Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini, conducted by the young maestro Riccardo Bisatti with the by now 'traditional' direction of Damiano Michieletto, here revived by Andrea Bernard, will be staged on 18, 20, 22 and 24 July at 9 p.m. in the Cavea del Teatro, the suggestive open-air theatre located on the roof of the Maggio. Almost exactly twenty years after its first staging, which took place in July 2005 at the Teatro Romano in Fiesole and was therefore originally conceived and designed for an open space, just like the Cavea del Maggio, it now reaches its tenth staging in the theatre's seasons. In spite of its age, it maintains intact all its freshness, originality and modernity that have made it an "evergreen" and much-appreciated Maggio production over time. Michieletto's performance sees an almost total absence of real scenes and concentrates all the attention on comic gags and careful gestures, and begins as a train journey, announced by the loudspeaker; a cheerful way of travelling 'through' Rossini's opera, recalling places and situations with imagination. Evocative, bizarre costumes and bright colours turn the characters into caricatures, almost as if they were characters from the commedia dell'arte: Don Basilio is green with long, greasy hair and a hooked nose, all green with envy like a snake (or rather, a basilisk); Figaro has hair that alludes to fox ears and a moustache, while Don Bartolo, all in white, resembles a pot-bellied bulldog who looks jealously at Rosina, dressed in red like her lover Lindoro. The cast is made up of two young newcomers to the Maggio stage - Hae Kang, who recently won first prize at the Concorso Internazionale "Voci Verdiane" in Busseto, as Figaro and Bozhidar Bozhkilov as Don Basilio; Laura Verrecchia, who returns to the Maggio after performances of Madama Butterfly in December 2021, takes the role of Rosina while Matteo D'Apolito, also making his Maggio debut, plays Don Bartolo. Three talents and former talents from the Accademia del Maggio make up the rest of the vocal cast: Dave Monaco in the part of Conte d'Almaviva - Lindoro; Letizia Bertoldi as Berta and Yurii Strakhov in the dual role of Fiorello/Un ufficiale.

Staging by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

The Teatro del Maggio thanks Sammontana for the ice creams offered to the audience