Opera America says that The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most frequently staged operas in the United States, and rightly so. Mozart's ravishing score, with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, masterfully tells the upstairs-downstairs story of a philandering count who wants to seduce the fiancee of his valet but is undone by the servants and his long-suffering wife, the countess.
St. Petersburg Opera winds up its season with a production that features Daniel Klein as Almaviva, Jacqueline Noparstak as the countess, Julianna Tauschinger-Dempsey as Susanna and Adelmo Guidarelli as Figaro. In a bit of luxury casting, mezzo soprano Ronnita Miller is playing the relatively small role of Marcellina, a housekeeper. Miller, who grew up in St. Petersburg, has sung with major companies such as San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera, with whom she sang Marcellina.
Artistic director Mark Sforzini conducts a 33-piece orchestra for performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg. $21.50-$64.50. (727) 823-2040; stpeteopera.org.
John Fleming, Times performing arts critic
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