G. Verdi: Rigoletto

The Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa

Conductor: Gianluca Marcianò
Director: Rolando Panerai
Costume design: Regina Schrecker
Choreography: Giovanni Di Cicco

Main cast:
Rigoletto: Leo Nucci
Gilda: Maria Mudryak
Duke of Mantua: Celso Albelo
Sparafucile: Dario Russo, Mihailo Sljivic
Maddalena: Anastasia Boldyreva, Kamelia Kader
Giovanna: Anna Venturi, Alla Gorobchenko
Count Monterone: Stefano Rinaldi Miliani
Marullo: Claudio Ottino
Borsa: Aldo Orsolini
Count Ceprano: Giuseppe De Luca
Countess Ceprano: Alla Gorobchenko, Simona Pasino
A Court Usher: Alessio Bianchini, Loris Purpura
A Page: Annarita Cecchini

The opera company of Genoa’s famous Teatro Carlo Felice are set to leave a lasting impression with their staging of Verdi’s Rigoletto. In 1850 the Teatro La Fenice in Venice commissioned Giuseppe Verdi to compose a new opera. The composer set to work with librettist Francesco Maria Piave, with whom he had already created several operas. The libretto of Rigoletto, a tragic opera in three acts, is based on Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse, and fell foul of the censors because of its portrayal of the immorality of the king. Following changes to the libretto, the opera was finally premiered a year later. Today Rigoletto is a mainstay of the operatic repertoire. It received its first Slovene performance in Ljubljana on 19 November 1896. The opera is perhaps most notable for the Duke’s cynical aria „La donna è mobile”, an eminently hummable tune that would become very popular among the gondoliers of Venice. The title role of the thoughtless court jester Rigoletto is sung by the celebrated Italian baritone Leo Nucci, a famous Verdi interpreter who has appeared more than 400 times in the role of Rigoletto alone.

„Now in its 66th season, the Ljubljana Festival is once again promising us a programme of the very highest quality, reaffirming its central position in the network of summer music and theatre festivals across Europe. In this context, the Italian Embassy in Ljubljana, in conjunction with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, is delighted to have the opportunity to support this staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto by Genoa’s prestigious Teatro Carlo Felice. This event, made possible by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, will take place in the broader context of the rich series of Italian musical events in this year’s Festival programme, under the honorary patronage of the Italian Embassy. In this way we aim to draw attention to the excellent relations existing between Italy and Slovenia in the cultural sphere. At the same time I note with pleasure the recent entry into force of the agreement between the governments of Italy and Slovenia on cooperation in the fields of culture and education. I therefore wish all festivalgoers a thoroughly enjoyable experience at this 2018 edition of the Ljubljana Festival, which promises to be a memorable one.” Paolo Trichilo, Italian Ambassador to Slovenia

The honorary patron of the event is His Excellency Paolo Trichilo, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy.