the Mikhailovsky Theatre 85 times. Seasoned theatregoers well remember the performances of Nikolay Kopylov as Figaro and Yulia Gertseva as Berta.

The new century was marked by a new production. Stanislav Gaudasinsky’s version of Il barbiere di Siviglia premiered at the theatre in 2001 and remained in the repertoire for nearly 10 years. That production was performed 107 times.