2022–23 Season Rigoletto

GIUSEPPE VERDI

Rigoletto
NOV 10 - DEC 29

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Tony Award​–winning director Bartlett Sher’s bold

new take on Verdi’s timeless tragedy resets the
opera’s action in 1920s Europe, with Art Deco sets
by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by
Catherine Zuber, themselves boasting a combined
eight Tony Awards. Baritone Quinn Kelsey, a
commanding artist at the height of his powers,
brings his searing portrayal of the title role to the
Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano
Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the
Duke of Mantua, with leading maestro Daniele
Rustioni on the podium. A second run of
performances in the spring features soprano Erin
Morley and tenor Stephen Costello, conducted by
Karel Mark Chichon.

In cooperation with Staatsoper Berlin

Production a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III – Director, Spring

Point Partners, LLC; Gramma Fisher Foundation,
Marshalltown, Iowa; and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Montrone

Revival a gift of Rolex

READ SYNOPSIS

SUNG IN
ITALIAN

MET TITLES IN
ENGLISH GERMAN SPANISH

ESTIMATED RUN TIME

2 HRS 40 MINS

CAST

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performance

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CONDUCTOR

Speranza Scappucci
PERFORMING
ALL DATES

GILDA

Rosa Feola
PERFORMING
NOV 10,14,17,20,26,29
DEC 3

GILDA

Lisette Oropesa
PERFORMING
DEC 8,11,14,17,20,23,29

MADDALENA

Aigul Akhmetshina
PERFORMING
ALL DATES

THE DUKE OF MANTUA

Benjamin Bernheim
PERFORMING
NOV 10,14,17,20,26,29
DEC 3,8

THE DUKE OF MANTUA

Stephen Costello
PERFORMING
DEC 11,14,17,20,23,29

RIGOLETTO

Quinn Kelsey
PERFORMING
NOV 10,14,17,20,26,29
DEC 3

RIGOLETTO

Michael Chioldi
PERFORMING
DEC 8,11

RIGOLETTO

Luca Salsi
PERFORMING
DEC 14,17,20,23,29

SPARAFUCILE

Andrea Mastroni
PERFORMING
ALL DATES

World premiere: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 1851

A dramatic journey of undeniable force, Rigoletto was
immensely popular from its premiere and remains
fresh and powerful to this day. The story, based on a
controversial play by Victor Hugo, tells of an
outsider—a hunchbacked jester—who struggles to
balance the dueling elements of beauty and evil that
exist in his life. Written during the most fertile period
of Verdi’s artistic life, the opera resonates with a
universality that is frequently called Shakespearean.

Creators
In a remarkable career spanning six decades in the
theater, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) composed 26
operas, at least half of which are at the core of
today’s repertoire. His role in Italy’s cultural and
political development has made him an icon in his
native country. Francesco Maria Piave (1810–76),
Verdi’s librettist for Rigoletto, collaborated with him
on ten works, including Ernani, La Traviata, La Forza
del Destino, and the original versions of Macbeth and
Simon Boccanegra.

PRODUCTION SCENIC DESIGNER

Bartlett Sher Michael Yeargan

COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER

Catherine Zuber Donald Holder

COMPOSER

Giuseppe Verdi

Setting

Victor Hugo’s 1832 play Le Roi s’Amuse, set at the

court of King François I of France (circa 1520), is a
blatant depiction of depraved authority. In adapting
it, Verdi and Piave fought with the Italian censors
and eventually settled on moving the story to the
non-royal Renaissance court of Mantua, while
holding firm on the core issues of the drama. In the
Met’s production, the action unfolds in Weimar
Germany in the 1920s, a time and place with
surprising parallels to the decadent—and dangerous
—world of the original setting.

Music
Rigoletto contains a wealth of melody, including one
that is among the world’s most famous: “La donna è
mobile.” All the opera’s solos are rich with character
insight and dramatic development. The famous Act
III quartet, “Bella figlia dell’amore,” is an ingenious
musical analysis of the diverging reactions of the
four principals in the same moment: The Duke’s
music rises with urgency and impatience, Gilda’s
droops with disappointment, Rigoletto’s remains
measured and paternal, while the promiscuous
Maddalena is literally all over the place. In the
context of the opera, the merely lovely music
becomes inspired drama.

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