Description

The fires are burning merrily in the Duke's palace as beautiful people at magnificent candlelit dinners, party on into the night. Meanwhile, in the streets of Mantua, shadows tread softly.

Words pass between hooded figures, their meaning drowned out by the sounds of drunken revelry. Are they whispering sweet nothings, or bitter secrets? Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference in the gloom.

Verdi's dark tale glitters with passion and suspense in this glamorous new production. Tell your jokes, lock up your daughters and trust nobody.

The moment he wrote it, Verdi knew he had a hit on his hands.  So much so that for the first performance of Rigoletto he rehearsed the Duke's famous aria, 'La donna è mobile' in secret to avoid giving away what was to prove one of the catchiest tunes in opera.

'La donna è mobile'  is just one of many arias in Rigoletto and to serve it well requires exceptional singers.

Verdi is about voice, voice and more voice and Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini is detemined to let Australian audiences hear the finest on the world stage.

The cast for this new production of Rigoletto is a gathering from around the world.  As the swaggering Duke, Mexican tenor Diego Torre and Italian Gianluca Terranova, who performed this role at La Scala and the Arena di Verona.  As Gilda, an Australian star, Emma Matthews.  And taking the momentous step into one of Verdi's most important baritone roles, two singers who have enjoyed immense success in Australia and around the world, Giorgio Caoduro and José Carbó.

Not every singer is discovered on the world stage or developed through the Opera Australia ensemble, however. David Parkin was discovered on television, when he won the role of Sparafucile on Operatunity Oz.

It doesn't really matter what path leads an artist to this demanding repertoire, nothing beats the thrill of hearing great Verdi singing.

Please Note: This production briefly contains partial nudity.