On 7 and 8 February, the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre invites audiences to the premiere performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. A special preview for holders of the Pushkin Card will take place on 6 February, followed by a post-show meeting with young theatre-goers and the production’s director, Sergei Novikov.

The new production is part of the International Festival Parade of Opera Stars. Slovtsov. It has been staged by a creative team well known to Krasnoyarsk audiences, led by Sergei Novikov, with set designer Maria Vysotskaya, lighting designer Ruslan Mayorov, and video artist Dmitri Ivanchenko.

“Rigoletto marks the beginning of a series of Verdi’s most successful operas,” Sergei Novikov explains. “For its story, the composer turned to Victor Hugo’s drama Le Roi s'Amuse, which was banned by the censors. This plot exposes a chasm between the careless games of the powerful and the lonely existence of a man without even a name — the jester Rigoletto. What brought him to the jester’s trade? What is the story behind his daughter’s birth? Why was he forced to leave his child to be raised in a convent, only to bring Gilda, now a young woman, to the big city just three months before the opera’s action begins? These were the questions we explored while working on this production of Rigoletto.”

According to the director, the court jester hides behind the mask of a hunchback as if behind a reliable shield. Yet Rigoletto the father, acutely aware of his responsibility for his daughter’s fate, is utterly vulnerable and defenseless. The curse of Count Monterone sets a tragic chain of events in motion. At its center stands the pleasure-seeking Duke, oblivious to the bloody outcome of his actions. The servant’s attempt to take revenge on his master ultimately turns into his own personal tragedy.

This production of Rigoletto was created in Krasnoyarsk in collaboration with the Pushkin Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre and was conceived from the outset for performances on two stages.