He’s also a good ensemble member, working well with the other singers and not merely doing his own star turn. He’s handsome, charismatic, and utterly assured, with a beautifully produced baritone that has a surprisingly easy top (he matches the tenor in several passages). This is the first in a series of equally clever moves by stage director Peter Kazaras, who underscores the humor of the plot with all kinds of telling details (including intricate choreography for the whole cast).Ĭarbó swaggers around the stage as if he owns it, as a good Figaro should.

It’s a move that is highly appropriate considering his role as “factotum” in the affairs of all the players.

debut) rises from his chair in the house after the last notes of Almaviva’s Serenade die away, and strolls to the stage to set the comedy into motion. You know this is going to be an imaginative show when Figaro (portrayed with considerable verve by José Carbó, in his U.S. The score is cannily knit together by Williamson’s continuo work on a period-replica fortepiano, an instrument with a light, plangent sound just right for this music. Williamson knows how to apply the accelerator and how to channel the musical energy to maximum effect, whether it’s with the orchestra, the soloists, or the enthusiastic chorus. And he’s become a terrific comic, too, with some turns in the “singing lesson” scene that reduced Seattle Opera audiences to roaring laughter.īrownlee has plenty of company at the top in this speedy show, which flies by under the deft leadership of conductor Dean Williamson. His sheer vocal facility and accuracy in blisteringly fast passagework knocks listeners back in their seat. A longtime Seattle favorite who got his operatic start in this city, Brownlee has refined and honed his craft to an impressive level of finesse he also has trimmed down physically, and now cuts a compelling figure on the stage. Lawrence Brownlee stakes an impressive claim to the title of “world’s pre-eminent Rossini tenor” in Seattle Opera’s current, fast-paced production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Lawrence Brownlee (Count Almaviva) and Michael Partington (guitar) in Seattle Opera's 'Barber of Seville.' Photo: Rozarii Lynch

Figaro seattle opera