Lawrence Brownlee in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" with Virginia Opera. Brownlee made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in 2007. The role has since become one of his most recognizable and famous. He has subsequently appeared in "Il Barbiere" in Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, Dresden, Munich, Baden-Baden, Hamburg, Tokyo, New York, Washington, San Diego, Seattle, and Boston. Brownlee's career highlights include performances of "The Barber of Seville" at the Vienna State Opera, the Boston Lyric Opera and Madrid's Teatro Real. He has appeared in Rossini's "L'italiana in Algeri" and "La Cenerentola" at Milan's La
The Barber of Seville (play) cynical. As he says in "The Barber of Seville": "I must force myself to laugh at everything lest I be obliged to weep." Though he is normally calm, collected and intelligent, he can be irrational when angered. The name 'Figaro' was invented by Beaumarchais for this character, and it has been theorized by Frédéric Grendel that it is made from a phonetic transcription of the words "fils Caron" (Caron having been the given surname of the playwright.) The role was created in "The Barber of Seville" by Beaumarchais's friend Préville. However, when "The Marriage of Figaro" went into production almost