Teatro Lirico D’Europa with Connecticut Virtuosi Orchestra presents:
RIGOLETTO – An opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo.

The tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda. The opera’s original title, La Maledizion (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto’s encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by her father.

Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theaters at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The work, Verdi’s sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi’s middle-to-late career.

This is a CONCERT VERSION Italian production with English supertitles.

CAST:

Baritone:             Michael Nansel – RIGOLETTO
Tenor:                  Victor Starsky – DUKE
Soprano:             Hanna Brammer – GILDA
Basso:                 Steven Fredericks – SPARAFUCILE
Mezzo Soprano: Rebecca De Almeida – MADDALENA
Bass Baritone:   Vladimir Hristov – MONTERONE
Bass Baritone:   Nathan Strock –  MARULLO

Maestro:              Adrian Sylveen – Conductor

Chorus Master:  Rider Foster
Stage Director:   Giorgio Lalov –  Sets, costumes, and lights