For a perfect night out, head to Prospect
Park for the Metropolitan Opera’s annual Brooklyn stop during
its 36th season of "Met Opera in the Parks."
This year, Rossini’s popular comedy "The Barber of Seville"
will be performed Wednesday, June 12 at 8 pm. Baritone Earle
Patriarcho sings the barber Figaro, who contrives to ensure that
his friend Count Almaviva (tenor John Osborn) and the Count’s
beloved Rosina (mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe) are married
by opera’s end, to the consternation of her guardian Bartolo
(bass Paul Plishka).
Revisiting several characters made famous in Mozart’s "The
Marriage of Figaro," (both operas were based on plays by
the French playwright Beaumarchais), "The Barber of Seville"
is one of those rare operas it’s impossible to hear too often.
Conductor Maurizio Benini (pictured) will
lead the splendid Met Orchestra in what is sure to be a warmly
satisfying account of Rossini’s effervescent, bubbly score, the
perfect complement to a warm night under the stars.
(In case the stars don’t appear June 12, the raindate for the
performance is June 13.)
Co-starring with the Met’s singers and musicians is the state-of-the-art
Carlos Moseley Music Pavilion, a portable stage rig shared by
the Met and the New York Philharmonic for their outdoor concerts.
Incorporating a 40-foot by 78-foot stage platform and a suspended
lighting rig, the pavilion’s superstructure is shaped like a
pyramid 68 feet high and 118 feet wide. There’s also a superb
sound system consisting of a wireless network, a computerized
delay system and two dozen 15-foot speaker towers stationed throughout
the viewing area.
Timeless music and state-of-the-art presentation – now what’s
your excuse for not attending?
The Met Opera in the Parks presents Rossini’s "The Barber
of Seville" June 12 at 8 pm in the Long Meadow ball fields.
Enter Prospect Park at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West. Admission
is free. For more information, visit www.metopera.org
or call (212) 362-6000.
