Based on Beaumarchais’ licentious play, and continuing the plot of the Barber of Seville, this first in the trilogy of Mozart/Da Ponte operas – one of the most popular of all – marked a turning point in the history of the genre. In its humanity, its theatricality, its psychological insight and truth; in its characterisation and its music, it was a true opera of, and about, the Enlightenment.

In a team first forged in the crucible of the Royal Opera House, conductor Robert Houssart, opera and theatre director Thomas Guthrie and designer Rhiannon Newman Brown make their Longborough debut bringing their dynamic freshness, taste and musicianship to this most loved and human of all operas.