PROGRAMME

Rossini, Gioacchino:
Il Barbiere di Siviglia

(Programme is subject to change)

ABOUT THE EVENT

Il Barbiere di Siviglia is not only one of the most brilliant comic operas ever composed, but also one of the most popular ones - enjoy Rossini's opera at the Latvian National Opera.

Count Almaviva enlists the help of the witty barber Figaro to come up with and ingenious plan to meet Rosina, the girl he loves. Doctor Bartolo, Rosina's ward, keeps her confined in his house, and Almaviva and Figaro have to overcome many obstacles until the Count wins his beloved.
 
Director of the perfomance Aik Karapetian: "There is no doubt that Rossini's Barber of Seville is a great challenge for any director, especially, as it is the case with me, if it is a director's first encounter with the art form of opera. The Barber is not only one of the most performed of Rossini's works, it is one of the most popular operas ever, so most people know this piece and probably even have an idea of how it should be done. I tried to find some new angle, something about it that had never been explored before -- all the time being fully aware of the fact that comedy is one of the trickiest and most difficult genres in terms of directing.
My decision was to turn the Barber's humor into something darker and more cynical. That is why I chose the French Revolution as a background for telling the story."

Production:
Conductor: Modestas Pitrenas, Andris Veismanis
Stage Director: Aik Karapetian
Set Designer: Ieva Kauliņa
Costume Designer: Kristīne Pasternaka
Dramaturge: Jochen Breiholz

Cast:
Count Almaviva: Tansel Akzeybek, Viesturs Jansons
Rosina: Inga Šļubovska, Evija Martinsone
Figaro: Jānis Apeinis, Andrei Jilichovski
Doctor Bartolo: Piotr Micinski, Krišjānis Norvelis
Don Basilio: Romāns Poļisadovs, Rihards Mačanovskis
Berta: Ilona Bagele, Andžella Goba
Fiorello: Imants Erdmans, Juris Ādamsons
The Officer: Nauris Puntulis

Last update 2012 Editorial Team Classictic.com

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Artists of Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Latvian National Opera

Latvian National Opera Orchestra

, Orchestra

The LNO Orchestra is a company of more than 100 musicians. The Orchestra's large scale repertoire includes more than 50 operas and ballets of different styles from baroque to contemporary works. The Orchestra performs approximately 250 times a season. At least four times a year, the musicians participate in different symphonic and opera music concerts.

Andris Nelsons, today one of the internationally most acclaimed young conductors, began his astonishing career at the LNO. Such outstanding musicians as Mariss Jansons, Mstislav Rostropovich, Tadeusz Woiciechowski, Cornelius Meister, Julian Reynolds and others have worked with the Orchestra as guest conductors. The LNO Orchestra has appeared in concerts together with Gidon Kremer, Marta Sudraba and great opera and ballet soloists from the entire world. Since the beginning of the 2009/10 season, the Lithuanian maestro Modestas Pitrenas is the Chief Conductor of the LNO, being the successor of Gintaras Rinkevicius.

Latvian National Opera Chorus

, Choir

The opera’s choir was founded in 1918, the same year as the Latvju Opera, established in Russia by Professor Jāzeps Vītols, returned to Riga. The first choir master was Pauls Jozuus. Since that time, opera performances in Riga have been unimaginable without the remarkable work of the choir. Though audiences were often critical of performances during the opera’s early years, the choir has always been highly regarded, as it continues to be today.

In 1995, following the reconstruction of the Latvian National Opera building, a new creative period began for the LNO Choir. The opera was praised not only by local audiences by also by foreign critics, who lauded the choir as a unified and very compatible ensemble. “The team of soloists and the choir’s achievement was remarkable – Shostakovich’s works have rarely sounded so adequate, tense, and precise,” wrote Sergei Hodnyev of the newspaper Kommersant, after the LNO’s guest performance in Moscow in October of 2007. The LNO Choir’s main qualities today are its temperament, stage sense, and steady tone, which won the choir the Latvijas Gāze Annual Award in 2006 and received a nomination for the Latvian Great Music Award in 2007, in the category “for a remarkable achievement by an ensemble.” Many LNO soloists blessed with superb vocal and acting talent have also come up from the ranks of the choir, including Kristīne Opolais, Antra Bigača, Evita Raituma, Dace Volfarte, Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Miervaldis Jenčs, Aivars Krancmanis, Rihards Mačanovskis, Armands Siliņš, Andris Lapiņš, and the remarkable chamber-music singer Ieva Parša.

The most famous LNO choir masters, under the direction of whom the choir has achieved a particular musical quality, include Pauls Jozuus (from 1919 to 1935), Teodors Kalniņš (from 1921 to 1940), and Haralds Mednis (from 1945 to 1969). Many others have been praised for their work with the choir during various time periods, such as Rūdolfs Vanags, Ansis Alberings, Juris Radiškevičs, Ilgvars Matrozis, Vilmārs Vasulis, Edgars Račevskis, Jānis Zirnis, Mārcis Katajs, Didzis Kauliņš, Normunds Vaicis, Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, and Andris Veismanis. Since 2006 the chief choir master at the LNO has been Aigars Meri.