Le Nozze di Figaro

The Royal Opera House’s LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
W. A. Mozart | An Opera in four acts
Sung in Italian | Runtime approximation: 200 minutes including two intermissions
Revolution is in the air in David McVicar’s wonderfully illuminating production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di
Figaro from the Royal Opera House. And with an all-star cast, it’s no surprise that The Guardian raves:
“the evening is remarkable.” Erwin Schrott, “handsome of presence and gorgeous of tone, is a star” in the
role of Figaro, with Dorothea Röschmann as the Countess, Gerald Finley as the Almaviva, and Miah
Persson as a “sensual, feisty Susanna.”
November 18 & 20, 2012
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte (after La Folle journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de
Beaumarchais)
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Director: David McVicar
Designs: Tanya McCallin
Lighting design: Paule Constable
Movement: Leah Hausman
The Royal Opera Chorus
Chorus Director: Renato Balsadonna
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Associate Concert Master: Sergey Levitin
Performed live in February 2006.
CAST
Figaro Erwin Schrott
Susanna Miah Persson
Bartolo Jonathan Veria
Marcellina Graciela Araya
Cherubino Rinat Shaham
Count Almaviva Gerald Finley
Don Basilio Philip Langridge
Countess Almaviva Dorothea Röschmann
Antonio Jeremy White
Don Curzio Francis Egerton
Barbarina Ana James
First Bridesmaid Glenys Groves
Second Bridesmaid Kate McCarney
Actors (Servants of the Count’s household)Richard Andersson, Kenneth Bryers, Jane Evers, Trevor Goldstein, Irene Hardy, Simon Hill, Rachel
Lumberg, Lee Mathieson, Daniel McLoughlin, Frances Millar, Helena Ripoll, Sirena Tocco
*Ana James is participating in the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme
PRAISE
“Musically the evening is remarkable. Röschmann is exceptional in giving voice to the Countess's
despair. Finley is the most dangerous of Counts, Persson a sensual, feisty Susanna. Schrott, meanwhile,
handsome of presence and gorgeous of tone, is a star…. Antonio Pappano's conducting is full of wit and
emotional depth.” - Tim Ashley, The Guardian
ABOUT
Revolution is in the air in David McVicar’s wonderfully illuminating production of Le nozze di Figaro (The
Marriage of Figaro), new to The Royal Opera in 2006 to mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.
Life on an estate in the late 1820s reveals with truth and no little wit all the tensions between master and
servants, with the symptoms of Europe’s social upheaval never far away. Count Almaviva’s attempts to
bed his manservant Figaro’s fiancé Susanna are repeatedly thwarted by those around him, including this
own wife, the Countess. In such enlightened times if the Count wishes to dance, then Figaro will make
sure it is to his tune and not the other way around.
Mozart’s music makes this one of the finest jewels in the opera repertory, with a wealth of famous
melodies that start from the familiar first notes of the energetic Overture. There is Cherubino’s breathless
infatuation in Non so più cosa son and the playfulness of Figaro in Non più andrai as he sends him off to
war, but there is also the genuine despair of the Countess at her husband’s infidelity, revealed in Porgi,
amor and Dove sono. All shades of emotion are portrayed through the solos, duets and ensembles with
this stellar cast of singers bringing Mozart’s masterpiece to full dramatic life.