Rigoletto

Lead Donor of the GNO

The 2024/2025 season will come complete at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus with the revival of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto.

In Rigoletto –one of the most popular operas in the repertoire– Verdi transitions to a new chapter in his compositional career, presenting a musical composition with a distinct mark and an increased mood for experimentation. The shifts between lyrical and dramatic scenes ensure a continuous flow of the plot at a high speed.

The story talks about the love of Gilda, daughter of the hunchback jester of the court, for the promiscuous Duke of Mantua, who presents himself to her as a poor student. To take revenge for his daughter’s lost honour, Rigoletto plans the Duke’s murder. When Gilda finds out about her father’s plans, she decides to save her beloved, by sacrificing herself in his place.

The distinguished theatre and opera director, who also serves as the Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, relocated the storyline of Rigoletto to the decadent Italian countryside of the 1980s, in a superstitious society that deeply undermines women: “The cycle of violence portrayed by Verdi in Rigoletto is transferred to the microcosm of the Italian countryside in the 1980s, where organised crime holds the reins. Corruption, crimes, and rapes are the true face of a religionist, conservative, and superstitious society,” notes the director. With a strong and consistent directorial approach, loyal to the libretto and the music of the opera, and along with the assistance of her creative team (sets by Eva Manidaki, costumes by Alan Hranitelj, choreography-movement by Patricia Apergi, lighting by Eleftheria Deko), Evangelatos aims to illuminate the controversial and dark personality of Rigoletto’s character.