Music in D.C.: Kennedy Center, The Barber of Seville

A while ago, we visited the Kennedy Center's Opera House to see The Barber of Seville, presented by the Washington National Opera. 

The performance was wonderful and featured younger singers still in training.    

Before the performance, we attended a talk given by one of the opera company's musicologists.  We learned that Gioacchino Rossini composed the opera in a short amount of time, about 3 weeks.  To meet the deadline and get paid, he wrote frantically and even recycled music from an earlier opera.  Despite his working quickly, The Barber of Seville after 200 years remains one of the great comic operas.   

Since photographs of the performance were not allowed, here are some photos of the Opera House.  

The stage before the performance began

The ceiling of the Opera House is beautifully decorated:  "The Lobmeyer Crystal chandelier on the ceiling of the Opera House, a gift from Austria, has 12,000 crystals, more than 130 crystal bursts, and almost 2,000 light bulbs."

Below is a promotional photograph from the Washington National Opera depicting a scene from the opera.  

To hear a recording of the overture of The Barber of Seville, click here.

You might remember seeing Rossini's tomb in a Year 2 blog post.  His tomb, along with other great Italians, is located in Florence in the Basilica di Santa Croce.  

Thanks for visiting the Kennedy Center Opera House with us.

P.S.  To hear one of the great opera performances of all time, click here.  (Rossini probably turns over in his tomb every time the performance is heard.)