Just a note: don’t go into The Marriage Of Figaro expecting the well-known aria Largo Al Factotum (the one that goes “Figaro Figaro… FIGARO” etc), because that features in The Barber Of Seville. As a burgeoning opera-goer, I didn’t realise Marriage was effectively the sequel to Barber – naively thinking that sequels were a modern thing, more associated with superhero movies. This Mozart opera premiered two years after an earlier version of Barber, although the better-known version is Rossini’s, written 30 years after Mozart’s Marriage: opera is a complex thing sometimes. Based on the second in Pierre Beaumarchais’s trilogy of French comedies, The Marriage Of Figaro takes place on the wedding day of Figaro and Susanna, two servants of Count Almaviva. The couple have to overcome various attempts to divert the wedding, not least by the Count trying to implement prima nocta, his supposed right allowing him to have relations with a servant on her wedding night; it’ll be no surprise that he has his eye on Figaro’s intended, Susanna. At the same time, Dr Bartolo is intent on revenge against Figaro for obstructing his plans to marry Rosina, who’s now the Countess. Along with Welsh National Opera’s new production of Britten’s Peter Grimes, Marriage makes their spring season. This co-production with Switzerland’s Grand Théâtre De Genève also marks the first opera of the Port Talbot-born-and-raised Adele Thomas’ tenure as WNO co-CEO and general director – steering the ship alongside Sarah Crabtree, previously of the Royal Opera in Covent Garden. On at 7pm on Thurs 6 Feb; 3pm on Sat 8. Tickets: £21-£95. words CHRIS WILLIAMS