Astana Opera: An unexpected perspective on Verdi’s Rigoletto

The genre of Rigoletto is often called a ‘horror fairy tale’, combining thriller and horror with turbulent, riotous music.

Verdi managed to turn Victor Hugo’s drama “Le Roi S’Amuse” into an intense musical performance. The life of the court jester Rigoletto falls apart after the Duke of Mantua seduces his daughter Gilda. Trying to take revenge, Rigoletto himself becomes the culprit of her death.

The stage director of the production Arnaud Bernard offers an interesting interpretation: he makes the centre of the drama not Rigoletto, but the Duke. In his vision, the ruler of Mantua is a Renaissance man, cultured, inquisitive, always striving for something new. This view allows us to hear in the familiar story not only the tragedy of the jester’s family, but also a portrait of the time when man and his passions became the main subject of knowledge.

“Rigoletto is the first opera I discovered when I was very young, the first opera I heard on record. It is therefore an important work in my world. I staged it a lot later. Gilda’s death is undoubtedly one of the strongest moments in the lyric art. For Astana I thought of a relatively classical production for the simple reason that it is the first time that this work is performed at this opera house. Why make a transposition for a work that is both brilliant and still relatively unknown to the public? I will insist on the side, already explained, of the Duke as a man of science and living in works of art, a complete man. I wanted a setting that was both grandiose and claustrophobic, in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The rich palace of the Duke of Mantua will be seen more from the side of the Duke’s workshop, a place in which he takes refuge, he flees the worldliness and the superficiality of the world that he abhors, and in which he lives his daily life. For the last act, it is fundamental that we feel the humility of the place, the presence of the marshes, the water, the mud, and that we feel the isolated character of the place. Gilda dies in a sordid place. The storm, with its obvious symbolism, must be very impressive; it is the highlight of the work,” the stage director explained.

Famous cultural figures are working on the production. Music director and conductor is Maestro Alan Buribayev. His work ensures that all the shades of Verdi’s score will be revealed: from monumental arias to powerful choral scenes prepared by the principal choirmaster, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Dautov.

The visual concept is created by set designer Riccardo Massironi, costume designer Anna Verde, lighting designer Jacopo Pantani and video projections designer Sergio Metalli. Their joint work combines the beauty of the Renaissance with modern staging means.

The production involves the choir, supernumeraries and orchestra of Astana Opera, and an entire team of assistants and technical specialists is responsible for the precision and coherence of the stage machine. They are the ones who ensure that the audience sees a complete, dynamic performance onstage.

Let us remind that this work, first presented to the audience on March 11, 1851 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, has long won a place in the top ten most popular operas in the world. It has been filmed several times, including in 1983, with Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke of Mantua.

Notably, famous ballerina Diana Vishneva to perform Shéhérazade at Astana Opera.