There are strange goings-on behind Doctor Bartolo’s back! Recently, his ward Rosina – whom he plans to marry for her sizeable inheritance as soon as possible – seems to be secretly making new friends. A stranger is seeking to conquer Rosina’s heart with self-composed songs and all manner of cryptic messages. Even Rosina long remains ignorant of the true identity of this mysterious admirer. But one thing is clear – anything is better than being forever chained to the fusty, grumpy Bartolo. And where there’s a will, there’s a way – no matter how strange.

Ever since the première of Il barbiere di Siviglia on 20 February 1816 in Rome’s Teatro Argentina, Rossini’s crazy barber has been racing to and thro – Figaro here! Figaro there! – with uninterrupted verve across the stages of the world. Hard-hearted scheming here encounters romantic yearning for love. Kirill Serebrennikov, the trail-blazing director of his generation in Russia, stages this classic as a modern game of hide and seek where everyone hides from each other and – above all – from themselves.