RIGOLETTO

In the organizer's words:

Composer Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse.

Melodrama in three acts (1851)

recommended for ages 14 and up

In Italian language. With surtitles in German and English. New production.

Introductions take place in the Capriccio-Saal one hour before the start of each performance(except on the premiere evening). Seating is limited, duration approx. 20 min.

ABOUT THE WORK

A sovereign can do anything. His entire environment is dependent on him, no one is entitled to contradict him, everyone has to put up with his whims. Only one person can hold up a mirror to him and even has the duty to criticize the ruler: the court jester. But what happens when this jester neglects his most important task and puts himself at the service of the moral excesses exemplified by the tyrant? The French playwright Victor Hugo explored this initial situation in his play Le Roi s'amuse, with an unscrupulous man of pleasure as king and a fool whose mental deformation has manifested itself in a physical deformity.

Giuseppe Verdi considered this material to be "grandiose, powerful, and it contains a role that is one of the greatest creations of which the theater of all countries and all times boasts". Rigoletto was premiered in Venice in 1851, the first of the three works later known as the "Trilogia popolare" (alongside La traviata and Il trovatore) with which Verdi established his worldwide fame. He composed some of his most famous melodies for this opera, above all the Duke's aria about the supposedly fickle hearts of women, "La donna è mobile". Time and again, the power of nature, which people themselves violate through their behavior, comes through, most dramatically in the thunderstorm scene. Gilda's virtuoso arias reflect the longing for love and exuberant outbursts of emotion that every young person expects from life, and the great quartet in the third act contrasts the divergent intentions of the opera's four protagonists as hardly ever before or since.

CAST

Musical direction Maurizio Benini

Staging Barbara Wysocka

Stage Barbara Hanicka

Costumes Julia Kornacka

Lighting Marc Heinz

Choirs Christoph Heil

Dramaturgy Malte Krasting

Il Duca di Mantova Bekhzod Davronov

Rigoletto Igor Golovatenko(2026: Mar 07, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24); Ludovic Tézier (2026: Jul 28, 31)

Gilda Serena Sáenz(2026: Mar 07, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24); Nadine Sierra (2026: Jul 28, 31)

Sparafucile Riccardo Fassi

Maddalena Elmina Hasan(2026: Mar 07, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24); Rihab Chaieb(2026: Jul 28, 31)

Giovanna Natalie Lewis

Il Conte di Monterone Martin Snell

Marullo Thomas Mole(2026: Mar 07, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24),Zhe Liu(2026: Jul 28, 31)

Matteo Borsa Granit Musliu

Il Conte di Ceprano Roman Chabaranok

La Contessa di Ceprano Nontobeko Bhengu

Bailiff Daniel Vening

Page to the Duchess Lucy Altus

Bavarian State Orchestra

Bavarian State Opera Chorus

Price information:

Price varies depending on seat: Prices S: € 243 / 213 / 183 / 143 / 102 / 67 / 21 / 16 Prices O: € 218 /190 /162 /130 /96 /66 /18 /15 Prices M: € 193 /168 /142 /117 /90 /64 /16 /14