Rigoletto

an Opera by Giuseppe Verdi

Ancient Theatre, Wednesday 11th August 2021 @ 9.30 pm

 

Placido Domingo > conductor
Leo Nucci > direction
Carlo Centolavigna > scenes
Artemio Cabassi > costumes
Antonio Alaril > lights
Luigi Petrozziello > Conductor of the Chorus
Orchestra and Chorus > Teatro Bellini of Catania

 

CAST
Leo Nucci > Rigoletto
Federica Guida > Gilda
Stefan Pop > The Duke of Mantova (Mantua)
Antonio Di Matteo > Sparafucile
Anastasia Boldyreva > Maddalena
Maria Russo > Giovanna
Alessandro Busi > Monterone
Dario Giorgelè > Marullo
Dave Monaco > Borsa
Claudio Levantino >  Conte di Ceprano
Fulvia Mastrobuono > Il paggio

 

TICKETS on boxol

Gallery: € 62,00
Cavea (upper circle): € 32,00

 

IMPORTANT

If you are staying in a Sicilian accommodation (hotel, B&B, apartment, camping, etc.) you can get ONE FREE TICKET FOR EACH TICKET PURCHASED.
Ask the reception of your accommodation to send an email of accreditation to botteghino@teatromassimobellini.it (Ph. +39 095/7306135) then collect the tickets at the ticket office of the Ancient Theatre between 7.30 and 8.30 PM of the day. If you arrive later, you will have to pay for both.

 

Synopsis

Place: Mantua
Time: the sixteenth century

Act 1

Scene 1: Mantua. A magnificent hall in the ducal palace. Doors at the back open into other rooms, splendidly lit up. A crowd of lords and ladies in grand costumes are seen walking about in the rear rooms; page boys come and go. The festivities are at their height. Music is heard from offstage. The Duke and Borsa enter from a door in the back.

Act 1, scene 1: Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse
At a ball in his palace, the Duke sings of a life of pleasure with as many women as possible, and mentions that he particularly enjoys cuckolding his courtiers: “Questa o quella” (“This woman or that”). He mentions to Borsa that he has seen an unknown beauty in church and desires to possess her, but he also wishes to seduce the Countess of Ceprano. Rigoletto, the Duke’s hunchbacked court jester, mocks the husbands of the ladies to whom the Duke is paying attention, including the Count Ceprano. He humorously advises the Duke to get rid of Count Ceprano by prison, exile, or death. The Duke laughs indulgently, but Ceprano is not amused. Marullo, one of the guests at the ball, informs the courtiers that Rigoletto has a “lover”, which astonishes them. (Marullo is not aware that the “lover” is actually Rigoletto’s daughter.) The courtiers, at Ceprano’s suggestion, resolve to take vengeance on Rigoletto for making fun of them. The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of the elderly Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke had seduced. Rigoletto provokes him further by making fun of his helplessness to avenge his daughter’s honor. Monterone confronts the Duke, and is immediately arrested by the Duke’s guards. Before being led off to prison, Monterone curses both the Duke for the attack on his daughter and Rigoletto for having mocked his righteous anger. The curse terrifies Rigoletto, who believes the popular superstition that an old man’s curse has real power.

Act 1, scene 2 stage set by Giuseppe Bertoja for the world premiere of Rigoletto
Scene 2: The end of a dead-end street. On the left, a house of discreet appearance with one small courtyard surrounded by walls. In the yard there is one tall tree and a marble seat; in the wall, a door that leads to the street; above the wall, a terrace supported by arches. The second floor door opens on to the said terrace, which can also be reached by a staircase in front. To the right of the street is the very high wall of the garden and a side of the Ceprano palace. It is night.

Preoccupied with the old man’s curse, Rigoletto approaches the house where he is concealing his daughter from the world and is accosted by the assassin Sparafucile, who walks up to him and offers his services. Rigoletto declines for the moment, but leaves open the possibility of hiring Sparafucile later, should the need arise. Sparafucile wanders off, after repeating his own name a few times. Rigoletto contemplates the similarities between the two of them: “Pari siamo!” (“We are alike!”); Sparafucile kills men with his sword, and Rigoletto uses “a tongue of malice” to stab his victims. Rigoletto opens a door in the wall and embraces his daughter Gilda. They greet each other warmly: “Figlia!” “Mio padre!” (“Daughter!” “My father!”). Rigoletto has been concealing his daughter from the Duke and the rest of the city, and she does not know her father’s occupation. Since he has forbidden her to appear in public, she has been nowhere except to church and does not even know her own father’s name.

