Airs Saturday, February 18 at 12:00 noon. The 2011-12 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Rossini’s comic favorite Il Barbiere di Siviglia – The Barber of Seville. Soprano Diana Damrau, who starred in the 2006 premiere of Bartlett Sher’s production, reprises her acclaimed performance as the spirited heroine Rosina.Rising South African tenor Colin Lee makes his Met role debut as Count Almaviva, the nobleman who disguises himself to win Rosina’s heart. Rodion Pogossov is Figaro, the barber and jack-of-all-trades who helps bring them together. John Del Carlo is Rosina’s guardian, Dr. Bartolo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto is his co-conspirator, the music teacher Don Basilio. Maurizio Benini conducts the performance, which will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12:00 pm CST on Saturday, February 18.
Damrau appeared at the Met last season as Countess Adèle in the company premiere of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory,as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor during the Met’s tour to Japan. Later this season, she will make her company role debut as Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. Lee made his Met debut as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor in the 2008-09 season, in a performance that was seen internationally through The Met: Live in HD series. Maurizio Benini, who led the 2006 premiere of Sher’s production, conducts all performances of Barbiere at the Met this season. Benini’s most recent Met performance was Le Comte Ory last spring, also directed by Sher. Tony Award-winning director Sher made his Met debut with Barbiere, and his production has been revived three times since it premiered in 2006.
The single intermission will include interviews with the stars.