Rigoletto
Verdi’s dark, knife-twisting tragedy makes its Glyndebourne debut in a bold new production by Christiane Lutz.
Tour dates
This performance runs for 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one 20-minute interval.
Description
Verdi’s own favourite opera, Rigoletto is a tragedy of Shakespearean scope, a disturbing psychological portrait of a man caught in a corrupt world, an outsider in a system built on power and privilege. A dramatic score, heavy with menace, includes many of Verdi’s greatest tunes, including ‘La donna e mobile’. Rising star Christiane Lutz directs Glyndebourne’s first ever production, reimagining Verdi’s classic drama for our own age. Thomas Blunt will conduct the Glyndebourne Tour Orchestra.
After his ‘marvellous’ (The Guardian) Pinkerton in 2016’s Madama Butterfly, Matteo Lippi returns to the Glyndebourne Tour as the seductive, power-hungry Duke. Georgian baritone Nikoloz Lagvilava makes his Glyndebourne debut as Rigoletto, with prize-winning South African soprano Vuvu Mpofu as his daughter Gilda, and Oleg Budaratskiy as assassin Sparafucile.
Creative Team
Conductor
Thomas Blunt
Jonathan Bloxham (27, 30 Nov)
Director
Christiane Lutz
Set Designer
Christian Tabakoff
Costume Designer
Natascha Maraval
Movement Director
Volker Michl
Lighting Designer
Benedikt Zehm
Projection Designer
Anton Trauner
Glyndebourne Tour Orchestra
Leader Richard Milone
The Glyndebourne Chorus
Chorus Director Aidan Oliver
Assistant Conductor
Jonathan Bloxham
Music Preparation
Matthew Fletcher
Ben-San Lau
Steven Maughan
Language Coach
Marco Canepa
Assistant Director
Simon Iorio
Staff Director
Barbara Poll
Supertitles
Katy Reader
Cast
Rigoletto
Nikoloz Lagvilava
Gilda
Vuvu Mpofu
Duke of Mantua
Matteo Lippi
Sparafucile
Oleg Budaratskiy
Maddalena
Madeleine Shaw
Count Ceprano
Adam Marsden*
Matteo Borsa
John Findon
Monterone
Aubrey Allicock
Marullo
Benson Wilson
Michael Wallace* (23 Nov)
Countess Ceprano
Eirlys Myfanwy Davies*
Giovanna
Natalia Brzezinska*
Court Usher
John Mackenzie-Lavansch*
Page
Roisín Walsh*
Actor
Jofre Caraben van der Meer
Aerialist
Farrell Cox
*Soloist from the Glyndebourne Chorus