Act I

Act II

Act III

Couv_Rigoletto_780x9068

Libretto

“Oh! Le roi s’amuse is the greatest theme and perhaps the greatest drama of modern times. A work worthy of Shakespeare!”A few months before he wrote these words to Francesco Maria Piave, urging him to “turn Venice upside down and make sure Censors will authorize this theme” – no easy matter given that social morality was prompt to be shocked -, Verdi was working on an adaptation of King Lear.And while probably absorbed in Shakespeare’s play, his revered master, he discovered Victor Hugo’s drama and felt “like an illumination, an inspiration”, finding in the French author’s words (to whom he owned the greatest triumph of his “years of misery” with Ernani) a counterpart to the triangle formed by the King, his daughter and the Jester.Between the futile and indecent Duke and Gilda, victim of the ignorance in which she is kept, looms the Jester, a two faceted character, a hunched back Fool and a father obsessed with a curse.Monstrous and heartbreaking, grotesque and sublime, the lead role reaches its climax in the aria “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata”, whose descent from wrath to pleading roots the capacity of the composer to bend a form inherited from Bel Canto to the stage realism.Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, this new production of Rigoletto marks director Claus Guth’s first collaboration with the Paris Opera. The Paris Opera Orchestra and ChorusWith the participation of France Télévisions. With the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts and with the assistance of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée.Director: François Roussillon © Opéra de Paris - François Roussillon et Associés - 2016Picture: © Monika Rittershaus / OnP

<ul><li>The Duke of Mantua: A cynical libertine and womaniser</li><li>Rigoletto: The Duke of Mantua’s jester</li><li>Gilda: Rigoletto’s daughter</li><li>Sparafucile: Hired killer</li><li>Maddalena: Sparafucile’s sister</li><li>Giovanna: Rigoletto’s servant</li><li>The Count of Monterone: Courtier whose daughter has been seduced by the Duke of Mantua</li><li>Marullo: Courtier at the Court of Mantua</li><li>Matteo Borsa: Courtier at the Court of Mantua</li><li>Le comte de Ceprano: Courtier at the Court of Mantua</li><li>La comtesse de Ceprano: Count Ceprano’s wife, wooed by the Duke</li></ul>

Rigoletto

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“Oh! Le roi s’amuse is the greatest theme and perhaps the greatest drama of modern times. A work worthy of Shakespeare!” A few months before he wrote these words to Francesco Maria Piave, urging him to “turn Venice upside down and make sure Censors w

