This is the second review of two consecutive performances of Gioacchino Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. taking place at the San Francisco Opera in June, 2026. My first review is posted at: Review: Joshua Hopkins, Levy Sekgapane, Maria Kataeva Lead “Barber of Seville” Cast One – San Francisco Opera, June 5, 2026. That review includes my comments on the cast members who appear in all performances, on the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and on Emilio Sagi’s production. That review should be consulted for my remarks on those production elements.
Justin Austin’s Figaro
[Photo: Justin Austin as Figaro; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]
German-born American baritone Justin Austin performed the opera’s title role, the barber Figaro, with authority. Austin proved to be a charming Figaro, with the vocal, dramatic, and comic skills that one needs to be successful in this role. Austin was proficient in the ‘parlando’ (rapidly and rhythmically sung dialogue) throughout the opera, most memorably associated with Figaro’s main aria, ‘Largo al factotum’.
Even though this is Austin’s San Francisco Opera debut season, both his mother and father have performed here, in 2009’s Francesca Zambello production of George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”. Having himself appeared in “Porgy” productions as a boy soprano between ages 4 and 12, Austin has successfully transitioned to baritone, recently winning the Kennedy Center’s 2023 Marian Anderson Vocal Award.
Austin will create the role of Lucky Mack in Missy Mazzoli’s “The Galloping Cure” in its August 2026 world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival. Austin will appear opposite frequent San Francisco Opera performer Daniela Mack. Co-commisioning organizations include the San Francisco Opera (which has confirmed that the new opera will be presented during the company’s 2027-28 season), the Scottish Opera, Sweden’s Norrland Operan AB, the State Opera of South Australia, the Canadian Opera Company and Opera Ventures Productions.
Jack Swanson’s Count Almaviva
[Photo: Jack Swanson as the Count Almaviva, pretending to be a drunken soldier as part of FIgaro’s plot to gain access to the household that imprisons Rosina; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]
Minnesota tenor Jack Swanson was a handsome Count Almaviva. Swanson not only displayed a beautifully controlled lyric tenor voice, he was an engaging actor, with superb comic timing.
Swanson was a standpoint in each of Almaviva’s scenes – posing as the impoverished student Lindoro serenading Rosina; staggering across stage as a supposedly drunken soldier demanding billeting from an enraged Doctor Bartolo; and holding the stage for the final scene of Almaviva’s wedding to Rosina.
I had previously seen Swanson as Almaviva in Santa Fe, performing the extensive final aria ‘Cessa di piu resistere’ [Review: A Hilarious “Barbiere di Siviglia” from Hopkins, Swanson, Fons and Burdette – Santa Fe Opera, August 6, 2022] as he does also in San Francisco.
In that Santa Fe review, I had expressed my conviction that Swanson was one of the artists that exemplifies the “Rossini Renaissance” – the attention to the authentic vocal styles for which his operas are intended. Swanson also showed mastery of another Rossini tenor role, that of “L’Italiana”‘s Lindoro [Review: Santa Fe Opera’s Delightful “Italian Girl in Algiers” – July 25, 2018]
Hongni Wu’s Rosina
[Photo: Hongni Wu as Rosina; edited image, based on a Co]ry Weaver, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]
Chinese soprano Hongni Wu, whose San Francisco Opera debut had taken place during the 2022 “Red Chamber” performances [Review: A Pleasing Revival of “Dream of the Red Chamber” at San Francisco Opera, June 14, 2022] returned to the San Francisco Opera as Rosina, her first “standard repertory” role with the company. This follows another “standard repertory” role which I saw Wu perform recently, Cherubino [Review: Ailyn Perez Joins Santa Fe Opera’s Excellent “Le Nozze di Figaro” Cast – July 31, 2025].
A singer assaying this role is confronted with the role’s major aria – ‘Una voce poco fa’ – taking place early in the first act. Wu performed the aria’s vocal fireworks brilliantly. As the center of the tug of war between Almaviva and his allies on the one hand and her guardian Doctor Bartolo on the other, virtually all of the opera’s scenes relate to each side’s preferred candidate for Rosina’s hand in marriage. Wu’s Rosina revels in this attention, for which Wu delivers a vocally resplendent, intelligently acted performance.
In San Francisco and Santa Fe, I have seen Wu, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s Young Artists Program, perform in operas with East Asian themes. Besides “Dream of the Red Chamber”, these operas have included “M. Butterfly” in Santa Fe [World Premiere Run Review: Powerful Performances from Mark Stone and Kangmin Justin Kim in Ruo’s and Hwang’s Compelling “M. Butterfly”- Santa Fe Opera, August 3, 2022] and “The Monkey King” in San Francisco [World Premiere Run Review: A Visually Spectacular, Musically Brilliant Production of Huang Ruo’s and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King” – San Francisco Opera, November 16, 2025]..
Patrick Carfizzi’s Doctor Bartolo
[Photo: Doctor Bartolo (Patrick Carfizzi, right) finds himself part of a scheme with Figaro (Justin Austin, left); edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]
New York bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi returns to the San Francisco Opera 25 years after his June 2001 performance as Paolo in Verdi’s’ “Simon Boccanegra”, a role he repeated in 2008 [Review: Verdian Back to Basics – San Francisco Opera’s Satisfying “Simon Boccanegra”, September 21, 2008]. He also performed the Henry Kissinger Role in Adams’ “Nixon” opera [Review: 25 Years Old, “Nixon in China” Arrives at San Francisco Opera, June 8, 2012].
Although his operatic repertory is wide-ranging, Carfizzi is particularly associated with such ‘buffo’ as that of Rossini’s Mustafa [Review: Barcellona Triumphs in Font’s Whimsical Production of “L’Italiana in Algeri” – Houston Grand Opera, November 3, 2012], Donizetti’s Dulcamara [Review: Engaging “Elixir of Love” at Houston Grand Opera, October 29, 2016] and Mozart’s Doctor Bartolo [Review: A Clockwork “Marriage of Figaro” Delights – Santa Fe Opera, July 23, 2021]
Carfizzi made a strong impression as Rossini’s Bartolo. Carfizzi’s performance of Bartolo’s principal aria ‘A un dottor della mia sorte’, made a strong impression, and was awarded an audience ovation.
Final Thoughts
[Photo: Don Basilio (Ricardo Fassi, left) is confused that the persons assembled in the household where Rosina (Hongni Wu, middle, mostly hidden) resides, including a person claiming to be his student Don Alanzo who is actually the Count Almaviva (Jack Swanson, right in disguise) all are trying to persuade Basilio to leave; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]
Both “Barber” casts were strong, and the staging was vibrant.
I have enjoyed the Sagi “Barber” production in each of the San Francisco Opera seasons (2013, 2015 and 2026) in which it was performed, although I found the 2026 revival to be especially praiseworthy.
One of the 2026 innovations that I appreciated was the duplication of the Don Basilio’s costume by his supposed “student”, Don Alonzo (actually the Count Almaviva in disguise), which made the always hilarious “Buona sera, mio signore” ensemble even funnier.
I also was pleased that mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook, one of a small number of artists that have taken part in hundreds of San Francisco Opera performances over the past 35 years, returned once again to the role of Berta. In this mounting, she engages in an (extra-textual) elopement with her fellow servant of Doctor Bartolo’s, Ambrogio.
[Photo: Doctor Bartolo’s servants Berta (Catherine Cook, left) and Ambrogio (Gabriel Natal-Baez right), in this production are romantically involved; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the SsaN Francisco Opera.]
Recommendation
I recommend the San Francisco Opera’s 2026 mounting of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” both to veteran opera-goera and to persons new to opera