"...In giving us an understated Basilio, di Bara, in effects, focuses attention on the far more interesting personage of Bartolo. Thwared by others and by his own foolishness in his vain pursuit of Rosina, Bartolo - brilliantly sung and portrayted by Vladimir Ognev - here becomes a thoroughly rounded comic character, in the best traditions of Italian opera buffo. With the marvelous aria in which Bartolo defies Rosina to outwit him Ognev at last gets the plot moving/ From there the Helikon's "Barber" rarely falters..."

Raymond Stuls
"'Barber' Hits Heights After False Start",
"The Moscow Times" January 29, 1998