Commissioned by the La Fenice theatre of Venice to compose an opera for them in 1850, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) chose as his subject Victor Hugo’s drama “Le Roi s’amuse”. As with Hugo, the protagonists in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” live in a depraved society unheeding not only of each other, but also of each other’s needs: a ruler obsessively seeks erotic distractions from boredom without a moment’s thought for what damage he may cause, a father in distress is taunted, courtiers commit a crime unpunished, a father keeps his daughter shut up at home.

The Franco-German director David Hermann, who most recently enjoyed great success at the Ruhr Triennale, the Frankfurt opera and the Teatro Real of Madrid, dissects in this staging behaviour patterns within these chilly court circles, where any wish for freedom or love can only lead to death.


“One simply must travel to Düsseldorf to see this Rigoletto: the uncanny rightness of the performance by Rhein Opera singers makes out of Verdi’s hit opera a live event such as one may come across only very seldom”.
Armin Kaumanns, Aachener Nachrichten

 
***
Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901)

RIGOLETTO
Opera in three acts
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
 
Sung in Italian with German titles
 

Musikalische Leitung Wen-Pin Chien
Inszenierung David Hermann
Bühne Alexander Polzin
Kostüme Cristina Nyffeler
Licht Volker Weinhart
Chorleitung Gerhard Michalski
Dramaturgie Bernhard F. Loges
 
Rigoletto Simon Neal
Herzog von Mantua Andrej Dunaev
Gilda Anna Virovlansky
Graf von Monterone Daniel Djambazian
Graf von Ceprano David Jerusalem
Gräfin von Ceprano Aïsha Tümmler
Marullo Dmitry Lavrov
Borsa Paul Stefan Onaga
Sparafucile Günes Gürle
Maddalena Sarah Ferede
Giovanna Nassrin Azarmi
Henker Jwa-Kyeom Kim
Page Victoria Demkina
Chor Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein
Orchester Düsseldorfer Symphoniker