October 07. 2017 - November 03. 2017

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October 07. 2017 - November 03. 2017

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New-to-Chicago Production Rigoletto

There’s no character in opera more powerfully dramatic than the court jester Rigoletto, whose acid tongue and all-consuming desire for revenge lead to catastrophe for himself and his sweet, love-struck daughter Gilda. Of all the great Verdi works, none boasts more unforgettable tunes than this one. You’ll thrill to the licentious Duke of Mantua’s “La donna è mobile” and Gilda’s stunning “Caro nome,” not to mention the most celebrated quartet in all opera. Dominating the story, though, is Rigoletto himself, one of Verdi’s greatest characterizations—a complex and tragic figure, both pitiful and ferocious, with stupendous music to match.

Language: Sung in Italian with projected English translations
Running Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes with 1 intermission
Location: Lyric Opera House

Rigoletto videos

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See what critics are saying about Rigoletto at Lyric Opera

Quinn Kelsey on why the story of Rigoletto remains relevant today

Baritone, Quinn Kelsey, tells us why the age-old story of Verdi's Rigoletto remains relevant to today's audience.

Matthew Polenzani on the powerhouse cast of Rigoletto

Tenor, Matthew Polenzani, talks about the incredible cast that has been assembled for Verdi's Rigoletto.

Quinn Kelsey's insights into the character of Rigoletto

Baritone, Quinn Kelsey, shares his insights into the complex character of Verdi's Rigoletto.

The Costumes of Rigoletto

Join Lyric Opera's Costume Director, Maureen Reilly, as she takes you on a tour of the beautiful costumes of Verdi's, Rigoletto.

Director, E. Loren Meeker, on the relevance of Rigoletto for today's audience

Director, Loren Meeker, discusses the relevance of Verdi's Rigoletto to today's audience.

Rigoletto

by Giuseppe Verdi

EMI recording — MacNeil, Grist, Gedda, di Stasio, cond. Molinari-Pradelli.
Musical excerpts provided through a generous arrangement with Warner Classics, Official Education and Promotion Music Provider for Lyric Opera of Chicago.

“Gualtier Maldè!...Caro nome”

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“La donna è mobile”

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“Bella figlia dell’amore”

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Rigoletto

by Giuseppe Verdi

Lyric Opera Commentaries are sponsored by the Patrick G. and Shirley Welsh Ryan Foundation in memory of their parents.

© 2017/18 Lyric Opera Commentaries Original sound recordings of musical excerpts used by permission of Warner Music Group. All rights reserved. Recording & Production services provided by Mark Travis.
A project of the Women’s Board

Commentary by Colin Ure

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Rigoletto articles

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Technical Director Michael Smallwood Talks Rigoletto

After a successful run at the San Francisco Opera, this new-to-Lyric production of Rigoletto heads straight to Chicago! Michael Smallwood, Lyric's technical director, opens up about what moving an opera's sets, costumes, and props from one city to another really entails.

Everyone Plays The Fool

There is no character in opera more powerfully dramatic than the court jester Rigoletto, whose acid tongue and all-consuming desire for revenge lead to catastrophe for himself and his sweet, sheltered, love-struck daughter Gilda. Rigoletto is one of Verdi's greatest characterizations — a complex and tragic figure, both pitiful and ferocious.

Two Verdi Guys in Chicago

Rigoletto marks the first time baritone Quinn Kelsey and tenor Matthew Polenzani have starred together in a Lyric production. These Ryan Opera Center alumni are highly sought after worldwide, and they cherish their ongoing association with Lyric.

Synopsis

The Duke of Mantua is a notorious womanizer and his court jester, the pitiful and vicious Rigoletto, has an acid tongue when recounting tales of men’s wives, daughters and sisters who have all succumbed to the Duke’s charms. When Rigoletto discovers that his own daughter has fallen prey to the Duke, the jester seeks revenge for the loss of her innocence, but his vengeance consumes him and proves to be his curse. Some lose their hearts and others their lives in this dramatic story of love, lust, and retribution.

TIME AND PLACE: 16th-century Mantua

Scene 1. The Duke’s palace.

The Duke of Mantua boasts to a courtier, Borsa, about his most recent infatuation. A girl has enchanted the Duke, but ultimately it makes no difference to him whether he pursues one woman or another. Wishing to select one with whom to spend the evening, he surveys the court and settles upon the Countess Ceprano just as the court jester Rigoletto mocks her husband. Another courtier, Marullo, arrives with surprising news to share with his fellow courtiers: Rigoletto has a mistress. In the meantime, the Duke and Rigoletto discuss several unscrupulous methods of disposing of superfluous husbands. Realizing that he is the object of Rigoletto’s sarcasm, Count Ceprano arranges for a midnight meeting with some of the courtiers to obtain vengeance. The party is interrupted by the arrival of the nobleman Monterone, who storms in to denounce the Duke for dishonoring his daughter. He curses the Duke, and when mocked viciously by Rigoletto, Monterone turns on the jester and curses him as well.

Scene 2. A street.

Brooding over Monterone’s curse, Rigoletto returns to the secluded house where he shields his daughter, Gilda, from the licentiousness of the Duke’s court. Sparafucile, a professional assassin, confronts Rigoletto and offers to help should Rigoletto ever wish to rid himself of an enemy. Once alone, Rigoletto muses on the similarity of their professions – Rigoletto wounding others with his wit, while Sparafucile uses a knife.

Rigoletto returns home and greets his daughter, Gilda, declaring that she means the world to him. She reciprocates his feelings but questions why he has kept her concealed. He fears the courtiers and warns the housekeeper, Giovanna, to guard Gilda carefully. Hearing a noise in the street, he goes out to investigate. Gilda confesses to Giovanna that she loves a young man who has followed her home every day after church. The Duke, who has been eavesdropping on the scene, steps out of hiding and declares his love, identifying himself as Gualtier Maldè, a penniless student. Hearing footsteps, he rushes off, leaving Gilda thinking lovingly of his name.

