The French baritone sings “Largo al factotum” and the Toreador Song on 2 November 2026 with the Filharmonie Brno under Maestro Arkady Beryn – an easy autumn escape for London opera lovers.
London audiences know Florian Sempey as Figaro. The French baritone’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House is one of the reasons the role became his calling card across Europe, and on Monday, 2 November 2026 he brings “Largo al factotum” to the Philharmonie Berlin for the Operngala-Nacht – an opera gala with the Filharmonie Brno under Maestro Arkady Beryn, American tenor René Barbera and soprano Alisa Medvedeva.
Sempey, born in 1988, studied in Libourne and Bordeaux, made his debut at 21 as Papageno at the Opéra de Bordeaux and came through the Paris Opera’s Atelier Lyrique. Figaro opened the doors of the Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and the Rome Opera; his solo albums Figaro? Si! and Ferrum Splendidum followed, and in 2022 he was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. This season takes him to the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Naples, Zurich and the Teatro Real in Madrid. In Berlin he also sings the Toreador Song from Carmen and Don Giovanni’s “Fin ch’han dal vino”.
Barbera is the tenor who made competition history: in 2011 he became the first singer to win all three top prizes at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, and he has since sung at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Opéra de Paris and the Vienna and Bavarian State Operas. He sings Rodolfo’s “Che gelida manina” and Nemorino’s “Una furtiva lagrima”.
Medvedeva, a Saint Petersburg Conservatoire graduate now based in Geneva who has appeared with Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo, sings Musetta’s “Quando me’n vo”, Bellini’s “Oh! quante volte” and, with Sempey, “Là ci darem la mano”.
Rossini fans get more than the Figaro aria: the orchestra plays the overture to La gazza ladra, alongside the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, the overtures to Le nozze di Figaro and La forza del destino, the intermezzi from Manon Lescaut and Cavalleria rusticana, the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and a Dvořák Slavonic Dance. The Brazilian showpiece “Tico Tico no fubá” and the Brindisi from La traviata close the night.
The hall is a reason in itself. Hans Scharoun’s Philharmonie, opened in 1963 and home of the Berliner Philharmoniker, is the building every concert hall since has been measured against: 2,440 seats in terraces around the stage, and acoustics that musicians describe with something close to awe. It sits at the Kulturforum, minutes from Potsdamer Platz.
Maestro Prof. Arkady Beryn, who conducts, has more than forty years of professional experience and was Chief Conductor of the Internationale Symphoniker Deutschland from 2003 to 2011. He has conducted the Berliner Symphoniker, the Camerata Salzburg and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, appeared in the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Philharmonie Berlin, and worked with artists including José Carreras, Roberto Alagna, Aida Garifullina and the violinist Daniel Hope. German critics have described him with the headline “Dirigent Beryn ist der Star”. And the Filharmonie Brno has been one of the Czech Republic’s leading orchestras since 1956.
EVENT INFORMATION
Operngala-Nacht – Opera Gala at the Philharmonie Berlin
Monday, 2 November 2026, 20:00
Philharmonie Berlin – Großer Saal
Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin, Germany
Conductor: Maestro Arkady Beryn
Soloists: René Barbera, tenor; Florian Sempey, baritone; Alisa Medvedeva, soprano
Orchestra: Filharmonie Brno (Brno Philharmonic)
Programme: Arias, duets, overtures and intermezzi by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Verdi, Mascagni, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Dvořák and Zequinha de Abreu
Tickets: from €26.50 via Eventim – eventim.de/artist/philharmonie-berlin/operngala-nacht-philhamonie-berlin-4122419
Event page: Philharmonie Berlin – berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concert/calendar/57371
Event listing: visitBerlin – visitberlin.de/en/event/brno-philharmonic-opera-gala-night
