Left to right: Christian Bowers as Figaro and Jason Budd as Dottore Bartolo. Photo courtesy of the Opera Project Columbus
For the final show of its fifth season, Opera Project Columbus (OPC) will present Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville).
OPC is honoring the 200th anniversary of the comedic Italian opera with this performance. Barbiere is a two-act opera which centers on a barber named Figaro. Throughout the opera, Figaro invents outlandish schemes to help Il Conte d'Almaviva win Rosina's heart.
Opera Project Columbus is a non-profit organization founded in 2011. Its goal is to find up and coming operatic talent and present opera is a way that's appealing to contemporary audiences.
Maestro Alessandro Siciliani, leader of Opera Project Columbus, will also be leading the full orchestra pit for Barbiere. Siciliani has early memories of the show growing up in the Italian opera community and has been a part of more than 30 performances of the work in places such as Paris, Pisa and Honolulu.
Baritone Christian Bowers will portray the role of Figaro for the production. Bowers is an alumni of the Academy of Vocal Arts and has recently performed for Glimmerglass Opera and Washington National Opera. Tenor Pedro Willis-Barbosa will be singing the role of Il Conte d'Almaviva, but the audience may recognize him from his role as King Kaspar in OPC's production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. The role of Rosina will be sung by mezzo-soprano Megan Moore.
Performances are set to take place on Friday, June 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 26 at 3 p.m. at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in New Albany. Ticket prices range from $15 to $45 and are available through Ticketmaster and the CAPA ticket office. For more information, click here.
Hannah Herner is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
