Michael Mayer's Staging of Verdi's RIGOLETTO Opens Next Week at Met Opera

By: Oct. 15, 2015
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Verdi's Rigoletto returns to the Met October 20 for fifteen performances. Michael Mayer's 2013 production, set in a 1960s Las Vegas casino, will star George Gagnidze in the title role opposite two singers in company role debuts: Olga Peretyatko as Gilda and Stephen Costello as the Duke. Spanish maestro Pablo Heras-Casado will lead the initial performances of the opera, which also feature Štefan Kocán as Sparafucile and Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Leoson, in her Met debut, as Maddalena. Later performances this season will star Željko Lu?i? in the title role and Piotr Beczala as the Duke, roles both sang in the new production premiere of Mayer's staging, opposite 2009 National Council Auditions winner Nadine Sierra in her Met debut as Gilda. Roberto Abbado conducts a cast that also features Russian bass Dimitry Ivashchenko in his Met debut as Sparafucile and Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Maddalena.

Pablo Heras-Casado made his Met debut conducting Rigoletto in 2013. Recently, he has conducted Carmen at the Met, La Traviata at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Mauricio Sotelo's El Público at Teatro Real, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with the Dutch National Opera. He is currently the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, as well as a Principal Guest Conductor of Teatro Real in Madrid. Next year, he will conduct Verdi's I Due Foscari at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

George Gagnidze made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 2009. His other Met performances have included Amonasro in Verdi's Aida, Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca , the title role in Verdi's Macbeth, and Shaklovity in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina. In January, he will reprise the role of Tonio in a Met revival Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Olga Peretyatko has sung Gilda at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Zurich Opera, and the Festival Avenches in Italy. She made her Met debut in 2014 as Elvira in Bellini's I Puritani. Recent credits with other companies include Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov's Die Zarenbraut at La Scala, Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Hamburg State Opera, and Donna Fiorilla in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia at the Bavarian State Opera. She will reprise the role of Gilda later this season at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Paris Opera.

Stephen Costello sang the role of the Duke at the Houston Grand Opera and Hamburg State Opera. He made his Met debut in 2007 as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, followed by roles as Alfred Germont in Verdi's La Traviata and Camille de Rosillon in Lehár's The Merry Widow. He can be seen this season as Lord Percy in Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Met, as well as reprising his role as the Duke at Teatro Real in Madrid, des Grieux in Massenet's Manon at the Dallas Opera, Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Santa Fe Opera, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore at the Vienna State Opera, and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Katarina Leoson makes her Met debut as Maddalena and sang the role previously with the Royal Swedish Opera. Most recently, she starred as Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Finnish National Opera, Emilia in Verdi's Otello at the Royal Swedish Opera, and Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Norrlands Opera. Next year, she can be seen as Lucia in Rossini's La Gazza Ladra at the Frankfurt Opera and Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal and Geneviève in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Štefan Kocán made his Met debut in 2009 as the King in Aida. He sang the role of Sparafucile at the Met for the first time in 2011 and reprised the role in the 2013 premiere performances of the current production. His credits with other companies include Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni at La Scala, Zaccaria in Nabucco at the Bavarian State Opera, and Philip in Verdi's Don Carlo at the Vienna State Opera. Next year, he can be seen as the Watcher in Enescu's Oedipe at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Roberto Abbado made his Met debut in 1994 leading Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. He has also conducted Giordano's Fedora and Verdi's Ernani and La Traviata with the company. Other recent credits include leading Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani at the Vienna State Opera, Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala, Aida and La Traviata at the Bavarian State Opera, Rossini's La Donna del Lago at the Paris Opera, and Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He is currently the Music Director at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia.

Željko Lu?i? sings Rigoletto, a role he previously sang at the Met, as well as at La Scala, Semperoper Dresden Opera, and Paris Opera. Lu?i? made his Met debut in 2006 as Barnaba in Ponchielli's La Gioconda and has sung nine other roles with the company, including the title roles in Verdi's Nabucco and Macbeth, Amonasro in Aida, and Carlo Gérard in Giordano's Andrea Chénier. Later this season, he will sing the title role in Nabucco at the Lyric Opera Chicago. He also makes his company role debuts as both Iago (in the new production of Otello) and Scarpia in Tosca at the Met this season.

Nadine Sierra makes her Met debut as Gilda after previously singing the role at the Atlanta Opera, Seattle Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. She is the youngest winner to date of both the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition. Most recently, she sang Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Paris Opera, the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Zurich Opera, and Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute. She will reprise the role of Gilda at La Scala and sing Amor in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Berlin State Opera, and Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen at the San Francisco Opera next year.

Piotr Beczala made his Met debut in 2006 as the Duke and reprised the role with the company in 2013. His Met repertory includes Vaudémont in the company premiere of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, the title role in Gounod's Faust, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Chevalier des Grieux in Manon, and Riccardo in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, a role he will reprise at the Bavarian State Opera and Munich Opera Festival later this season. Additionally, he will star as the title character in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Semperoper Dresden Opera and the title role of Massenet's Werther at the Paris Opera.

Nancy Fabiola Herrera has sung the role of Maddalena over 30 times at the Met. She made her company debut as Suzuki in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and has also sung the title character in Carmen at the Met. Her other recent credits include Carmen at the Bolshoi Theatre, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Paula in Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas at the Los Angeles Opera and Washington Opera; and Dalila in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila at the Ópera de Oviedo.

Dimitry Ivashchenko makes his Met debut as Sparafucile. He sang the role previously at the Paris Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Munich State Opera, and Komische Oper Berlin. His other appearances include the Water Sprite in Dvo?ák's Rusalka at the Paris Opera, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Bavarian State Opera, and Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Next season, he can also be seen as Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.



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