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Haller, the Coquette of Seville Stuttgart
Staatsoper
06/14/2026 - & June 17, 19, July 6, 9, 14, 19*, 2026
Gioachino Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione
Charles Sy (Il Conte Almaviva), Björn Bürger (Figaro), Diana Haller (Rosina), Giulio Mastrototaro (Don Bartolo), Michael Nagl (Basilio), Luiza Willert (Berta), Jasper Leever (Fiorello), Stephan Storck (An Officer), Martin Bässler (A Notary)
Herren des Staatsopernchors Stuttgart, Giulio Ferrè (chorus master), Michael Pandya (fortepiano), Eugenio Della Chiara (guitar), Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Vlad Iftinca (conductor)
Beat Fäh (stage director), Volker Pfuller (sets and costumes), Peter Ross (dramaturgy)
(© Martin Sigmund)
Among the revivals that concluded the Stuttgart State Opera’s season, few had acquired the affection enjoyed by Beat Fäh’s 1993 production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. More than three decades after its première and with well over a hundred performances to its name, it continued to delight audiences of every generation, as attested by the large number of young people in attendance and the sold‑out performances. Fäh, whose distinguished career encompassed well over a hundred productions in both spoken theatre and opera, created a staging of remarkable elegance and intelligence. Its humour was understated, refined and occasionally tinged with the absurd, perfectly complementing Rossini’s paradoxical wit without ever descending into the vulgar excesses or gratuitous interpolations that so often afflict modern comic productions. Entirely respectful of Sterbini’s libretto, the staging trusted Rossini’s own theatrical genius rather than seeking to improve upon it.
According to some, Volker Pfuller’s economical designs contributed to the production’s enduring eccentric charm, though I found them rather drab. At their centre stood a double bass and its case, ingeniously transformed throughout the evening into a wardrobe, a bench, a bed and various other theatrical devices, providing both a visual focal point and a running comic motif. One wondered whether Pfuller had The Addams Family in mind when he dreamt up the rather lugubrious sets, which did not contain a scintilla of sunny Spain despite the action taking place in Seville. The double bass case served as a sleeping place—or coffin—for both Bartolo and Berta (separately), à la Count Dracula. The housekeeper Berta wore a dress in the same pattern as the house’s wallpaper; she constantly blended into it and even became stuck to it, an indication of her mousy character and desire to go unnoticed.
The revival was conducted by the Romanian Vlad Iftinca, whose extensive experience as Music Director of the Opernstudio was immediately apparent. His conducting combined stylistic assurance with an instinctive feel for Rossinian rhythm and theatrical pacing. Tempi remained buoyant without ever feeling breathless, ensembles unfolded with admirable clarity, and throughout the evening he proved an attentive accompanist, allowing the singers every opportunity to shape their phrases while maintaining the opera’s irresistible comic momentum. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart responded with playing of elegance, sparkle and rhythmic vitality, capturing both the brilliance and refinement of Rossini’s score.
The performance was distinguished above all by an exceptionally well‑matched central ensemble, though its dramatic balance was not always ideally maintained. Rossini’s comedy depends upon the delicate equilibrium between Rosina, Almaviva and Figaro, each serving as an indispensable corner of the opera’s central triangle. When one figure is allowed to dominate unduly, the work risks becoming something less subtle than Rossini intended.