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 into a modest but relatively well-to-do family in the hamlet of Le Roncole, near Busseto. He received his first musical training from the village organist. In 1824, he became the organist at the church in Busseto. After following music lessons with the organist and composer Ferdinando Provesi, he was noticed by Antonio Barezzi, a spirits merchant and music aficionado who also founded the Filarmonici (Societa filarmonica), the town’s amateur orchestra. Barezzi would become Verdi’s patron and sponsor and the composer would ultimately marry Barezzi’s daughter Margherita in 1836. A stipend enabled him to continue his studies in Milan where he took private lessons with Vincenzo Lavigna, a teacher at La Scala, and a friend of Rossini. On the recommendations of the impresario Bartolomeo Merelli, his first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio was performed at La Scala in Milan. For a short while following the death of his two children and then his wife Margherita, and after the relative fiasco that befell his second opera, Un giorno di regno, Verdi considered abandoning music altogether. However, he started composing again when Merelli offered him the libretto for Nabucco. That opera was a huge success at its premiere at La Scala on March 9, 1842 and it did not take long before all of Italy was singing Va pensiero, the anthem in which the chorus of slaves lament their lost freedom. From then on, Verdi became the bard of Italian unification. Most of the works that followed would be operas with patriotic undertones (I Lombardi alla prima crocciata, Ernani, Giovanna d’Arco, Attila, La Battaglia di Legnano…). In 1847, Verdi left for London for the world premiere of I Masnadieri, then settled in Paris where he met up with Giuseppina Strepponi, who would create the role of Abigaille. They would never be separated again. Verdi purchased the property at Sant’Agata, near Busseto and openly enlisted in the struggle for the liberation of Italy, which was then occupied by the Austrians. After 1850, Verdi was unrivalled in Italy. In particular, his popular trilogy, Rigoletto – Il Trovatore – La Traviata dates from this period.Les Vêpres siciliennes (Paris, 1855), Simon Boccanegra (La Fenice in Venice, 1857), Un ballo in maschera (Rome, 1859), La Forza del destino (Saint Petersburg, 1862), Don Carlos (Paris, 1867), Aida (Cairo, 1871), the Messa di Requiem (Milan, 1874), Otello (Milan, 1887), and Falstaff (Milan, 1893) would follow. In 1861, he was elected deputy of Busseto. He passed away in Milan on January 27, 1901. With no heir at the time of his death, Verdi bequeathed his copyrights to the retirement home for aging musicians that he had founded in Milan.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Quinn Kelsey received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, under the direction of John W. Mount. He won a Richard Tucker Foundation Scholarship and was a finalist in the 2004 Operalia Plácido Domingo Competition. For three years he was a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, now known as the Ryan Center, and in 2003 was awarded a fellowship from the Solti Foundation in Chicago. Winner of the 2015 Beverly Sills Prize from New York's Metropolitan Opera, he performs worldwide in the Verdian, Puccinian and French repertoires. Last season, Quinn Kelsey returned to Chicago's Lyric Opera to take on the role of Don Carlo (Ernani). He then returned to New York's Metropolitan Opera for the roles of Rigoletto, Amonasro (Aida) and Marcello (La Bohème). His season ended with the title role in Macbeth at Toronto's Canadian Opera Company. In concert, he sang Un requiem allemand alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin with the Metropolitan Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. In the 2023-2024 season, Quinn Kelsey is invited back to Opera Philadelphia to make his debut in the title role of Simon Boccanegra, then to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Count Anckarström (A Masked Ball). He makes his debut at Madrid's Teatro Real in the title role of Rigoletto, and ends his season by returning to Zurich's Opernhaus as Guido di Monforte (Les Vêpres siciliennes).At the Opéra national de Paris: Rigoletto (title role), 2016

Rigoletto - 3

Rigoletto - 5

Fabiano Michael

Siwek_K.Karpati&D

Rigoletto - 1

Mikhail Kolelishvili has been a soloist at the Mariinski Theatre in Saint Petersburg since 2009. A finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2005 and winner of the Elena Obraztsova Competition in 2003, he has distinguished himself in a number of other competitions such as the S. Monuiszko Competition in Warsaw (First Prize and the Adam Didur prize for the best bass voice in 2004) and the Grand Prix Prince Rainier III of Monte-Carlo in 2008. His repertoire includes the great Russian bass roles: Khan Konchak in Prince Igor, Varlaam in Boris Godounov, Mendoza in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, King René in Iolanta, the title role in The Tale of Tzar Saltan, Skuratov in The Tzar’s Bride as well as Leporello and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Banco in Macbeth and Sparafucile in Rigoletto. He has recently performed Leporello at the Mexico Opera, Mendoza at the Capitole in Toulouse and at the Opéra Comique, Varlaam and King René in Dallas, the King in Aida at the Chorégies d’Orange, at the Edmonton Opera and at the Mariinski Theatre, Zuniga in Carmen at the Festival des Nuits Blanches 2012, Sarastro, the Grand Inquisiteur, Mendoza, Skuratov, Khan Konchak, the title role in Don Quichotte, Bartolo in Marriage of Figaro, the King of Clubs in The Love of Three Oranges at the Mariinski Theatre, Banco in Macbeth and Dikoj in Katia Kabanova in Toulon. In 2014, he made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (the Priest). In 2015 he performed the bass solo in Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 13 “Babi Yar” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Conlon. Forthcoming productions: Monterone in Rigoletto at the Paris Opera Paris Opera Debut -  First performance in this role

