Rigoletto

  • 2013/2014 Season
  • Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto
    Opera in 3 Acts
    Sung in Italian with Japanese Supertitles
  • OPERA HOUSE

Artistic Director Otaka Tadaaki's fourth season coincides with the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth (2013). To celebrate, we open with a new production of Rigoletto. The production is directed by Andreas Kriegenburg, who also directed the 2009 NNTT production of Wozzeck (a joint production with the Bavarian State Opera). Conducting will be Pietro Rizzo, who won favorable recognition for his work on the 2011 production of Il Trovatore. Marco Vratogna will sing the title role. Mr. Vratogna recently performed the same role with the San Francisco Opera in 2012. The Duke of Mantua will be sung by Woo-Kyung Kim, whose fine voice graced the 2011 NNTT production of La Traviata in the role of Alfredo. Elena Gorshunova will sing Gilda. Ms. Gorshunova sang an outstanding Susanna in the 2010 NNTT production of Le Nozze di Figaro.

SYNOPSIS

Mantova in northern Italy in the 16th century. The Duke of Mantova, the lord of the manor, is busy philandering as he seduces Countess Ceprano at a ball. Rigoletto, his jester, helps the Duke to satisfy his desire, but Count Monterone, whose daughter was dishonorably seduced by the Duke, appears and curses Rigoletto, shouting, "You will pay dearly for your sins before long." Meanwhile, courtiers for the Duke Mantova, who suppose Gilda to be Rigoletto's kept mistress, kidnap her out of their long-cherished vengeance on Rigoletto and present her to the Duke. In a rage, Rigoletto engages Sparafucile, a professional assassin, to kill the Duke. Having learned this, Gilda immediately decides to sacrifice herself and falls victim to the assassin's dagger. Rigoletto, having received a sack containing a corpse in exchange for money, is appalled to hear the Duke singing cheerfully from a distance. He hastily opens the sack only to find the dead body of his beloved daughter.

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