Croatia’s Diana Haller is no light mezzo in the mould of Frederica von Stade or Elīna Garanca; she is equipped with a rich lower register that lends her ample gravitas. In January, she portrayed a larger-than-life Donna Elvira in Stuttgart’s production of Don Giovanni. Thanks to her immense charisma and natural comic verve, she managed to inject a comic element into that usually serious and poetic character. Her portrayal of Rosina was by far the finest aspect of the present production. A complete natural on stage, she brought genuine comic verve, spontaneity and charm to every appearance, instinctively understanding that Rossinian comedy emerges most effectively from character rather than exaggeration. Her contributions consistently enlivened the action and provided some of the evening’s most genuinely amusing moments. Vocally, hers was a performance of remarkable distinction. Her coloratura displayed flawless precision, every ornament articulated with effortless clarity, while her choice of variations was both tasteful and imaginative. She performed “Una voce poco fa” with exceptional elegance and charm. For Act II’s lesson aria, she warmed up with none other than Brünnhilde’s battle cry, “Ho jo to ho!”, from Die Walküre before launching into an electrifying “Contro un cor”, confirming that, like Isabella Colbran (1785‑1845), Rossini’s muse and eventual wife, and such contemporaries as Giuditta Pasta (1797‑1865), Giulia Grisi (1811‑1869) and Maria Malibran (1808‑1836), creators of several bel canto roles, Haller is both soprano and mezzo. Some describe such a voice as a soprano sfogato, or “vented soprano”. Indeed, in a fortnight, Haller will star as Sémiramis, a demanding soprano role, in the French version of Rossini’s Semiramide at the nearby Belcanto Opera Festival “Rossini in Wildbad”.
Heard last summer as a brilliant Count Almaviva in Munich’s production of Le nozze di Figaro, Björn Bürger’s Figaro was certainly energetic, charismatic and vocally accomplished, his warm baritone navigating Rossini’s demanding writing with confidence and ease. Yet both the production and the performance tended to place excessive emphasis on Figaro at the expense of the opera’s broader dramatic relationships. Rossini may have given the barber his name in the title, but he remained only one component of a carefully balanced comic mechanism. Bürger’s relentless stream of comic business, though executed with undeniable skill, often felt overdone, drawing focus away from the interactions that generate the work’s finest humour. In striving so insistently to make Figaro the centre of attention, the performance occasionally diminished rather than enhanced the comedy of the whole.
The Italian baritone Giulio Mastrototaro offered an equally impressive Don Bartolo. Rather than resorting to crude caricature, he portrayed the elderly guardian with admirable restraint, impeccable taste and genuine authority. His Bartolo emerged as an intelligent, formidable opponent rather than the conventional buffoon, providing a sophisticated dramatic counterweight to the younger characters.
Canada’s Charles Sy proved more problematic as Count Almaviva. Though he sang stylishly and with sufficient technical accomplishment, the portrayal remained somewhat tepid dramatically, lacking the spark and personality needed to establish Almaviva as an equal partner in the opera’s central triangle. As a result, the balance between the three principal protagonists occasionally felt skewed. Despite a pleasant timbre, Sy is no agile Rossini tenor. He was at his best in the arias that required neither an excessively high tessitura nor vocal acrobatics, such as Act I’s “Ecco ridente in cielo” and “Se il mio nome saper bramate”. Alas, given his vocal limitations, his final aria, “Cessa di più resistere”, the opera’s high point, was omitted. Traditionally cut from productions until some forty years ago, the number has been restored since the 1980s thanks to the legendary American tenor Rockwell Blake and is now de rigueur in present‑day productions.
Recently heard as a delightful Papageno in Vienna’s production of Die Zauberflöte, Michael Nagl was a distinguished Basilio, delivering the role with composure, vocal solidity and understated elegance. The director turned him into something of a Svengali with hypnotic powers, which seemed to rebound upon him when he was falsely informed that he had scarlet fever in Act I. This, too, was in keeping with the aforementioned The Addams Family inspiration.
Ultimately, what made this revival so enduringly appealing was the strength of Fäh’s original conception and, above all, the delightful Diana Haller. Even when individual performances occasionally pushed the comedy towards a heavier-handed register than the production itself seemed to invite, the staging’s fundamental intelligence remained evident. Rossini’s masterpiece thrives not on incessant comic activity but on the precise interplay of character, situation and musical timing. At its best, this revival captured exactly those qualities, and the audience responded with warm enthusiasm to a production that continued to demonstrate how wit, musical excellence and theatrical sophistication could achieve comic results far more effective than mere exuberance.
Ossama el Naggar
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