CAST CHANGES IN THE PREMIERE OF »IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA«

At the Vienna State Opera, rehearsals are currently underway for the first new production of this season, Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Director Herbert Fritsch, a declared "fireworker and playful entertainer," is rehearsing his first production at the Haus am Ring with the ensemble around Juan Diego Flórez as Conte d'Almaviva; premiere is on September 28, 2021.

In the process, there will be two short-notice reshuffles due to illness, which will include an exciting house debut:

Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, who is at the beginning of a major international career, will be heard for the first time at the Vienna State Opera as Rosina. She has been an ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others, and will make her debut at the Bavarian State Opera and London's Royal Opera House in the coming months. Most recently, she performed with great success in Moïse et Pharaon at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.
Figaro will be sung for the first time at the Vienna State Opera by Etienne Dupuis - he made his debut last season to great acclaim from audiences and the media as Valentin in the Faust premiere and will be seen again this season as Valentin, as Marcello in La Bohème and as Albert in Werther.

At the conductor's podium, the internationally acclaimed Michele Mariotti makes his debut as a veritable Rossini authority, while the premiere series also features Paolo Bordogna as Bartolo and Ildar Abdrazakov as Don Basilio, and Ruth Brauer-Kvam makes her State Opera debut as the servant Ambrogio.

More information about the production can be found here