Paisiello's Barbiere di Siviglia Staged in St Petersburg

Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Giovanni Paisiello will premiere in St Petersburg's Hermitage Theatre. The opera will be performed by soloists of Jean Sibelius Music Academy (Finland) and the State Hermitage Orchestra under the baton of Mats Liljefors (conductor of the Baltic Royal Festival, Sweden).

Il Barbiere di Siviglia is the last opera by Giovanni Paisiello, who was chapel-master of Catherine II in St Petersburg from 1776. The opera was composed there and premiered in the Hermitage Theatre in 1782.

Paisiello's opera was revived 221 years later by Finnish stage director Ville Saukkonen. His staging is maximally authentic, and the viewers can see a true 18-century performance.

The opera will be on from January 23rd to 26th. After that, Il Barbiere di Siviglia will be staged in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

The staging of Paisiello's opera is part of the project World of Chamber Opera organised by the State Hermitage and the Hermitage Academy and called to revive the Russian imperial court's music traditions.

Within this project's framework, the Hermitage Theatre has already staged two operas, which premiered on this stage during the past two centuries - Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne (in 2000) and Britten's The Turn of the Screw (in 2001).