The Teatro dell 'Opera di Roma opened its new season on 5 Dec with a streamed version of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. It is now available on RaiCultura for viewers in Italy. It will be available again on Rai 5 on 31 Dec.

Teatro Costanzi was minus an audience because of the present covid-19 regulations so the cast had full freedom of the stalls and the stage in the 1,600-seat theatre. The orchestra was conducted by the theatre's music director Daniele Gatti with a new and suggestive production of Rossini's opera directed by Mario Martone.

Martone is a highly respected film, theatre and opera director who headed Rome's Teatro Argentina and was the inspiration behind the city's Teatro India. One of his best known films is Amore Molesto based on Elena Ferranti's novel of the same name.

It is difficult to imagine now that Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia was a disaster when it first opened on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. Since then it has become a favourite in most opera  repertoire, which could be why the Teatro dell' Opera di Roma selected it to open its 2020-2021 season.

Rome's opera house continues to think big during the difficult covid-19 times. Martone's new Il Barbiere di Siviglia, making full use of the space usually reserved for the audience, follows the very contemporary rendering of Rigoletto by another Italian director Damiano Michieletto at Circo Massimo during Rome opera theatre's summer season.

Even just the photos of the production of Martone's new Il Barbiere di Siviglia on the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma website give a good feel for what is in store.

Under the website's digital theatre section there are also links to two December concerts, one of 11 Dec conducted by Michele Mariotti, music by Strauss, Gluck and Mozart, and another on 18 Dec conducted by Daniele Gatti with music by Mozart and Beethoven.

The concert on 4 Dec conducted by Daniele Gatti with music by J.S Bach, Ravel and Stravinsky is already on YouTube under Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Photo Yasuko Kageyama / TOR.