Rigoletto
Taormina Greek Theatre, 9.30pm
This year is the bicentenary anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi and Taormina wants to celebrate this great artist by performing one of his best known works: Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The story is set in Mantua (north Italy) in the Sixteenth century.
A world renown cast will be on stage:
Baritono: Carlos Almaguer (Rigoletto)
Tenore: Gianluca Terranova (Duca di Mantova)
Soprano: Rocio Ignacio (Gilda),
Basso: Gianfranco Montresor (Monterone).
Orchestra Sinfonica Bellini, conductor Gianluca Martinenghi
Direction and Sets: Enrico Castiglione
Costumes: Sonia Cammarata
PRICES FROM TODAY TO MARCH 10th
Stalls (Parterre): € 75,00
Gallery: € 50,50
Upper circle (numbered seats): € 39,00
Upper circle (non-numbered seats): € 22,00
PRICES FROM MARCH 10th TO APRIL 30th
Stalls (Parterre): € 85,00
Gallery: € 57,00
Upper circle (numbered seats): € 44,00
Upper circle (non-numbered seats): € 27,50
PRICES FROM MAY 1st TO JUNE 30th
Stalls (Parterre): € 95,00
Gallery: € 63,00
Upper circle (numbered seats): € 49,00
Upper circle (non-numbered seats): € 33,00
PRICES FROM JULY 1st TO EVENT
Stalls (Parterre): € 105,00
Gallery: € 70,00
Upper circle (numbered seats): € 54,00
Upper circle (non-numbered seats): € 38,00
Tickets on boxol.it
Ticket Office in Taormina: +39 0942.628730
Synopsis
Act One
The Duke is boasting to his courtiers about his conquests and leads the latest, Countess Ceprano, to a private chamber whilst his hunchbacked jester, Rigoletto makes fun of her husband. Marullo announces the suspicions around Rigoletto having a mistress and Count Ceprano conspires with the courtiers to punish Rigoletto. Monterone enters to condemn the Duke for having seduced his daughter, but he is placed under arrest and scorned by Rigoletto. He utters a curse on both Rigoletto and the Duke. At home Rigoletto is greeted by his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps hidden away. He reminisces about his late wife and demands Giovanna, the governess, to admit noone into the house; he has been frightened by Monterone’s curse. When Rigoletto has left, the Duke slips into their garden and silences Giovanna with money. He tells Gilda he is a poor student called Gualtier Maldè and that he is in love with her, rushing away when he hears approaching footsteps. Rigoletto is stopped by the courtiers outside his house who ask him to help abduct Countess Ceprano. He is fooled into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own wall whilst the courtiers break into his home and kidnap Gilda instead.
Act Two
The Duke is deeply upset about Gilda’s disappearance and rushes to see her when the courtiers inform him it was they who took her. Rigoletto enters looking for Gilda; the courtiers are shocked to hear she is actually his daughter and not his mistress as they had thought. Rigoletto condemns them and embraces Gilda. Monterone is sent to the dungeon and Rigoletto vows to avenge both Monterone and the Duke.
Act Three
Outside Sparafucile’s place Rigoletto and Gilda watch the Duke flirt with Sparafucile’s sister, Maddalena. Rigoletto sends his daughter off to disguise herself as a boy for her escape and then pays Sparafucile to kill the Duke. Gilda returns and hears Maddalena persuade her brother to kill not the Duke but the first person who walks into his inn. Despite his betrayal, Gilda sacrifices herself for the Duke and enters the inn. Rigoletto claims the body in a sack and gloats only to hear the Duke in the distance. Anxiously he cuts the sack open and finds Gilda who dies asking for his forgiveness.
