Opera review: Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Glyndebourne Festival
After a somewhat hesitant start to this year's Festival with Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, Glyndebourne has recovered magnificently with this revival of Annabel Arden's production of Rossini's Barber of Seville.
When I first saw this at Glyndebourne a few years ago, I gave it a well deserved five stars. This time, it was even better thanks to an astonishingly talented cast who gave every appearance of truly enjoying themselves.Rossini's Barber is a strong candidate for being the funniest of all comic operas and this cast added to the joy by contributing some extra laugh-out-loud moments. The only one of the leading singers I had previously heard of was the great Alessandro Corbelli, whose comic acting skills have earned him the reputation of being everyone's first choice for any outrageous old man role.
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His brilliant timing and endless repertoire of gestures make him a great scene stealer, but on this occasion, his young co-stars played just as impressive a part.
The plot centres on Count Almaviva's love for the beautiful Rosina, whose movements are heavily restricted by her suspicious and jealous guardian Dr Bartolo (Corbelli) who has his own wicked plans to marry her. To win the girl of his dreams, Almaviva enlists the help of the barber Figaro, who can be relied upon to come up with a cunning plan to suit every problem.
The action is fast and furious; Rossini's music is even faster and demands great vocal dexterity and control but this cast were fully up to it.
Almaviva was brilliantly played by the young South African tenor Levy Sekgapane, whose voice and humour were perfect for the role.
He was joined by the Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Figaro, whose powerful voice and irrepressible energy made him the perfect partner for their comic double act. By a very short head, however, the best of all was South Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park whose performance as Rosina was stunningly good.
All the cast seemed to bring out the best in each other and their evident enjoyment spread blissfully to the audience.
At the final curtain, there was huge applause, foot stamping and appreciative whistling for each of the main performers and they all truly deserved it. This was a magnificent performance of a superb production of a glorious opera. A trip to Glyndebourne is always a treat, but this was perfect. I doubt that I have ever enjoyed a visit to the opera so much.
Box Office: glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000 (various dates until July 14)
