At the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, the rehearsals of a new version of one of the most famous and popular operas by Giuseppe Verdi - Rigoletto - are in full swing. Its premiere will take place on October 16 and 17.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky shone in this musically and dramatically vivid role of the jester Rigoletto; that’s why the first show is dedicated to the outstanding artist and scheduled for October 16 - his birthday.

Music director and conductor of the new Krasnoyarsk version of Rigoletto is Ivan Velikanov, production director is Yelizaveta Korneeva, production designer is Yekaterina Agueniy. The production will be presented in a semi-stage format: visually laconic, still meaningful.

“Now the primary task of mine and Ivan Velikanov is to release the work of high quality, to achieve a high level of music and artists’ performance, full immersion in the characters, in their complex inner worlds, to build profound dialogues,” - Yelizaveta Korneeva described her tasks. “The difficulty is that Rigoletto is performed in almost every opera house of the world; it is very, very difficult to overcome multiple clichés that have accumulated around the opera over the years. I am striving to find any different existence within the material, ask some urgent questions for myself and our time, and give it a new and, I do hope, long lease of life. We are now engaged in working on the music drama of Rigoletto along with the artists at the rehearsals.

As the director announced, Alexei Bocharov and Oleg Alekseev were pre-selected for the premiere shows to perform the part of Rigoletto, Mikhail Pirogov and Davit Yesayan - to perform the part of the Duke. The young performers Zoya Rzheplyanskaya and Aleksandra Cherpakova are to perform Gilda; the experienced soloists Daria Ryabinko and Olga Basova will sing Maddalena. The cast will include completely different actors; so, fans of the opera should attend both premiere shows, definitely!” Yelizaveta Korneeva says.