The courtiers appear, ready to abduct Rigoletto’s supposed mistress. Rigoletto surprises them by returning, but Marullo convinces him that they are planning to abduct the wife of Count Ceprano, who lives nearby. Rigoletto falls into their trap and in the confused darkness he doesn’t realize that it is Gilda who has been kidnapped until she cries out to her father as she is carried off. Realizing the trick too late, Rigoletto cries, “Ah, the curse!”
A room in the Duke’s palace.

The Duke, unaware of the kidnapping, laments the fact that when he returned to Gilda’s house he found it deserted. When the courtiers tell him of the abduction, he rejoices that the girl is now in the palace. Rigoletto appears, feigning nonchalance. Once it becomes clear to him that Gilda must be with the Duke, he desperately tries to reach her, but the courtiers hold him back. His fury dissolves into a bereft father’s pleading. Gilda bursts into the scene and Rigoletto orders the courtiers to leave him alone with his daughter. Gilda confesses that she loves the Duke and begs her father to forgive him. As Monterone appears on his way to prison, Rigoletto swears that they both will be avenged.
Sparafucile’s inn.

Rigoletto has brought Gilda to Sparafucile’s inn to prove the Duke’s faithlessness. As they lurk in the darkness, the Duke swaggers in. After proclaiming the fickleness of women, he charms Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister. As the flirtation progresses, Rigoletto tries to comfort his despairing daughter. He orders her to return home, disguise herself as a boy, and meet him in Verona. After striking a bargain with Sparafucile for the Duke’s murder, he departs.

Gilda, unwilling to follow her father’s orders, returns to the inn and overhears Maddalena begging her brother to spare the handsome stranger’s life. Sparafucile agrees to deceive Rigoletto by substituting the corpse of the next person who appears at the inn. Determined to sacrifice herself so the Duke may live, Gilda becomes Sparafucile’s next victim.

Rigoletto returns and is given a sack containing a body. Hearing the Duke’s voice in the distance, he frantically cuts open the bag and finds his dying daughter. Begging her father’s forgiveness, she dies. Rigoletto cries out once more, “Ah, the curse!”

Program book

Go inside this production of Rigoletto with engaging articles, notes from the director, a complete plot synopsis, artist bios, and more.

View Digital Program Book

Meet the artists

Quinn Kelsey

Rigoletto

Ryan Opera Center alumnus

Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey's credits include 18 roles at Lyric since 2003|04, most recently Miller/Luisa Miller (2019/20) and in the title role for Rigoletto (2017|18).

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Rosa Feola

Gilda

Italian soprano Rosa Feola has rapidly gained worldwide recognition as one of the most promising artists of the younger generation.

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Matthew Polenzani

Duke

Ryan Opera Center alumnus

Evanston native Matthew Polenzani is one of today’s most admired tenors internationally.

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Alexander Tsymbalyuk

Sparafucile

The Ukrainian artist, one of today’s leading basses internationally.

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Zanda Švēde

Maddelena

Latvian mezzo-soprano Zanda Švēde made her Lyric debut as Maddalena/Rigoletto (2017|18)

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Todd Thomas

Count Monterone

The American baritone has repeatedly scored great successes in the Verdi repertoire, recently Count Monterone/Rigoletto (2017|18, 2012|13).

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Mario Rojas

Borsa

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

Tenor Mario Rojas was a member of the Ryan Opera Center for three years.

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Takaoki Onishi

Marullo

Ryan Opera Center ensemble

Ryan Opera Center alumnus Takaoki Onishi's Lyric credits include Marullo/Rigoletto (2017|18) and Captain/ Eugene Onegin (2016/17)

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Alan Higgs

Ceprano

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

American bass-baritone and Ryan Opera Center alumnusr Alan Higgs has performed four roles at Lyric since 2017/18.

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Whitney Morrison

Countess Cepra

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

Whitney Morrison, the soprano, a Chicago native and a Ryan Opera Center alumna, has triumphed in multiple roles at Lyric.

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Lauren Decker

Giovanna

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

Contralto Lauren Decker, a four-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, was a national semifinalist in the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

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Diana Newman

A Page

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

American soprano and Ryan Opera Center alumna Diana Newman's Lyric credits include Forest bird/Siegfried (2018|19)

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Kenneth Nichols

An Usher

Ryan Opera Center ensemble

Ryan Opera Center bass Kenneth Nichols's Lyric credits include An Usher/Rigoletto (2017|18)

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Marco Armiliato

Conductor

Conductor Marco Armiliato's Lyric credits include Il trovatore (2018|19) and Rigoletto (2018|19). In 2010 his CD Verismo with Renée Fleming won a Grammy Award.

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E. Loren Meeker

Director

American director E. Loren Meeker's Lyric credits include Rigoletto (2017|18); Die Fledermaus (2013|14)

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Michael Yeargan

Set Designer

He has created sets (and sometimes costumes) for many major American companies, among them the Metropolitan Opera (12 productions to date) and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, and Washington opera companies, as well as the Glimmerglass Festival, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Frankfurt Opera, and Opera Australia.

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Constance Hoffman

Costume Designer

The designer, who has created costumes for opera, dance, and theater nationally and internationally, has collaborated with directors Kevin Newbury, Mark Lamos, Robert Carsen, David Alden, Christopher Alden, Julie Taymor, and Keith Warner

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Chris Maravich

Lighting Designer

Chris Maravich, Lighting Director, has been with Lyric Opera since 2014

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Michael Black

Chorus Master

Michael Black has served Lyric Opera of Chicago since the 2013/14 Season.

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