But Ozawa says they share more than one might think. The two operas are very different - “Fidelio” takes place in a prison, while “Barber,” based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais, is laugh-out-loud funny. “Then I realized he was serious - and it dawned on me that this was an amazing opportunity.” Ozawa allows that he was shocked when company general director Matthew Shilvock suggested incorporating set pieces from “Fidelio” in this “Barber.” “At first I thought he was joking,” he said. The sets were built, notes the director, but the production was cancelled due to the pandemic. Opera’s production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” which was scheduled to open the 2020-21 season last fall at the War Memorial Opera House under Ozawa’s direction. The result, says Ozawa, is a kind of hybrid - “a little bit in between the remote projects that have been happening around the country, and being inside an opera house, with the energy and unpredictable-ness of live performance.” Sung in English and performed without choruses and recitatives, the production runs 90 minutes without intermission, with conductor Roderick Cox leading an 18-piece orchestra positioned in a tent behind the stage.

Sf opera barber of seville