Figaro at the cutting edge: the Barber through the ages

Beaumarchais’ wily Barber of Seville is one of literature’s greatest creations, and it’s not only Mozart and Rossini who brought him to musical life. Ahead of Welsh National Opera’s trilogy, director Sam Brown ponders Figaro’s backstoryThe Barber of Seville – Gioachino Rossini’s comic opera masterpiece – opens in Cardiff on Saturday, nearly 200 years to the day since its premiere in Rome on 20 February 1816. Its first night was marred by a catalogu