Kolelishvili

Rigoletto - 6

Rigoletto - 8

Matos.Tiago.2.(c)Pedro Mendes

Andreea Soare

French and Guatemalan, born in Guatemala, Adriana Gonzalez graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2012 from the Universidad del Valle. She performed in her native country the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Euridyce (Orphée et Euridyce).From 2014 to 2017, she was a member of the Paris Opera Academy, she received the First Prize of the Otto Edelmann Competition in Vienna, the Second Prize and the Public Award of the Singing Francisco Competition in Barcelona, as well as the Cercle Carpeaux Award in 2017 and the First Prize and the Zarzuela Prize of the Operalia Competition in 2019. She won the New Upcoming Artist Award presented by the Hemeroteca Nacional de Guatemala.From 2017 to 2018, she joined the Zurich Opera’s International Opera Studio. She performed Alice (Count Ory), Serpetta (La Finta Giardiniera) at the Zurich Opera, Micaëla (Carmen) in Geneva, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Sanxay, Liu (Turandot) in Houston and Toulon, Verdi’s Requiem in Lisbon, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Parma.Her recording devoted to Robert Dussaut and Hélène Covatti’s Melodies (Audax Records, 2020) is warmly welcomed by the critics. She also recorded Isaac Albéniz’s complete songs (Audax Records, 2021). Last season, she sang Echo (Gluck’s Echo et Narcisse) in Versailles, Verdi’s Requiem in Dallas, Micaëla in Amsterdam, Toulon and Barcelona, Liù in Strasbourg.For the 2023/24 season, she is, among other roles, the Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Frankfurt and at the Salzburg Festival, Micaëla in Barcelona, Fiordiligi in Hamburg, Liù in Hamburg and at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. At the Paris Opera: Rigoletto (A page of the duchess), 2016; Iphigénie en Tauride (Diane / First Priestess), 2016; The Little Match Girl Passion (soprano), 2017; L'elisir d'amore (Giannetta), 2018; Iolanta (Brigitta), 2019; Die Fledermaus (Rosalinde), 2019; Carmen (Micaëla), 2022&nbsp;

Member of the Troupe lyrique de l'Opéra national de ParisIn 2002, Florent Mbia joined Françoise Petro's singing class at the École nationale de musique de Montreuil. In 2008, he was awarded a first prize in singing with congratulations from the jury, and a diploma in chamber music studies in 2009. He has taken part in numerous training courses and masterclasses with artists such as Jose Cura and Thomas Moser. In 2008, he was a finalist in the Strasbourg International Singing Competition, and won the E. J. Marshall prize (best baritone) at the Paris International Competition (UFAM), degree "Honneur".In 2009, he won first prize at the Forum lyrique européen d'Arles, first prize at the Concours international de chant de Clermont-Ferrand and joined the Paris Opera Chorus. He became resident artist at the Centre lyrique Clermont-Auvergne during the 2010-2011 season. He sings Norton (La cambiale di matrimonio) and the bass part in Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle.He has appeared as the Second Companion (Wozzeck), Montano (Otello), Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Big Bill Bug (L'Enfant aux cheveux bleus&nbsp;by Michel Zbar), the Notary (Don Pasquale), Don Giovanni and Don Alfonso in&nbsp;Mozart se déguise directed by Stephen Taylor. In 2021, he performs the role of Laurence (Le Magnifique) at the Opéra de Reims.He has appeared as soloist in concerts, oratorios and masses such as Duruflé's Requiem, Faure's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Handel's Messiah and Carmina Burana, under conductors including Jose Cura, Claude Schnitzler and Michel Pelletier.He joins the Troupe lyrique de l'Opéra national de Paris for the 2023-2024 season. At Opéra national de Paris: La Bohème (the Customs Sergeant), 2017; Mzensk's Lady Macbeth (a stage manager), 2019; Otello (Araldo), 2019; Tosca (a jailer), 2021; Rigoletto (the Count of Ceprano), 2021; La Force du destin (a mayor), 2022; Turandot (Ping), 2023; La Traviata (Il Marchese d'Obigny), 2024

