Huw Montague Rendall’s Nozze di Figaro at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

Nozze di Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris

13th. october 2026

Voices: Huw Montague Rendall, Elbenita Kajtazi, Lauranne Oliva, Adrien Fournaison, Eva Zaïcik, Diana Montague, Jennifer Courcier, Raphaël Brémard, Nicolas Brooymans

Direction : Sasha Scolnik-Brower

While the Opéra national de Paris is currently reviving Il Barbiere di Siviglia (until 5 November), the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées offered, last Tuesday 13 October, a concert performance of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The opera reunites us with the same beloved characters a few years on: Count Almaviva, now married to Rosina, has grown into a restless and jealous husband, his young bride has become the melancholy Countess, and Figaro, the ever-resourceful barber, is at last about to wed his sharp-witted Susanna.

Adrien Fournaison’s Figaro, graced with a warm, generous timbre, a pleasing vibrato and clear diction, brought a sound reading and genuine intention to the principal arias and duets. One might nonetheless have wished for greater daring, a touch more theatrical audacity in the opera’s defining numbers.

Lauranne Oliva was an utterly delightful Susanna: a luminous, youthfull timbre, supple and nimble agility, elegant diction, and a sparkling sense of mischief in a performance as spirited as it was carefully crafted. Her singing was, however, hampered in the duets by ponderous conducting and sluggish tempi, which too often dimmed the full brilliance of her agility.

Eva Zaïcik was a marvellous Cherubino, ardent and youthful, her warm, velvety timbre married to effortless agility, finely judged accents, polished diction and generous, well-focused projection.

Elbenita Kajtazi, making her French debut as the Countess, brought poise and refinement to the role, with limpid diction, a round, mellow voice and a dignified, assured stage presence.

Yet the evening belonged to Huw Montague Rendall. Elegant in bearing, with the natural aura of a prince, he delivered a full-blooded, commanding and remarkably assured portrayal of Count Almaviva. His timbre is simply delicious: dark, burnished, authoritative and unmistakably virile, one might even dare say brimming with testosterone, precisely what this role demands. His interpretation was exquisitely crafted, with intention and intelligence behind every gesture and, above all, every word. Brooding menace, scheming intrigue, smouldering jealousy, barely restrained desire: each of these thousand nuances rang out with perfect clarity. Such was his meticulous attention to detail that one would be hard pressed to call this evening anything other than the Nozze di Huw Montague Rendall.

Nea Tandini