Description
Carlo Maria Giulini was without question, along with fellow Italians Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata and Guido Cantelli, one of the greatest conductors of his generation. His opera performances at Covent Garden were landmarks for the Company. This 1960 performance of Rossini’s sparkling Il barbiere di Siviglia features a stellar cast including a youthful Teresa Berganza as Rosina and Luigi Alva as The Count (who had been asked by Giulini immediately after his 1955 debut at La Scala, Milan, to sing the Count in a legendary La Scala production headed by Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi). This was his Covent Garden debut. The baritone Rolando Panerai as Figaro had been a stalwart of La Scala since 1951, while Fernando Corena as Dr Bartolo was making his Covent Garden debut but was already a major international figure. He had sung regularly at the Metropolitan Opera since 1954.