Nicola Luisotti is the principal guest conductor at the Teatro Real de Madrid. He joined the San Francisco Opera in 2005 and was its musical director from 2009 to 2018 during which time he conducted over forty opera and concerts including the world premiere production of Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara, Salomé, Lohengrin, Don Carlo and the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy. From 2012 to 2014 he was also the musical director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with whom he conducted a notable version of Verdi’s Requiem on a tour in San Francisco with the orchestra and chorus of the two companies. He has made guest appearances at the New York Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, Milan’s La Scala, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, as well as in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dresden, Hamburg, Valencia, and Seattle. In 2010, he conducted La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera to mark the 100th anniversary of the work’s premiere in that theatre and received the 39th Premio Puccini Award. Nicola Luisotti also performs in concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, The London Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Berlin Philharmonique, the Radio Bavaria Orchestra, Turin’s Teatro Regio Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted La Traviata, Otello, Tosca, Rigoletto and La forza del destino at the Paris Opera. His most recent engagements include Aida, Rigoletto and La Traviata in New York, as well as Turandot and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Madrid. During the 2019-2020 season, he conducted Don Carlo and La Traviata at the Teatro Real de Madrid, Manon Lescaut in San Francisco, Il Trovatore at Milan’s La Scala and numerous concerts in Hamburg, Atlanta, Palermo, and Bilbao. A number of DVDs have been recorded under his direction, including La Bohème and La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera, Don Giovanni and Nabucco at London’s Royal Opera House, and Mefistofele at the San Francisco Opera.

Born in Frankfurt, Claus Guth studied Philosophy, German Literature and Drama at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and then stage direction at Munich’s August Everding Theatre Academy.After his debut in Munich, Mannheim and Hamburg, his career took on an international dimension when he directed the world premiere production of Luciano Berio’s Cronaca del luogo at the 1999 Salzburg Festival. He then staged several productions there, including Iphigénie en Tauride, Zaide and the Mozart / Da Ponte trilogy.He directed The Flying Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival in 2003 and is a regular guest at the Zurich Opera (Fierrabras, Radamisto, Tristan et Isolde, Parsifal…). His other productions include the complete Ring Cycle at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, Tannhäuser at the Wiener Staatsoper, Lohengrin at Teatro alla Scala and the Paris Opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala and Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Turn of the Screw and Juliette at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Der Rosenkavalier, Puccini’s Triptych and The Merry Widow at the Frankfurt Opera, Salomé at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Jephtha at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Rodelinda at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and La Clemenza di Tito at the Glyndebourne Festival, Saül at Theater an der Wien.Claus Guth is also highly involved in the field of contemporary music and has staged numerous creations including Celan (Peter Ruzicka), SehnSuchtMeer (Richard Wagner / Helmut Oehring), Aschemond oder The Fairie Queen (Helmut Oehring / Henry Purcell), Violetter Schnee (Beat Furrer), Lazarus (Franz Schubert / Charles Ives) and Heart Chamber (Czernowin).His recent engagements include Tristan und Isolde in Zurich, Salome in Moscow, Dialogues des carmélites, The Merry Widow and Elektra in Frankfurt, Le Nozze di Figaro in Madrid, The Makropulos Affair in Berlin, Parsifal in Barcelona,&nbsp;Il Viaggio, Dante in Aix-en-Provence, Don Carlo in Naples, Bluthaus (Georg Friedrich Haas) in Munich and in Lyon.



At the Paris Opera: Rigoletto, 2016 ; Lohengrin, 2017 ; La Bohème, 2017 ; Jephta, 2018 ; Bérénice, 2018&nbsp;

Born in Cobourg, Christian Schmidt studied with Erich Wonder at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy. He works regularly with Claus Guth, Hans Neuenfels, Christof Loy, Andreas Homoki, Vasily Barkhatov, Evgeny Titov, Yona Kim, Mateja Koleznik and Amélie Niermeyer. In 2017 and 2020, he was an International Opera Awards nominee.Recent engagements include the Mozart / Da Ponte cycle, The Queen of Spade and Aida at the Salzburg Festival, The Flying Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Lohengrin at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Tristan und Isolde, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Ariadne auf Naxos and I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Zurich Opernhaus, The Turn of the Screw at Schiller Theater in Berlin, Der Rosenkavalier, Daphné, Rodelinda and The Merry Widow at Frankfurt Opera, The Messiah, Lazarus, a Monteverdi cycle, The Enchantress, Saul, Orlando and Rusalka at Theater an der Wien, The Cunning Little Vixen et Komische Oper Berlin, Rodelinda at Teatro Real Madrid, Scènes de chasse at Dusseldorf theatre, La Forza del destino at Dutch National Opera and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Otello at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Norma and Lucia di Lammermoor in Hamburg, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Wiesbaden Staatstheater, Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber at Deutsche Oper Berlin.Future engagements feature Der Ring des Nibelungen at Zurich Opernhaus, The Enchantress in Frankfurt and The Idiot at Theater an der Wien.

