SND returns to the classics

ONE OF four productions to be premiered on the main stage of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in the 2012/13 season is the renowned opera buffa by Gioachino Rossini, Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). The opera was considered a masterpiece during Rossini’s lifetime, and to this day it remains popular the world over. When composing the piece, Rossini combined the Italian bel canto style of singing with his musical inventiveness and dramatic instinct.

P. Mikuláš, P. Remenár and G. Beláček (L-R). P. Mikuláš, P. Remenár and G. Beláček (L-R). (Source: Anton Sládek)

ONE OF four productions to be premiered on the main stage of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in the 2012/13 season is the renowned opera buffa by Gioachino Rossini, Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). The opera was considered a masterpiece during Rossini’s lifetime, and to this day it remains popular the world over. When composing the piece, Rossini combined the Italian bel canto style of singing with his musical inventiveness and dramatic instinct.

The opera will be conducted at the SND by Rastislav Štúr and Martin Leginus and directed by Roman Polák, who is famous for his innovative, non-traditional approach. The SND website wrote that Polák will question the limits between the opera’s comical and serious aspects. The promising cast brings together several popular singers, including Norman Reinhardt, Jozef Benci, Dalibor Jenis, Aleš Jenis, Pavol Remenár, and Terézia Kružliaková.

The comic opera in two acts, based on the comedy Le Barbier de Séville by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais (1775), is sung in Italian and will premiere at the historical SND building in Hviezdoslavovo Square on February 8 as well as the following day. The opera will be staged again on February 15, March 13 and 25, April 17 and May 15. More information can be found – also in English – on www.snd.sk.

After some less traditional operas, like Roland Baumgartner’s Maria Theresia, a neo-romantic opera sung in German, and Milan Dubovský’s Big Doctor’s Fairy Tale, an opera for children, the staging of Rossini’s piece marks a return to the classics.

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