The Barber of Seville – For Families
The Atlanta Opera Studio Tour presents four special performances of The Barber of Seville featuring opera’s most famous barber, Figaro, who plays the role of translator as Rossini’s witty, sparkling score takes center stage. Perfect for the whole family, this new 45-minute adaptation is performed in Spanish and English and demonstrates the power of love to triumph over adversity of every kind.
Approximate run time: 45 minutes with no intermission
Performed in Spanish and English
Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs
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Get the Feeling
Listen to The Barber of Seville
Photos: First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta Staff / Baldwin Elementary School Staff
Synopsis
Alta California, 1830.
Rosina has moved to Alta California to live with her wealthy Aunt Bartolo. As the opera begins, Rosina has just arrived in town from Spain and she and Aunt Bartolo are seen on the street outside Aunt Bartolo’s house. Rosina and a handsome young man (Almaviva) spy each other and are instantly smitten with one another. While Aunt Bartolo stops to adjust her shoe, Rosina tries to communicate with Almaviva to no avail. Aunt Bartolo whisks Rosina into the house. A few moments later, Rosina appears with a note, which she unsuccessfully tries to pass to Almaviva. Aunt Bartolo is suspicious and intervenes, ordering Rosina back into the house. Frustrated, Almaviva leaves, not noticing his old friend and confidant, Figaro, who has seen everything.
Characters & Cast
Almaviva
A rich and handsome young ranchero smitten with Rosina.
![Headshot_JamesArthurDouglas](https://www.atlantaopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Headshot_JamesArthurDouglas.jpg)
James Arthur Douglas
Georgia native James Arthur Douglas is a graduate of Furman University and was recently named one of five finalists in The Pro Mozart Society Scholarship Competition.
Figaro
The town barber who always manages to be in the middle of everyone’s plans and schemes.
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Samuel Ferreira
Baritone Samuel Ferreira makes his Atlanta Opera debut as Figaro. He recently received a MA in Voice Performance from Georgia State University.
Aunt Bartolo
Rosina’s guardian; an old Widow who hopes to make a fortune by forcing Rosina to marry the nephew of one her rich friends.
![Headshot_JessicaWax](https://www.atlantaopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Headshot_JessicaWax.jpg)
Jessica Wax
Mezzo-soprano Jessica Wax is a graduate of Louisiana State University and a frequent performer with The Atlanta Opera, including The Atlanta Opera Chorus.
Rosina
Young and beautiful, the cunning Rosina is in love with Almaviva, but is not aware of his true identity.
![Headshot_BrandiDiggs](https://www.atlantaopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Headshot_BrandiDiggs.jpg)
Brandi Diggs
Soprano Brandi Diggs is a versatile vocalist who sings operatic and solo repertoire throughout the United States and recently appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and as a recitalist at the Kennedy Center.
Newbie Guide
Start With the Story
In simple terms, an opera is a story set to music. Before the performance, review the plot synopsis of The Barber of Seville. Ask children to consider the story, characters, and setting of the opera.
- What is the opera about?
- What is the time period?
- Who are the main characters?
- What struggles do the characters face?
- What are their relationships to each other?
- What do you expect to see and hear at the opera?
History of Alta California
Alta California (Upper California), or later, “Neuva California” has a rich history. Alta California originated as a province of New Spain and then, after the Mexican War of Independence came under Mexican rule.
Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs
1 Galambos Way
Sandy Springs, GA 30328
Directions
City Springs is located on the west side of Roswell Road between Johnson Ferry Road (north) and Mount Vernon Highway (south).
From I-285 eastbound – Take Exit 25 (Roswell Road) and turn left.
From I-285 westbound – Take Exit 25 (Roswell Road) and turn right.
Travel on Roswell Road for just under one mile and City Springs will be on your left. To access the parking garage, turn left on Mount Vernon Highway and take the first right on Galambos Way. The parking garage entrance will be on your right.
Parking
Ample parking is available with approximately 1,125 parking spaces on site, with 750 of those in an underground parking garage.
