Rossini: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (didonato, Florez

Juan Diego Florez (Count Almaviva), Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), Pietro Spagnoli (Figaro), Alessandro Corbelli (Doctor Bartolo), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Don Basilio), Jennifer Rhys-Davies (Berta), Changhan Lim (Fiorello), Bryan Secombe (Ambrogio), Christoper Lackner (Officer), Andrew Macnair (Notary) Orchestra & Chorus of The Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano

This DVD is in fact the "break a leg" version which sees Joyce DiDonato perform her role in a wheelchair - a story which has occupied international headlines last year - and definitely a DVD which will stand out. The DVD will include bonus features like an interview with Joyce on her stage accident and subsequent wheelchair performances. Captured at London’s Royal Opera House with an unbeatable cast in a sparkling, colourful production, this Barbiere offers a unique dramatic twist: Joyce DiDonato, who had broken her leg on the first night of the run, insisted on performing. As she said : ”Being trapped in the wheelchair was a quite literal way of demonstrating Rosina's huge desire to break free.” “The Royal Opera's cheerful and colourful new production of Rossini's most popular work is a copper- bottomed hit.” The Daily Telegraph With its unbeatable line-up of singers and conductor, last summer’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at London’s Royal Opera House was always going to hit the musical headlines ... but it ended up making news around the world when the leading lady, Joyce DiDonato, broke her leg on the first night. Undaunted, and still singing with her usual brilliance, DiDonato heroically completed the performance. She then went on to appear in the entire run, wearing a bright pink plaster cast on her leg and whizzing around the stage in a wheelchair. Virgin Classics, already scheduled to record the production for DVD, thus captured a Barbiere unlike any other.