When Rigoletto has gone, the Duke appears and overhears Gilda confess to her nurse Giovanna that she feels guilty for not having told her father about a young man she had met at the church. She says that she fell in love with him, but that she would love him even more if he were a student and poor. As she declares her love, the Duke enters, overjoyed. Gilda, alarmed, calls for Giovanna, unaware that the Duke had given her money to go away. Pretending to be a student, the Duke convinces Gilda of his love: “È il sol dell’anima” (“Love is the sunshine of the soul”). When she asks for his name, he hesitantly calls himself Gualtier Maldè. Hearing sounds and fearing that her father has returned, Gilda sends the Duke away after they quickly trade vows of love: “Addio, addio” (“Farewell, farewell”). Alone, Gilda meditates on her love for the Duke, whom she believes is a student: “Gualtier Maldè!… Caro nome che il mio cor” (“Dearest name”).

Later, Rigoletto returns: “Riedo!… perché?” (“I’ve returned!… why?”), while the hostile courtiers outside the walled garden (believing Gilda to be the jester’s mistress, unaware she is his daughter) get ready to abduct the helpless girl. They tell Rigoletto that they are actually abducting the Countess Ceprano. He sees that they are masked and asks for a mask for himself; while they are tying the mask onto his face, they also blindfold him. Blindfolded and deceived, he holds the ladder steady while they climb up to Gilda’s room: Chorus: “Zitti, zitti” (“Softly, softly”). With her father’s unknowing assistance Gilda is carried away by the courtiers. Left alone, Rigoletto removes his mask and blindfold, and realizes that it was in fact Gilda who was carried away. He collapses in despair, remembering the old man’s curse.

Act 2

A room in the ducal palace. There are doors on both sides as well as a larger one at the far end by the sides of which hang full length portraits of the Duke and his wife. There is one high-backed chair at a table covered with velvet and other furnishings.

The Duke is concerned that Gilda has disappeared: “Ella mi fu rapita!” (“She was stolen from me!”) and “Parmi veder le lagrime” (“I seem to see tears”). The courtiers then enter and inform him that they have captured Rigoletto’s mistress: Chorus: “Scorrendo uniti” (“We went together at nightfall”). By their description, he recognizes it to be Gilda and rushes off to the room where she is held: “Possente amor mi chiama” (“Mighty love beckons me”). Rigoletto enters singing and feigning nonchalance, but also looking anxiously for any trace of Gilda, whom he fears may have fallen into the hands of the Duke. The courtiers pretend not to notice his anxiety, but quietly laugh at him with each other. A page boy arrives with a message from the Duke’s wife – the Duchess wishes to speak to her husband – but the courtiers reply suggestively that the Duke cannot be disturbed at the moment. Rigoletto realizes this must mean that Gilda is with the Duke. To the courtiers’ surprise, he reveals that Gilda is his daughter. He first demands, then tearfully pleads with the courtiers to return her to him: “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” (“Accursed race of courtiers”). Rigoletto attempts to run into the room in which Gilda is being held, but the courtiers block his way. After a time, Gilda enters, and Rigoletto orders the courtiers to leave him alone with her. The courtiers leave the room, believing Rigoletto has gone mad. Gilda describes to her father what has happened to her in the palace: “Tutte le feste al tempio” (“On all the holy days”) and he attempts to console her. Monterone is led across the room on the way to prison and pauses in front of the portrait of the Duke to regret that his curse on the libertine has had no effect. As the guards lead Monterone away, Rigoletto mutters that the old man is mistaken; he, Rigoletto, the dishonored buffoon, shall make thunder and lightning rain from heaven onto the offender’s head. He repeats this vow as Gilda pleads for mercy for her lover the Duke: Duet:”Sì! Vendetta, tremenda vendetta!” (“Yes! Revenge, terrible revenge!”).

 

Act 3

The right bank of the river Mincio. On the left is a two-story house, half ruined. Through a large arch on the ground floor a rustic tavern can be seen as well as a rough stone staircase that leads to an attic room with a small bed which is in full view as there are no shutters. In the wall downstairs that faces the street is a door that opens to the inside. The wall is so full of holes and cracks that everything that happens inside is easily seen from the exterior. At the back of the stage are deserted areas by the river which flows behind a parapet that has half collapsed into ruins. Beyond the river is Mantua. It is night. Gilda and Rigoletto, both uneasy, are standing in the road; Sparafucile is seated at a table in the tavern.

