Opening an opera on the weekend of the Wimbledon tennis finals can be risky. As though to counter any rival sporting attraction, the Royal Opera has given this revival of Il barbiere di Siviglia a star cast who sang with an agility and accuracy every bit as dazzling as the passing shots being seen south of the river.

This is the first time Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production has been revived since it was new in 2005. Almost the whole opera is played inside a large box, like some children’s toy with entrances and exits that open up out of nowhere. But otherwise it is a traditional show – lively, true to Rossini’s spirit and just the right side of garish with its bold, poster-paint colours.

Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva

There was only one moment of worry on Saturday. Joyce DiDonato had just made a brilliant job of Rosina’s opening aria – she sings it in the mezzo key, but dashes upstairs into the soprano territory as if it is no trouble at all – when she slipped badly and fractured her fibia. Undaunted, she gamely pressed on, propped up on a crutch after the interval, and her singing scampered around the semiquavers as nimbly as ever.

For speed of coloratura it would be hard to put a wafer between her and Juan Diego Flórez’s Count Almaviva. Flórez is the Rossini tenor of the day. He throws off top notes as if he is used to singing half a dozen high Cs before breakfast, and looks the part as a tall, dark youthful Spanish charmer. For good measure he sang the whole of Almaviva’s closing aria, which is usually cut (for good reason), and made it the high point of the evening.

There was no weak link. Pietro Spagnoli announced himself as a Figaro with plenty of punch in his singing. The expert Alessandro Corbelli showed how much comic fun can be had with crusty old Doctor Bartolo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, booming like a rumbling thunderclap of doom and gloom, made a wicked caricature out of Don Basilio. With music director Antonio Pappano charging up the Royal Opera orchestra to playing of high energy, this is a completely winning revival of Il barbiere – game, set and match. ★★★★★

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