The first big summer production of ELS for 2022 is the dark masterpiece of Giuseppe Verdi Rigolettos , under the musical direction of Loukas Karytinos and directed by Katerina Evangelatou. The long-awaited production of ELS, which was twice postponed due to the pandemic, will premiere next June at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, as part of the Athens Festival.
From its premiere in Venice in 1851 until today, Rigoletto has been applauded by thousands of spectators around the world and has rightly been described as one of the most popular operas of all time. In Rigoletto , Verdi turns the page on his synthetic path and presents a work with a clear stigma and an increased willingness to experiment, as the transitions between lyrical and dramatic scenes ensure the constant flow of the story at high speed.
The story is about the love of Gilda, daughter of the hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto, about the late Duke of Mantua, who is presented to her as a poor student. In order to avenge the lost honor of his daughter, Rigoletto plots to assassinate the Duke. Discovering her father's plans, Gilda decides to save her beloved and sacrifice herself, taking his place.
The National Opera has commissioned Rigoletto to direct the artistic director of the Athens Festival, Katerina Evangelatou, a theater director - one of the most promising voices of the younger generation. After her very successful first collaboration with ELS in the contemporary opera Z , Evangelatou will face this great work of the operatic repertoire and her own recognizable directorial identity will try to illuminate the contradictory, dark personality of Rigoletto's character. Starring the internationally recognized Greek soloists Dimitris Tiliakos, Christina Poulitsi, Dimitris Paksoglou, Petros Magoulas, Mary-Elen Nezi.