At the Paris Opera: Rigoletto, 2016; Lohengrin, 2017; Bérénice, 2018

Born in Hagen, Olaf Winter made his debut as a lighting technician in Münster in 1983. From 1986 to 1988 he studied at the Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York. From 1989 to 2001, worked as lighting designer at the Frankfurt Ballet, where he collaborated with William Forsythe. He became Technical director at the Frankfurt Opera in 2001 and has also been Technical director at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus since 2009.He designed the lighting for some performances by Christoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock (Luisa Miller and Fidelio in Frankfurt, Kátia Kabanová at the Salzburg Festival), Christoph Nel (Salomé and Parsifal in Frankfurt, Aida at Bayerische Staatsoper), Christof Loy (Armide at the Salzburg Festival, Tristan und Isolde at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Alceste at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Tannhäuser at Dutch National Opera, Das Wunder der Heliane at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Der Ferne Klang in Stockholm, Eugene Onegin in Oslo), Claus Guth (Les Vêpres siciliennes, Tannhäuser, Puccini’s Triptych, Daphné in Frankfurt, Die Frau ohne Schatten at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Teatro alla Scala Milan, Mozart / Da Ponte cycle at the Salzburg Festival, L’Orfeo at Theater an der Wien, Lohengrin at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Rodelinda at Teatro Real Madrid).He also worked as a freelance artist for many theatres and companies, including the Salzburg Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, Pocket Opera Company, l’Ensemble Modern.Recent engagements include Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Madama Butterfly and Elektra in Frankfurt, Tosca in London, Königskinder at Dutch National Opera and Orphée et Eurydice at the Salzburg Festival.

At the Paris Opera: Kátia Kabanová, 2004; Le nozze di Figaro, 2006; La Traviata, 2007; Wozzeck, 2008; Rigoletto, 2016; Lohengrin, 2017

Born in Buenos Aires and of Italo-Argentian nationality, José Luis Basso studied piano and orchestral conducting at the University of his hometown. He was appointed Chorus Master at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata where he spent four years preparing operatic and choral works. In 1987, a grant permitted him to pursue his studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1989, he took up the post of Chorus Master at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. That same year, he conducted the chorus of the Buenos Aires Wagner Association and in 1994, he became assistant to the celebrated Chorus master at La Scala Milan, Romano Gandolfi. He was then appointed Chorus Master at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples where he brought to the Opera Chorus a new dynamism, his conducting of Lohengrin and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony attracting considerable acclaim. In 1996, he joined the Maggio Musicale Fiorentine where he prepared the choir for Parsifal conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Turandot with Zubin Mehta and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for which he received the INA-Assitalia Galileo Prize for young conductors 2000. In April 2001, he accompanied the Orchestra and Chorus to Tokyo for the inauguration of the “Italy in Japan 2001” event. He has made a number of recordings for Decca including Turandot, La Bohème, Tosca and Aroldo. As chorus master, he has been invited to the Shanghai Opera, the Mariinski Theatre in Saint Petersburg and the Lyon Opera for Aïda and Carmina Burana. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award with the Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the soprano Renée Fleming for the album Bel Canto. In the course of the last two decades, he has worked alongside many of the world’s leading conductors: Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Antonio Pappano, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlo Maria Giulini, Myung-Whun Chung, Peter Schreier, Bruno Bartoletti, Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos, Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Oren, Valery Gergiev, Stéphane Denève, Jordi Savall, Fabio Luisi, Marc Piollet, Pinchas Steinberg, Michael Boder, Sebastian Weigle, Gerd Albrecht and Josep Pons. From 2004 to 2014 he was Chorus Master and Artistic Consultant at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelone. Since September 2014 he has been Chorus Master of the Paris Opera.

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