The new big summer production of National Opera of Greece, Giuseppe Verdi's “dark” masterpiece “Rigoletto”, conducted by Luke Karytinou and direction Katerina Evaggelatou, will be presented on 2, 5, 8 and 11 June 2022 at the Herodes Atticus Conservatory, in the context of the Athens Epidaurus Festival.
The Rigoletto is considered one of the most popular operas of the repertoire. In this work, which was first performed 171 years ago in Venice, Verdi turns a new page in his compositional path and presents a composition with a clear signature and an increased willingness to experiment. The transitions between lyrical and dramatic scenes ensure the constant flow of the story with great speed.
«Innovation of the music, the style, the form of the pieces. Wonderful work of orchestration: this orchestra speaks, tears, moves,» wrote the Italian critic Tomazo Locatelli the day after Rigoletto's world premiere, on 12 March 1851.
Rigoletto: The story behind Verdi's masterpiece
The story is about the Gilda's love, daughter of the hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto, for the eccentric Duke of Mantua, who presents himself to her as a poor student. In order to avenge his daughter's lost honor, Rigoletto plots the murder of the Duke. Discovering her father's plans, Gilda decides to save her beloved and sacrifice herself by taking his place.
For the new production of Rigoletto, the National Opera has entrusted the direction to the distinguished director and artistic director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, Katerina Evaggelatou. After her very successful first collaboration with the GNO in the contemporary opera Z, Evaggelatou comes to take on this great work of the operatic repertoire on the stage of the Herodes Atticus Conservatory.
Evolving her recognizable directorial identity, the Katerina Evangelatou will attempt to shed light on the contradictory, the dark personality of the character of Rigoletto, taking the story of the play to the corrupt society of the Italian countryside in the 1980s.
The director notes about her directorial approach: «The cycle of violence described by Verdi in Rigoletto is transported to the microcosm of the Italian countryside in the 1980s, where organised crime prevails. Corruption, crime and rape are the real face of a society that is religious, conservative and superstitious. Eva Manidaki's set - a time-worn mansion in the Italian countryside, which conceals within it the rawness and darkness of the heroes of the play - is perfectly integrated into the natural setting of the Herodion, while Alan Hranitel's costumes complete the picture of a society in decline.».
The setting signed by Eva Manidaki, the costumes Alan Hranitel, the choreography and kinesiology by Patricia Apergi and the lighting by Eleftheria Decaux.
Conducted by the eminent conductor and artistic director of the Athens State Orchestra Luke Karycinos. In the role of the title role the internationally acclaimed Greek baritone Dimitris Tiliakos, who has performed Rigoletto with great success in Brussels, Moscow, Dresden and Stuttgart.
In the role of the Duke of Mantua the distinguished Italian tenor Francesco Demuro, who has performed the role at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Paris National Opera, Real Madrid, Verona Arena, San Francisco Opera, Zurich, Tokyo, Berlin, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and in 2022 at the Royal Opera House in London and the Vienna State Opera.
Gilda is performed by the soprano with the international career Christina Poulitsis, who has performed the role with the leading conductor Zubin Metta in Florence. Sparafucile is played by Petros Magoulas and Maddalena by Mary-Ellen Nezi. They are joined by distinguished and younger singers such as Margarita Syngeniotou, Dimitris Kasioumis, Nikos Kotenidis, Yannis Kalivas, Giorgos Matthiaakakis, Diamanti Kritsotaki, Petros Salatas and Evita Chiotis.
Rigoletto at a glance
Ο Giuseppe Verdi, the most famous composer of Italian Romanticism, was born in Le Roncole in northern Italy in 1813 and died in Milan in 1901. He studied music in provincial Busseto and then in Milan. His first works were written in revolutionary climate of the time, echoing ideologically the struggle for the liberation of the Italian states from the Austrians and their unification into a sovereign country. Verdi's involvement in politics made him a national symbol.
As an acrostic the motto “Viva Verdi” meant Viva Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy - Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia. In 1861 the composer was elected a member of the first Italian parliament. His most famous operas are Nabucco (1842), Rigoletto (1851), The Troubadour (1853), Traviata (1853), The Power of Destiny (1862), Aida (1871), Othello (1887) and Falstaff (1893).
With the music, Verdi expressed on an aesthetic level the spirit of the of mature romanticism and, on a political level, the desire of his compatriots to see Italy free and united. He was loved by a very wide audience and gained popularity from the outset which remains undiminished to this day. In the historical, political and social circumstances of the 19th century, Verdi was the composer who lived through that unique moment in the history of music when high art became at the same time popular.
Rigoletto was first performed at the Phoenix Theatre in Venice on 11 March 1851. In Greece, the opera was performed in 1852 in Corfu under British protection and on 28 October 1853 in Athens, in Italian. At repertoire of the National Opera Rigolettos was included in January 1948, when it was given a musical direction by Leonidas Zora and directed by Konstantinos Persis, with Evangelos Magliveras in the main role, Antonis Delendas as Duke and Francesca Nikita as Gilda.
The production is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] for the support of the artistic extroversion of the Greek National Opera.
Info: 2, 5, 8, 11 June 2022, Time: 21.00, Herodes Atticus Conservatory. As part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. Ticket prices: €25, €45, €55, €55, €60, €85, €100. Pre-sale: ELS box office, Athens Festival ticket offices, aefestival.gr, viva.gr.
