“The Barber of Seville” Press Release
Download “The Barber of Seville” Press Release
OSO_Barber of Seville Press Release
For Immediate Release
April 22, 2015
For more information, please contact Blake Zidell or Emily Reilly at Blake Zidell & Associates,
718.643.9052, blake@blakezidell.com or emily@blakezidell.com.
ON SITE OPERA PRESENTS NEW SITE-SPECIFIC, INDOOR-OUTDOOR PRODUCTION OF GIOVANNI PAISIELLO’S THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, JUNE 9 – 13 AT THE FABBRI MANSION (HOUSE OF THE REDEEMER)
Production Inaugurates The Figaro Project, in Which On Site Opera Will Stage Lesser-Known Adaptations of Beaumarchais’ Figaro Plays
Three-Year Trilogy Is Celebrated Young Company’s Most Ambitious Undertaking to Date
New York, NY (April 22, 2015) — This summer, On Site Opera (OSO) will present a new production that exemplifies the company’s mission to stage operas in non-traditional locations ideally suited to the stories they tell. OSO will offer an immersive site-specific staging of Giovanni Paisiello’s The Barber of Seville at the opulent Fabbri Mansion (House of the Redeemer) on New York City’s Upper East Side. Conducted by the company’s newly appointed Music Director, Geoffrey McDonald and directed by OSO’s Co-Founder and General & Artistic Director, Eric Einhorn, the production will be updated to the early decades of the twentieth century (when the Fabbri Mansion was built) and staged in the mansion’s outdoor courtyard and library.
Performances of The Barber of Seville will take place June 9, 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30 pm. (Adam Kerry Boyles will conduct the June 12 performance.) Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at www.osopera.org or 866.811.4111. The Fabbri Mansion is located at 7 East 95th Street, New York, NY 10128. Sung in Italian with projected English translations, the opera will run 90 minutes with no intermission.
Einhorn, McDonald and On Site’s Executive Director/Producer, Jessica Kiger, have assembled a team of accomplished artists including Monica Yunus (soprano) as Rosina, David Blalock (tenor) as Count Almaviva, Andrew Wilkowske (baritone) as Figaro, Rod Nelman (bass-baritone) as Bartolo, Isaiah Musik-Ayala (bass-baritone) as Basilio, Benjamin Bloomfield (baritone) as Svegliato and Notary and Jessica Rose Futran (soprano) as Giovinetto and Alcalde. The production features costume design by Candida K. Nichols and lighting design by Shawn Kaufman.
The Barber of Seville kicks off The Figaro Project, in which On Site Opera will offer lesser-known operatic adaptations of French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ (1732-1799) famed trilogy of Figaro plays: The Barber of Seville (1775), The Marriage of Figaro (1784) and The Guilty Mother (1792). The Figaro Project will reacquaint audiences with their favorite Beaumarchais’ characters in new and unexpected ways in non-traditional venues across New York City, and consists of adaptations that, in the company’s view, adhere more faithfully to the original plays.
With a libretto by Giuseppe Petrosellini, Paisiello’s Barber stays true to its Beaumarchais roots, focusing more faithfully on the love story between the Count and Rosina and less on the Barber’s antics. After its premiere, the opera quickly became a staple of the repertoire and inspired a young Rossini to write his own version. The Figaro Project continues with the North American premiere of Marcos Portugal’s The Marriage of Figaro (Summer 2016), followed by the U.S. premiere of Darius Milhaud’s The Guilty Mother (Summer 2017), in celebration of Milhaud’s 125th Birthday.
On Site Opera has done much to prove that exciting opera can happen outside the walls of a traditional theater. Most recently (June 2014), the company staged Rameau’s Pygmalion at Madame Tussauds New York and the Lifestyle-Trimco mannequin showroom. Previously, On Site earned critical praise for its productions of Shostakovich’s The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse, at the Bronx Zoo and Gershwin’s Blue Monday, at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Reviewing Tale, The New York Times wrote that the production “enchanted audience members of all ages,” and added, “connoisseurs, meanwhile, could hardly miss the seriousness and skill of the undertaking.”
