Feeling like Figaro

Two days ago, we finally gave a haircut to Wolfie, the first in a year, since the first lockdown. It was long overdue. Before last Sunday, he always had haircuts from professional hairdressers and convincing him to get through the whole process was quite an ordeal. Now, it was his dad. Better still: even though he had refused to receive a haircut since lockdown, he wanted and asked for it. I guess he was fed up of looking like a hippie and having to move the hair from his face. Surprisingly, I did a pretty good job of it. it made me feel like Figaro, from The Barber of Seville, by Rossini. In any case, I had this very aria in mind the whole time, which I never managed to master when I studied classical singing:

Se il cor guerriero

I have been wanting to put this aria on the blog a while ago. This is a beautiful evocative piece that will make you forget (a bit) about the gloomy November temperature. It is from Vivaldi's Tito Manlio, which I know close to nothing about, except this brilliant piece. It is sung here by Dmitri Hvorostovski, but I discovered the aria during an evening of 2007, watching on the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, where it was performed by Shenyang. Shenyang won the competition with such ease, and I was blown away when he sang Se il cor guerriero. he had such control over his voice, and he was still in his early 20s.