LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Mozart – Royal College of Music

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. Royal College of Music’s new production, directed with wit and charm by Jeremy Sams, is set in a crumbling 1980s French chateau.