Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte based on the second part of the trilogy by Pierre Beaumarchais La folle journée ou le mariage de Figaro translated into Russian by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Maria Pavlova
Director: Mikhail Kislyarov
Designer: Oleg Skudar
Chorus master: People’s Artist of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Nina Lomanovich
Lighting designer: Vladimir Ivakin
Costume designer: Olga Oshkalo
Assistant designer: Tatyana Baydalova
Assistant costume designer: Maria Moroz
Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes with one interval
Sung in Russian
Conductors: Yuri Karavaev, honoured Art Worker of the Republic of Belarus Nikolai Koliadko
Premiere: 4 September 2016

Граф – Денис Янцевич

Графиня – Елена Золова

Фигаро – Андрей Клипо

Сюзанна – Ирина Кучинская

Керубино – Ольга Малиновская

Бартоло – Дмитрий Капилов

Марцелина – Екатерина Михновец

Базилио – Андрей Матюшонок

Курцио – Юрий Болотько

Антонио – Илья Певзнер

Барбарина – Елена Таболич

ACT I

Scene 1
A frenetic day in Count and Countess Almaviva’s estate starts with preparations for the wedding of the masters’  servants:  valet  Figaro and maid Susanna. Figaro learns from his bride that the Count intends to seduce her. Figaro gets furious and swears to foil the seducer’s plans.

Marcellina and Dr. Bartolo plot to prevent Figaro’s wedding too. Marcellina, who herself is in love with Figaro, wants him to honour  his promise in the note-of-hand and threatens to take legal action against  Figaro: to either make him repay his debt to her or to marry her.

Marcellina runs into Susanna and a sarcastic altercation ensues. In her room Susanna meets the young page, Cherubino, who declares his love to her and reveals his misfortune — the Count has just driven Cherubino away after the page was found with the gardener Antonio’s daughter, Barbarina. Their con-versation is suddenly interrupted by the Count’s arrival. Terrified, Cherubino is quick to hide himself. The Count once again tries to seduce Susanna. Basilio, the music teacher who is an intriguer and gossip by nature, suddenly enters the room. He tries to take the romance written by Cherubino for the Countess away from Susanna. Full of jealousy, the Count bursts out of his hiding and, discovering Cherubino, becomes even more enraged realizing that the page has overheard his conversation with Susanna.

The servants and peasants led by Figaro are going to give thanks and praise to the Count welcoming the abolition of his own order for the jus primae noctis. Almaviva hypocritically asks to postpone the wedding and orders Cherubino to join the army without delay.

Scene 2

The Countess agonizes over her husband’s indifference and infidelity. Together with Figaro and Susanna she decides to teach the Count a lesson — the maid is to promise the Count a rendezvous, but instead of Susanna they will send Cherubino disguised as a woman. The Count’s unexpected arrival confuses the women. The Countess hides Cherubino in an adjoining room. Full of jealous suspicions, the Count demands to unlock the door, but after the Countess’s firm rejection he leaves with his wife in search of tools to force the locked door open. Susanna lets terrified Cherubino out, helps him escape through the window and takes his place.

When the Count and Countess return, both are astonished to find Susanna locked inside the room. The Count has to repent and ask his wife for forgiveness. Figaro turns up to invite all of them to the marriage feast. At that moment Antonio, the gardener, arrives with a broken flowerpot. He complains that someone jumped out of the window and trampled his flowers. The hopeless situation is once again saved by the ever-resourceful Figaro who takes the blame upon himself to the Count’s great dislike.

Everything is ready for the wedding, but suddenly Bartolo, Marcellina and Basilio arrive. They bring charges against Figaro and the delighted Count declares that the wedding will be postponed.

ACT II
Scene 1

Susanna gives a false promise to see the Count later that night. The Count is out of his mind with fear until he overhears Susanna telling her bridegroom that he has already won the case. Beside himself with rage, Count Almaviva threatens to take vengeance.

The Countess dreams to win her husband’s love back and decides to participate in the in¬trigue: she will dress up in Susanna’s clothes and meet with him instead of her later that night. The judge Don Curzio supported Marcellina’s claim. The Count is about to celebrate his victory, but suddenly Figaro turns out to be Marcellina and Bartolo’s illegitimate son, abducted as a baby. The happy parents decide to throw two concurrent  wedding parties — theirs and their regained son’s.

The Countess dictates a love letter to Susanna which should  be handed over to the Count by Barbarina during the feast. Young peasants, the disguised Cherubino among them, arrive. The gardener exposes the young page out. The Count is furious to discover that Cherubino has disobeyed him. Barbarina, quite untimely, reminds the Count of his promise to fulfill any of her wishes, asking Almaviva to make Cherubino marry her. The Count is forced to agree.

Scene 2

Figaro laughs at his master who pricks his finger on the pin that sealed the love note which was passed to him by Barbarina. Imagine his surprise at seeing the crying Barbarina who has lost the pin. The pin happens to be a sign of the Count’s agreement for the rendezvous with Susanna. Stricken by deception, Figaro rants against all women and decides to set a trap for his bride and master to catch them red-handed. Susanna and the Countess arrive, dressed in each other’s clothes. After the Count’s staggering confessions, Figaro’s vengeful expectations, Susanna’s jealous suspicions, and lots of other misunderstandings, everything is sorted out. The astonished Count recognizes his spouse, disguised as Susanna, and seeks her forgiveness for the second time in a day. Everything ends in merry celebration of the three weddings:  of Figaro and Susanna, Bartolo and  Marcellina, young Cherubino and Barbarina.

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