LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Mozart — Opera Ballet Vlaanderen

Take a philandering and arrogant Count who is no match for his wily servant Figaro and his soon-to-be-wife Susanna, as manipulative as she is charming. Add in one beautiful, disillusioned Countess and one irrepressible, testosterone-laden teenage boy Cherubino. Mix with the genius of Mozart and you have one of the most perfect operas ever written. In 1781, the enlightened Emperor Joseph II abolished serfdom, ensuring society’s least privileged – servants like Figaro and Susanna – of certain civil freedoms, including marriage. In their opera, Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte reflect on the remnants of the old guard and look towards a future of greater equality. The Count and Countess might learn a few lessons in love and life from their cunning personnel. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen has entrusted their new production to a youthful artistic team. Director Tom Goossens interweaves the libretto’s original Italian and his own highly imaginative Dutch. The conductor Marie Jacquot is fast becoming an internatio