The familiar story concerns love, infidelity and servants outwitting their masters. The Beaumarchais play on which the opera is based is a satire on the injustices of the Ancien Régime. In Mozart and Da Ponte’s version, the battle of the sexes takes centre stage, and the politics are skilfully disguised within the farce.

Mozart’s genius was to understand and to portray the innermost desires and anxieties of human beings, regardless of their gender or social class. His extraordinary gift for characterisation through music makes The Marriage of Figaro the ideal vehicle for opera students to hone their craft.