Michal Partyka

When a sharp-tongued court jester Rigoletto is cursed for his spiteful words, he is forced to hide his unworldly daughter Gilda from his own licentious master the Duke. For Verdi’s wonderful ambivalent hunchback, paradise is the peaceful home and family that he struggles to protect.

To escape the horrors of the battlefield, Henryk has a dream in which he imagines that his childhood home has been turned into an inn. His father is the innkeeper and his fiancée, Mania, is a serving maid. As innkeeper, his father is given a hard time by all the drunkards and, to defend his dignity, he claims that he is untouchable, ‘like a king’. But will a ‘royal wedding’ between the prince Henryk and Mania manage to restore the family’s honour? The Marriage (Ślub) is an opera adaptation of the eponymous play by Witold Gombrowicz, one of Poland’s leading dramatists of the 20th century. Poznań Opera House has commissioned this operatic adaptation from Zygmunt Krauze, for his part, one of the leading composers active in Poland today.

Rediscover a monumental moment in Verdi's oeuvre: the immortal Rigoletto! In this eye-catching production staged by Claus Guth at Paris's Opéra Bastille, soloists Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto), Olga Peretyatko (Gilda), Michael Fabiano (the Duke of Mantua), and Rafal Siwek (Sparafucile) put their incredible talents to captivating use. To revisit this well-known opera, Guth recounts the story from the point of view of an aged Rigoletto, a clown past his prime, who watches his memories pass before his eyes as he looks back on his life. The set design by Christian Schmidt and Olaf Winter's careful lighting create an imposing, chilly, and implacable ambiance, perfect for the melodrama unfolding onstage. The Choir and Orchestra of the Paris Opera, under the baton of Nicola Luisotti, offer up a powerful interpretation of this timeless work.