Rigoletto di Giuseppe Verdi in Forma di Concerto

Recommended

Thu Nov 22

Discuss this article Centrepoint Theatre, Barsha

Opera fans are in for a treat this November as one of the best-known Italian operas, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, is staged in concert form by a fantastic line-up of ten Italian singers and musicians.

Based on the play Le Roi S’Amuse by Victor Hugo, with an Italian libretto written by Francesco Maria Piave, the opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851.

Set in a world of princes, courtiers, jesters and exquisite maidens, the opera tells the tale of Rigoletto (sung by baritone Giuseppe Deligia), a jester at the court of Mantua who possesses two special gifts: his ability to make people laugh and his beautiful daughter Gilda (soprano Monica De Rosa McKay). However, Rigoletto uses his first gift cruelly, wielding his wit like a weapon, and keeps his second treasure, Gilda, a secret from the world, like a miser hoarding his gold. In this dark fairytale kingdom where evil may triumph, goodness goes unrewarded and where princes do more than kiss the raptured beauty awake, it is Rigoletto’s weakness for viciousness that will lead to the destruction of the person he holds most dear.