A portion of Sparafucile’s house is seen, with two rooms open to the view of the audience. Rigoletto and Gilda arrive outside. The Duke’s voice can be heard from inside, singing “La donna è mobile” (“Woman is fickle”). Sparafucile’s sister, Maddalena, has lured him to the house. Rigoletto and Gilda listen from outside as the Duke flirts with Maddalena. Gilda laments that the Duke is unfaithful; Rigoletto assures her that he is arranging revenge: “Bella figlia dell’amore” (“Beautiful daughter of love”).

Rigoletto orders Gilda to put on a man’s clothes to prepare to leave for Verona and tells her that he plans to follow later. After she leaves, he completes his bargain with the assassin, who is ready to murder his guest for 20 scudi. Rigoletto then withdraws.

With falling darkness, a thunderstorm approaches and the Duke decides to spend the rest of the night in the house. Sparafucile directs him to the upstairs sleeping quarters, resolving to kill him in his sleep.

Gilda, who still loves the Duke despite knowing him to be unfaithful, returns dressed as a man and stands outside the house. Maddalena, who is smitten with the Duke, begs Sparafucile to spare his life: “È amabile invero cotal giovinotto/ Ah, più non ragiono!”. Sparafucile reluctantly promises her that if by midnight another victim can be found, he will kill the other instead of the Duke. Gilda, overhearing this exchange, resolves to sacrifice herself for the Duke, and enters the house: “Trio: Se pria ch’abbia il mezzo la notte toccato”. Sparafucile stabs her and she collapses, mortally wounded.

At midnight, when Rigoletto arrives with money, he receives a corpse wrapped in a sack, and rejoices in his triumph. Weighting it with stones, he is about to cast the sack into the river when he hears the voice of the Duke, sleepily singing a reprise of his “La donna è mobile” aria. Bewildered, Rigoletto opens the sack and, to his despair, discovers his dying daughter. For a moment, she revives and declares she is glad to die for her beloved: “V’ho ingannato” (“Father, I deceived you”). She dies in his arms. Rigoletto cries out in horror: “La maledizione!” (“The curse!”)[22]

 

 

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta

 

Gli Imperi della Mente

Odeon Theatre, Tuesday 10th August 2021 @ 9.30 pm

 

Theatre performance by and with Elio Crifò.

 

TICKETS on boxol.it at € 12,00

 

Ticket Office in Taormina:

° Casa del Cinema > Corso Umberto 61 – mobile 0039 391 746 2146
° Tabacchi La 6 > Via Bagnoli Croci 90 – Ph. 0039 0942 23 226

 

MORE INFO

Fondazione Taormina Arte – www.taoarte.it

 

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta

Diodato

Ancient Theatre, Friday 6th August 2021 @ 9,30 pm

 

Antonio Diodato (born 30 August 1981), known simply as Diodato, is an Italian singer-songwriter.[1] He won the 70th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with the song “Fai rumore” and was scheduled to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before it was cancelled by the EBU on 18 March 2020.

 

TICKETS on ticketone and boxol

Stalls (Parterre – Sector n. 1): € 57,50
Gallery (Sector n. 2): € 46,00
Cavea (Upper circle – Sector n. 3): € 34,50

 

MORE INFO

www.facebook.com/DiodatoOfficial

www.instagram.com/diodatomusic

 

 

 

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta

Racconti di Gioventù

by Giuseppe Sinopoli

Cathedral of Taormina, Tuesday 3rd August 2021 @ 8.30 pm

 

Elio Crifò will be the reciting voice in “Tales of Youth”, a show dedicated to Maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli, the great orchestra conductor of Messina (Sicily).

With:
Sicilian Opera Choir conducted by maestro Francesco Costa
String Quintet Vincenzo Bellini
Clara Polito (sopran)
Alberto Munafò Siragusa (tenor)
Silvia Cappellini Sinopoli (piano)
Francesco Allegra (piano)
Giovanni di Stefano (organ)

Giovanni Sinopoli (lyrics and direction)
Marco Sinopoli (music consultant)

Free admission with reservations required HERE

 

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta

La Traviata

An opera by Giuseppe Verdi

SICILIA CLASSICA FESTIVAL

Ancient Theatre, Sunday 1st August 2021 @ 9.30 pm

 

PRODUCTION : Siciliarte Opera Management
DIRECTION: Salvo Dolce
CONDUCTOR: Alessandra Pipitone
ORCHESTRA: Orchestra Filarmonica Della Sicilia
CHORUS: Coro Lirico Mediterraneo
STAGING: Stefania Cotroneo
COSTUMES: Fabrizio Buttiglieri,
LIGHT DESIGNER: Gabriele Circo

