My unforgettable Figaro and his Barbiere di Siviglia- Nicolae Herlea

UPDATE - Thanks to the wonderful Parsi ( parsifalito)!!!







Thanks for the videos Mateibaritone

This is THE reason why i love the Barbiere :-) And have done so for the last ... um 30 years or so ;-)))


And other bit from the Barbiere Magda Ianculescu as Rosina and Nicolae Herlea as Figaro:



Thanks andigrim007 for the video

Enjoy!!!

The Italian Season kicks off at the ROH tonight!

So tonight the party starts!

There will be Traviata with Fleming, Calleja, Hampson and Pappano, there will be Barbiere with Keenlyside, DiDonato, Florez, Corbelli, Furlanetto and Pappano ( be still my heart!!) , Ballo with Vargas, Marambio, Jenis, Manistina and Benini and Tosca with Voigt, Giordani, Terfel and Lacombe.

Director of opera Elaine Padmore gives more details to OMH here. Read also for some comments on the new season, which will kick with another dose of italianita ;-)))

For insights from Tony Pappano about conducting Traviata, Barbiere and Lulu ( of which you can still catch a last performance this weekend) check out this MusicalCriticism interview.

The Thomas Hampson Inteview on OMH here.

For those into Divas and Traviatas here is another interview from MusicalCriticism with Renee Fleming.

Tickets for all this stuff have been in great demand, but check out the ROH page, some last minute tickets here and there are to be had these days, or else you can try your luck with the day tickets.

For those who have been unlucky with Traviata and Barbiere there is another chance with the ROH BP Summer big screen:

Traviata, on the 30th of June, details here.

Barbiere, on the 15th of July, details here.

As for me, i have a confession to make... ehem... iboughtaticketfortheTraviata... STOP! Don't start throwing the rotten tomatoes just yet! I know it looked just a day ago as if i had sworn off Traviata for a while... sadly i have the the willpower of a blackcurrant, i'm destined for Ribena...erm Traviata ;-) I haven't even paid attention to it when the schedule came on sale, and then a week ago i realised it was Tony Pappano conducting! That was my undoing. So yesterday i snatched up a low visibility, high vertigo ticket for the Traviata on Monday, the 22nd.

Don't expect any comparisons to come out of me as a consequence though :-) I have no expectations beyond Signor Pappano making me believe Verdi wrote divine music indeed. :-) There will be no cast comparisons, so no need to try and find me in the House and push me to my death ( besides you wouldn't want any 210 pounds paying patrons to die in the process, would you? ;-))

After which i will indeed do the Ballo twice ( i've never seen it live before and i look forward to hearing Vargas again!) and oh yes, i definitely plan to overdose on the Barbiere ( performances, insight, the lot). I've just heard Simon Keenlyside in Verdi, so it will be more than interesting to hear how fast he can switch to Rossini. I'm quite confident he can :-) How Pappano will switch back and forth from Verdi to Rossini is for me another open question.

Then there is the Tosca.... i know, more Tosca.... well, so far i've stayed away from it, for obvious reasons. With my recent track record if i'd had any voice at all i could very well apply to be an understudy for any role ;-))))) (but you're safe, remember.. i'm still slightly.. indisposed ;-) ) But i have to admit upfront that the name Bryn Terfel is flashing before my eyes every day. There is a slight chance that i will give in in the end... i'll have to wait and see.

So, ladies and gents, brush up on your Italian, let your decoltees and your shoes sparkle and let the 3 signori above entertain you! Heat up your summer with some passione, amore, morte, gelosia, intrigo, risata e dolore :-))