NFSO Presents Comic Opera “Barber of Seville”
Guest Soloists Perform in Italian with English Supertitles
October 27,2011 Issue

The 2011-2012 Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra (NFSO) season continues Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The Mattie Kelly Arts Center Mainstage in Niceville will be transformed into 18th Century Seville, Spain for a performance of Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville. Regarded as the greatest and most popular comic opera ever written, The Barber of Seville will be brought to life by an outstanding cast of guest vocalists and musicians hailing from New York, Atlanta and Boston.

According to NFSO Conductor and Music Director Jeffrey Rink, the orchestra will present a “concert version” performance of the hit opera in Italian with English supertitles. The orchestra will be seated in the orchestra pit with the singers on stage, performing with props and suggestions of costumes and with projections of old Spain on stage to give the audience a more complete operatic experience.

“This performance was inspired by the great success of the NFSO’s performance last year of Madama Butterfly which left the audience clamoring for more opera,” says Rink, who has a reputation for bringing opera to life in concert and was recognized in 2005 with the Jacopo Peri award from the New England Opera Club for his contribution to opera in Boston.

“The Barber of Seville performance is not only an opportunity to hear first class opera in our local area, but is also a great way to introduce the thrilling of experience of opera through a totally ‘user-friendly’ version of this art form.”

The role of Figaro, the world’s most famous and mischievous barber, will be sung by New York-based David Murray who has performed the role almost 50 times throughout Europe and returns to the NFSO for a guest appearance after a two-year absence. Additionally, two of the lead roles in Barber of Seville, Rosina and Count Almaviva, hail from Atlanta—mezzo-soprano Maria McDaniel and tenor Adam Kirkpatrick. NFSO concertgoers will remember Kirkpatrick’s beautiful performance of Haydn’s Creation in April 2009.

Tickets are on sale now for $32.50 each or $16 for youth age 18 and younger. An active duty military discount is available for $16 a ticket with a limit of four tickets. NWFSC students may obtain one free ticket per student ID in-person from the Box Office.

Purchase tickets online at www.mattiekellyartsceter.org, by phone at (850) 729-6000, or at the box office. Additional concert information is available at www.nfsymphony.org. The box office is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Doors open at 6 p.m. on show night—tickets purchased at the door prior are same price as advance tickets.

The NFSO is the Emerald Coast's premier professional orchestra and will celebrate its 25th anniversary next August. The orchestra has performed 25 seasons of the finest in classical fare since 1987.

More On Stage

(Top)