 

CAST

Violetta Valery > Maria Francesca MAZZARA
Alfredo Germont > Alberto PROFETA
Giorgio Germont > Francesco VULTAGGIO
Flora Bervoix > Valentina VINTI
Annina > Ester Gabriella VENTURA
Gastone > Francesco CIPRI’
Baron Douphol > Alberto CRAPANZANO
Marchese D’Obigny > Claudio MANNINO
Doctor Grenvil > Davide MARCON
Giuseppe > Luigi MILAZZO
Un Commissario/Un Domestico di Flora > Settimo SCAMARDI

 

TICKETS on vivaticket (registration needed)

Gallery (Sector n. 2): € 66,00
Cavea (Lower circle – lateral): € 49,50
Cavea (Lower circle – central): € 55,00
Cavea (upper circle – lateral): € 38,50
Cavea (Lower circle – central): € 44,00

 

MORE INFO

www.siciliaclassicafestival.it

www.facebook.com/siciliaclassicafestival

 

SYNOPSIS

Place: Paris and its vicinity.
Time: Beginning of the 19th century

Act 1

The salon in Violetta’s house

Scene 1: Party (attrib. Carl d’Unker)
Violetta Valéry, a famed courtesan, throws a lavish party at her Paris salon to celebrate her recovery from an illness. Gastone, a viscount, has brought with him a friend, Alfredo Germont, a young bourgeois from a provincial family who has long adored Violetta from afar. While walking to the salon, Gastone tells Violetta that Alfredo loves her, and that while she was ill, he came to her house every day. Alfredo joins them, admitting the truth of Gastone’s remarks.

Baron Douphol, Violetta’s current lover, waits nearby to escort her to the salon; once there, the Baron is asked to give a toast, but refuses, and the crowd turns to Alfredo, who agrees to sing a brindisi – a drinking song (Alfredo, Violetta, chorus: Libiamo ne’ lieti calici – “Let’s drink from the joyful cups”).

From the next room, the sound of the orchestra is heard and the guests move there to dance. After a series of severe coughs and almost fainting, Violetta begins to feel dizzy and asks her guests to go ahead and to leave her to rest until she recovers. While the guests dance in the next room, Violetta looks at her pale face in her mirror. Alfredo enters and expresses his concern for her fragile health, later declaring his love for her (Alfredo, Violetta: Un dì, felice, eterea – “One day, happy and ethereal”). At first, she rejects him because his love means nothing to her, but there is something about Alfredo that touches her heart. He is about to leave when she gives him a flower, telling him to return it when it has wilted, which will be the very next day.

After the guests leave, Violetta wonders if Alfredo could actually be the one in her life (Violetta: È strano! … Ah, fors’ è lui – “Ah, perhaps he is the one”). But she concludes that she needs freedom to live her life (Violetta, Alfredo: Sempre libera – “Always free”). From off stage, Alfredo’s voice is heard singing about love as he walks down the street.

 

Act 2

Scene 1: Violetta’s country house outside Paris

Three months later, Alfredo and Violetta are living together in a peaceful country house outside Paris. Violetta has fallen in love with Alfredo and she has completely abandoned her former life. Alfredo sings of their happy life together (Alfredo: De’ miei bollenti spiriti / Il giovanile ardore – “The youthful ardor of my ebullient spirits”). Annina, the maid, arrives from Paris, and, when questioned by Alfredo, tells him that she went there to sell the horses, carriages and everything owned by Violetta to support their country lifestyle.

Alfredo is shocked to learn this and leaves for Paris immediately to settle matters himself. Violetta returns home and receives an invitation from her friend, Flora, to a party in Paris that evening. Alfredo’s father, Giorgio Germont, is announced and demands that she break off her relationship with his son for the sake of his family, since he reveals that Violetta’s relationship with Alfredo has threatened his daughter’s engagement (Giorgio: Pura siccome un angelo, Iddio mi diè una figlia – “Pure as an angel, God gave me a daughter”) because of Violetta’s reputation. Meanwhile, he reluctantly becomes impressed by Violetta’s nobility, something which he did not expect from a courtesan. She responds that she cannot end the relationship because she loves him so much, but Giorgio pleads with her for the sake of his family. With growing remorse, she finally agrees (Violetta, Giorgio: Dite alla giovine, sì bella e pura, – “Tell the young girl, so beautiful and pure,”) and says goodbye to Giorgio. In a gesture of gratitude for her kindness and sacrifice, Giorgio kisses her forehead before leaving her weeping alone.

