The Rome Opera is set to open
its new season on December 2 at Teatro Costanzi with a
politically toned staging of the Giuseppe Verdi classic
Rigoletto, set in the WWII Mussolini-led German puppet Republic
of Salò in northern Italy.
The new staging, which runs through December 18, is the work
of conductor Daniele Gatti and director Daniele Abbado, who
together conceived an unexpected version, both from a musical as
well as a dramatic perspective.
The production focuses more on the psychology of the
characters in order to bring out the twin aspects of tragedy and
comedy inherent in Rigoletto.
This is Gatti's third opening-season production at the Rome
Opera House, after Wagner and Berlioz, and Abbado's first.
The new staging represented a challenge for both of them, and
was initially perplexing for Teatro dell'Opera Foundation
superintendent Carlo Fuortes.
"Innovating on a great opera is complicated, but I believed
in it after I saw the great depth in this work," Fuortes said.
"It will be an all-new Rigoletto, full of surprises," he
said.
He said he hopes this season will continue the upward trend
of last season, which saw a 26% revenue increase, in order to
"continue to innovate".
Gatti said the new staging is an attempt to "stay faithful to
Verdi's thought".
He said the decision to set the opera in the 1943-45 Republic
of Salò was made in order to bring back the "political aspect
that faded over the years".
Abbado said, however, that the new staging doesn't wade into
historical reconstruction.
"We're in the theatre, not in film or TV; the scenery will be
modern but of an Elizabethan derivation," Abbado said.
"Everything will be shown with great narrative simplicity,"
he said.
The cast is made up of Ismael Jordi and Ivan Ayon Rivas as
the Duke of Mantua, Roberto Frontali and Sebastian Cantana as
Rigoletto, Lisette Oropesa and Claudia Pavone as Gilda, and
Riccardo Zanellato as Sparafucile.
Scenery and lighting is by Gianni Carluccio, costumes by
Francesca Livia Sartori and Elisabetta Antico, choreography by
Simona Bucci and choral direction by Roberto Gabbiani.
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