Arena di Verona: Antonio Albanese directs Rigoletto for the 100th Opera Festival

Arena di Verona: Antonio Albanese directs Rigoletto

The director makes his debut at the Amphitheatre with a reimagined version of Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, paying homage to the iconic Italian neorealist cinema of the 1950s An extraordinary cast featuring baritones Roman Burdenko, Ludovic Tézier, Luca Salsi, and Amartuvshin Enkhbat. Performances from 1 July to 4 August 2023

Antonio Albanese, the award-winning actor and director, marks his Verona Arena debut with a new production of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi to mark the 100th Edition of Verona Arena Opera Festival. Running from 1 July to 4 August 2023, this Verdi masterpiece is the second new production presented by the festival in the same edition, following the grand opening of Aida. “I consider Rigoletto an impassioned opera that beautifully portrays themes of love, revenge, and power”, states Albanese, whose show pays homage to the illustrious Italian neorealist cinema of the 1950s.

The production features an exceptional ensemble of renowned baritones: Roman Burdenko (1 July), Ludovic Tézier (7 July), Luca Salsi (20 July), and Amartuvshin Enkhbat (4 August) will take turns in the role of the court jester across the four performances. They will be joined by other distinguished international voices such as Rosa Feola (at her long-awaited Arena debut, 1 July), Nina Minasyan (20 July) and Nadine Sierra (4 August) portraying Gilda, Yusif Eyvazov (making his role debut, 1 and 7 July), Juan Diego Flórez (20 July), and Piotr BeczaÅa (4 August) as the Duke of Mantua. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Fondazione Arena di Verona will accompany the performances under the baton of Marco Armiliato. Set design by Juan Guillermo Nova, costumes by Valeria Donata Bettella, lighting by Paolo Mazzon, and choreography by Luc Bouy.

“We decided to transport the setting to the 1950s: a time that still carried a sense of drama, pre-dating the economic boom”, explains Antonio Albanese. “The wounds of war were still fresh, and in many impoverished regions of the country, people were suffering from hunger, pellagra, or cholera. We opted for an unhealthy, stagnant Po Valley landscape, the same one found in so many neo-realist films that vividly documented the atmospheres and contradictions of the immediate post-war period. That’s why in this Rigoletto we felt the need to develop a discourse that would be consistent with those cinematic ideas”.

The stellar cast is further complemented by Gianluca Buratto (Sparafucile), Valeria Girardello (Maddalena), Agostina Smimmero (Giovanna), Gianfranco Montresor (Monterone), Nicolò Ceriani (Marullo), Riccardo Rados (Borsa), Roberto Accurso and Francesca Maionchi (Conti di Ceprano), Giorgi Manoshvili (usciere), and Elisabetta Zizzo (paggio).

Info: https://www.arena.it/it/arena-di-verona/rigoletto

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