Violetta gives a note to Annina to send to Flora accepting the party invitation and, as she is writing a farewell letter to Alfredo, he enters. She can barely control her sadness and tears; she tells him repeatedly of her unconditional love (Violetta: Amami, Alfredo, amami quant’io t’amo – “Love me, Alfredo, love me as I love you”). Before rushing out and setting off for Paris, she hands the farewell letter to her servant to give to Alfredo.

Soon, the servant brings the letter to Alfredo and, as soon as he has read it, Giorgio returns and attempts to comfort his son, reminding him of his family in Provence (Giorgio: Di Provenza il mar, il suol chi dal cor ti cancellò? – “Who erased the sea, the land of Provence from your heart?”). Alfredo suspects that the Baron is behind his separation with Violetta, and the party invitation, which he finds on the desk, strengthens his suspicions. He decides to confront Violetta at the party. Giorgio tries to stop Alfredo, but he rushes out.

 

Scene 2: Party at Flora’s house

Act 2, scene 2 from Fife Opera’s 2004 production
At the party, the Marquis tells Flora that Violetta and Alfredo have separated, much to the amazement of everyone who had previously seen the happy couple. She calls for the entertainers to perform for the guests (Chorus: Noi siamo zingarelle venute da lontano – “We are gypsy girls who have come from afar”; Di Madride noi siam mattadori – “We are matadors from Madrid”). Gastone and his friends join the matadors and sing (Gastone, chorus, dancers: È Piquillo un bel gagliardo Biscaglino mattador – “Piquillo is a bold and handsome matador from Biscay”).

Violetta arrives with Baron Douphol. They see Alfredo at the gambling table. When he sees them, Alfredo loudly proclaims that he will take Violetta home with him. Feeling annoyed, the Baron goes to the gambling table and joins him in a game. As they bet, Alfredo wins some large sums until Flora announces that supper is ready. Alfredo leaves with handfuls of money.

As everyone is leaving the room, Violetta has asked Alfredo to see her. Fearing that the Baron’s anger will lead him to challenge Alfredo to a duel, she gently asks Alfredo to leave. Alfredo misunderstands her apprehension and demands that she admit that she loves the Baron. In grief, she makes that admission and, furiously, Alfredo calls the guests to witness what he has to say (Questa donna conoscete? – “You know this woman?”). He humiliates and denounces Violetta in front of the guests and then throws his winnings at her feet in payment for her services. She faints onto the floor. The guests reprimand Alfredo: Di donne ignobile insultatore, di qua allontanati, ne desti orror! (“Ignoble insulter of women, go away from here, you fill us with horror!”).

In search of his son, Giorgio enters the hall and, knowing the real significance of the scene, denounces his son’s behavior (Giorgio, Alfredo, Violetta, chorus: Di sprezzo degno sè stesso rende chi pur nell’ira la donna offende. – “A man, who even in anger, offends a woman renders himself deserving of contempt.”).

Flora and the ladies attempt to persuade Violetta to leave the dining room, but Violetta turns to Alfredo: Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core non-puoi comprendere tutto l’amore… – “Alfredo, Alfredo, you can’t understand all the love in this heart…”.

 

Act 3

Violetta’s bedroom

Dr. Grenvil tells Annina that Violetta will not live long since her tuberculosis has worsened. Alone in her room, Violetta reads a letter from Alfredo’s father telling her that the Baron was only wounded in his duel with Alfredo. He has informed Alfredo of the sacrifice she has made for him and his sister; and he is sending his son to see her as quickly as possible to ask for her forgiveness. But Violetta senses it is too late (Violetta: Addio, del passato bei sogni ridenti – “Farewell, lovely, happy dreams of the past”).

Annina rushes in the room to tell Violetta of Alfredo’s arrival. The lovers are reunited and Alfredo suggests that they leave Paris (Alfredo, Violetta: Parigi, o cara, noi lasceremo – “We will leave Paris, O beloved”).

But it is too late: she knows her time is up (Alfredo, Violetta: Gran Dio!…morir sì giovane – “Great God!…to die so young”). Alfredo’s father enters with the doctor, regretting what he has done. After singing a duet with Alfredo, Violetta suddenly revives, exclaiming that the pain and discomfort have left her. A moment later, she dies in Alfredo’s arms.

 

 

 

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel La Pensione Svizzera – Hotel Villa Schuler – Hotel Villa Ducale – Hotel Villa Carlotta