From Roswell Road, turn west onto Mount Vernon Highway and take an immediate right on to Galambos Way. The east parking garage entrance/exit will be on your right. There is an alternative entrance/exit on the west side of the garage located under the southern Aston apartment building on Galambos Way.
Parking Rates
Parking in the garage is free for the first 2 hours.
Parking in any of the surface street spaces are metered at a rate of $1/30 min, $2/1 hour, $4/90 mins.
For special events, garage parking is $5 and valet parking is $15 unless otherwise noted.
Public Transportation
From MARTA Sandy Springs station – Bus route 87 stops at City Springs.
From MARTA Dunwoody station – Bus routes 5 and 87 stop at City Springs.
Food & Drink
Please visit the City Springs website for dining recommendations.
Composer
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
The composer of The Barber of Seville was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792 (a leap year). For a time his parents earned a living traveling from one small opera house to another-his mother as a singer and his father as a horn player in the orchestra. He was occasionally left behind with his grandmother and his aunt in Pesaro, and he had only a little education in reading, writing, grammar and arithmetic. Much of the time he ran wild.
When Gioachino was 12, his parents ended their travels and settled in Bologna. The boy studied music with a talented priest. He also began to play the violin and viola and to compose sonatas and other pieces. Because of his beautiful singing voice, he was often invited to sing in churches in Bologna, and he was soon able to earn extra money playing harpsichord for opera companies in and around Bologna.
![Image_RossiniGioachino Image_RossiniGioachino](https://www.atlantaopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Image_RossiniGioachino.jpg)
Production Director & Adaptation
Kristine McIntyre
Stage director Kristine McIntyre has directed more than 90 operas across the U.S. with a focus on new, contemporary, and American works. Productions include Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby Dick (Utah Opera, Pittsburgh Opera); Dead Man Walking (Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, Madison Opera); the world premiers of Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre (Center for Contemporary Opera, New York) and Mark Lanz Weiser and Amy Punt’s The Place Where You Started (Art Share, LA); new productions of Billy Budd (regional Emmy award) and Peter Grimes as well as As One (Kaminsky / Campbell / Reed), Glory Denied and Soldier Songs (Des Moines Metro Opera) Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Pittsburgh Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Austin Opera), Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair (Lyric Opera of Kansas City) and Three Decembers (Des Moines Metro Opera); Florencia en el Amazonas (Madison Opera), Elmer Gantry (Tulsa Opera), Of Mice and Men (Utah Opera, Austin Opera, Tulsa Opera), the world premier of Kirke Mechem’s John Brown (Lyric Opera of Kansas City); new productions of Street Scene, The Tender Land (Michigan Opera Theater) and Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit; a staged concert version of Vanessa (Toledo Opera) and the world premier of The Canticle of the Black Madonna (Newmark Theater, Portland).
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Pianist
Taylor Burkhardt
Taylor Burkhardt collaborates with a number of vocalists and instrumentalists as a duo partner, chamber musician, rehearsal pianist, and coach. In the 2019-20 season, she will be the Resident Artist Pianist at Utah Opera in Salt Lake City, UT. In the 2018-19 season, she has primarily worked at Kentucky Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Atlanta Opera, where she has played and coached several mainstage and outreach productions. In May she will serve as faculty at Druid City Opera Workshop in Tuscaloosa. Productions she has worked on and coached this season include Die Zauberflöte; Ben Moore’s Enemies, A Love Story; Rigoletto; a touring production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors; Madama Butterfly, and The Atlanta Opera Studio Tour production of The Barber of Seville. Past engagements include Carmen at Mill City Summer Opera, L’elisir d’amore at Music Academy of the West, and La Cenerentola at Bay View Music Festival. Recent productions she has rehearsed/coached at the University of Minnesota include La voix humaine, Orphée aux enfers, Idomeneo, The Rape of Lucretia, and Gianni Schicchi. As opera répititeur at the University of Missouri, she rehearsed Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Crucible, and the world premiere of The Outlaw by Justin Pounds as well as performing the final scenes from both The Rake’s Progress and Eugene Onegin.
![Headshot_TaylorBurkhardt Headshot_TaylorBurkhardt](https://www.atlantaopera.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Headshot_TaylorBurkhardt-500x500.jpg)