Ferruccio Furlanetto as Don Basilio at ROH Covent Garden, 2016.

DON BASILIO OF YOUR DREAMS AND WITH LEGENDARY STATUS

Ferruccio Furlanetto returns to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to the role of Don Basilio (which he last sang for the Company in 2009) in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. The fourth revival of the production is conducted by Henrik Nánási, in the title role Italian baritone Vito Priante. Buenos Aires-born mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack makes her Royal Opera debut as Rosina. Also making their Royal Opera debut are Mexican tenor Javier Camarena, who sings the role of Count Almaviva, and Portuguese baritone José Fardilha, singing the role of Doctor Bartolo.

Ferruccio Furlanetto performance of the opera in 2009 was recorded for DVD and got high critical acclaim: “The brilliant Ferruccio Furlanetto adds another vivid portrait to his video gallery with a Basilio of spidery physicality who can boom out an enormously impressive high note, always making it an integral part of the whole.” (Opera News).

Italian bass made his Royal Opera debut in 1995 as Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro). He has returned to sing Don Giovanni, Count Walter (Luisa Miller), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Philip II (Don Carlo), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) for The Royal Opera.

Il Barbiere di Saviglia which opened on September 13, became a huge success. The Express gives the whole performance ★★★★★, The Guardian ★★★★, The Stage ★★★★, The Times ★★★★ and the Independent ★★★★

Opera performance on September 17 was be transmitted live on BBC-3.

In the Press

“a terrific performance, this time around, from a truly virtuoso ensemble cast with no weak links. … Ferruccio Furlanetto’s slimeball Basilio, his calumny aria balefully brilliant, is about as good as it gets.”

“Ferruccio Furlanetto returns as the Don Basilio of your dreams — or perhaps your nightmares. As he looms over Fardilha like a Jesuitical incubus, the booming Calumny aria is as horrifying as it is hilarious.”

"Each new cast – and this is the fourth – has its own strengths. This one is blessed with a gale-force Figaro (Vito Priante) and a Don Basilio (the great Ferrucio Furlanetto) whose turns his calumny-aria – one of Rossini’s most surreal notions – into a larger-than-life nightmare for the hapless Doctor Bartolo (nicely characterized by Jose Fardilha)".

...bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, was a splendid Fiesco.

“And bass Ferruccio Furlanetto returns to reprise his Don Basilio, a wonderfully sonorous grotesque.”

“the inimitable Ferruccio Furlanetto, who brings his beautifully modulated bass to the role of Don Basilio.”

“Ferruccio Furlanetto’s Don Basilio has now attained ‘classic’ status… Yet, he’s another who knows how to play on words, consonants and syllables to great effect, and in ‘La calumnia’ the orchestra matched him wonderfully.”

“Ferruccio Furlanetto, who was also in the 2009 "dream cast", is brilliant as Don Basilio. Not only are we treated to a world class bass voice, but also a superb portrayal of the music teacher as he towers over Bartolo, often forming menacing diagonals with his body. In his ode to calumny, we feel that he is not particularly worried about actually convincing Bartolo that slander is the way forward (because he already knows he is the more dominant of the pair), but instead is simply getting high on his own thoughts and sense of power. ”

“But if there is one singer here who brings a legendary status to proceedings it is Ferruccio Furlanetto’s Don Basilio, a brilliant assumption of the part from all angles.”