Organization

Stage director

Bartlett Sher

Set designer

Michael Yeargan

Costume designer

Catherine Zuber

Lighting designer

Donald Holder

Singer

Soprano

Rosa Feola

Gilda

Lisette Oropesa

Contralto

Aigul Akhmetshina

Maddalena

Tenor

Benjamin Bernheim

The Duke of Mantua

Stephen Costello

Baritone

Quinn Kelsey

Rigoletto

Michael Chioldi

Luca Salsi

Conductor

Speranza Scappucci

Alexandra Nowakowski

Bass

John Relyea

Sparafucile

Mezzo-soprano

Brittany Renee

The Countess of Ceprano

Susanne Burgess

Edyta Kulczak

Giovanna

Eve Gigliotti

Bradley Garvin

The Count of Monterone

Craig Colclough

Scott Scully

Matteo Borsa

Jeongcheol Cha

Marullo

Paul Corona

The Count of Ceprano

Javier Camarena

Julian Close

The Metropolitan Opera

Others

Metropolitan Opera Choir

Orchestra

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Italian

New York City

United States

Metropolitan Opera House

Rigoletto Verdi

Public

English

German

Spanish

Approved

Benjamin Bernheim as Duca

Benjamin Bernheim sings the Duke of Mantua’s Act III aria in the opening performance. Production: Bartlett Sher. Conductor: Speranza Scappucci. 2022–23 season. Videography by Neville Braithwaite.

After a lauded premiere on New Year’s Eve 2021, Bartlett Sher’s Art Deco–inspired production of Verdi’s ever-popular masterpiece returns for its first revival. Baritone Quinn Kelsey and soprano Rosa Feola reprise rapturously acclaimed turns as the tragic jester Rigoletto and his headstrong daughter, Gilda, and two artists make noteworthy Met debuts: tenor Benjamin Bernheim as the promiscuous Duke of Mantua, and Maestro Speranza Scappucci on the podium. Bass Andrea Mastroni is Sparafucile, and mezzo- soprano Aigul Akhmetshina also debuts as Maddalena. Later performances feature four additional stars, with baritones Luca Salsi and Michael Chioldi, soprano Lisette Oropesa, and tenor Stephen Costello taking over as Rigoletto, Gilda, and the Duke.

World premiere: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 1851
A dramatic journey of undeniable force, Rigoletto was immensely popular from its premiere and remains fresh and powerful to this day. The story, based on a controversial play by Victor Hugo, tells of an outsider—a hunchbacked jester—who struggles to balance the dueling elements of beauty and evil that exist in his life. Written during the most fertile period of Verdi’s artistic life, the opera resonates with a universality that is frequently called Shakespearean.

Creators
In a remarkable career spanning six decades in the theater, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) composed 26 operas, at least half of which are at the core of today’s repertoire. His role in Italy’s cultural and political development has made him an icon in his native country. Francesco Maria Piave (1810–76), Verdi’s librettist for Rigoletto, collaborated with him on ten works, including Ernani, La Traviata, La Forza del Destino, and the original versions of Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra.

Setting
Victor Hugo’s 1832 play Le Roi s’Amuse, set at the court of King François I of France (circa 1520), is a blatant depiction of depraved authority. In adapting it, Verdi and Piave fought with the Italian censors and eventually settled on moving the story to the non-royal Renaissance court of Mantua, while holding firm on the core issues of the drama. In the Met’s production, the action unfolds in Weimar Germany in the 1920s, a time and place with surprising parallels to the decadent—and dangerous—world of the original setting.

Music
Rigoletto contains a wealth of melody, including one that is among the world’s most famous: “La donna è mobile.” All the opera’s solos are rich with character insight and dramatic development. The famous Act III quartet, “Bella figlia dell’amore,” is an ingenious musical analysis of the diverging reactions of the four principals in the same moment: The Duke’s music rises with urgency and impatience, Gilda’s droops with disappointment, Rigoletto’s remains measured and paternal, while the promiscuous Maddalena is literally all over the place. In the context of the opera, the merely lovely music becomes inspired drama.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble