Rigoletto

David McVicar’s acclaimed production of Verdi’s potent and tragic opera is conducted by Alexander Joel, with an excellent cast led by Dimitri Platanias, Lucy Crowe and Michael Fabiano.

This will be a new recording of Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House recorded on January 16, 2018.

* Contains some nudity and scenes of a sexual nature *

Rigoletto, court jester to the libertine Duke of Mantua, is cursed by the father of one of the Duke’s victims for his irreverent laughter. When the Duke seduces Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, it seems the curse is taking effect…

Conductor - Alexander Joel
Duke of Mantua - Michael Fabiano
Rigoletto - Dimitri Platanias
Gilda - Lucy Crowe
Sparafucile - Andrea Mastroni
Maddalena - Nadia Krasteva
Giovanna - Kathleen Wilkinson
Count Monterone - James Rutherford
Marullo - Dominic Sedgwick
Matteo Borsa - Thomas Atkins
Count Ceprano - Simon Shibambu
Countess Ceprano - Jacquelyn Stucker
Chorus - Royal Opera Chorus
Concert Master - Sergey Levitin
Orchestra - Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Opera in Three Acts
Music Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto Francesco Maria Piave After
Victor Hugo’s Play Le Roi S’amuse
Conductor Alexander Joel
Director David McVicar
Revival Director Justin Way
Set Designer Michael Vale
Costume Designer Tanya Mccallin
Lighting Designer Paule Constable
Movement Director Leah Hausman
Revival Movement Director Jo Meredith
Royal Opera Chorus
Chorus Director William Spaulding
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Co-concert Master Sergey Levitin
Directed for the Screen By Francesca Kemp

Captured live at the Royal Opera House, Tuesday 16 January 2018, 7.15pm

Giuseppe Verdi wrote in 1855 that Rigoletto, based on Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse, was his ‘best opera’. He had had to overcome state censorship to stage it – the censors objected to its depiction of an immoral ruler – but he was vindicated by the premiere’s huge success in 1851. Rigoletto was performed 250 times in the next 10 years and has remained one of the most popular of all operas.

David McVicar’s production highlights the cruelty at the heart of the court of Mantua. Richly dressed courtiers engage in orgies and revelries to Verdi’s heady, spirited dances. The opera’s many musical highlights include the ebullient ‘La donna è mobile’, in which the Duke boasts of his disregard for women; Gilda’s exquisite, plangent duets with Rigoletto and the Duke; and the gorgeous Act III quartet that beautifully weaves the voices together as the story quickens to its shattering conclusion.