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11 unusual facts about Rigoletto


Alessandro Bonci

On them, he is heard to best advantage in operatic arias by Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti and Gluck, but he was also renowned in Europe and the United States for his Rodolfo in Puccini's La boheme, his Riccardo in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and his Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Grand Theatre, Leeds

The theatre closed at the end of May 2005 for a major refurbishment, entitled transformation, and reopened on 7 October 2006 with a production of Verdi's Rigoletto.

Gwen Catley

In World War II she sang for a year in Jack Hylton's revue Hi-de-Hi, where she was famed for her performances of "Caro nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto.

Khedivial Opera House

Verdi's opera Rigoletto was the first opera performed at the opera house on 1 November 1869.

Leonie Rysanek

Extraordinarily, one of her performances in Die Walküre took place in the same week as her appearance as Gilda in Rigoletto.

Matthew Polenzani

In the 2013 autumn season of the Metropolitan Opera he sings in the role of Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi´s opera Rigoletto.

Nancy Fabiola Herrera

In the summer of 2006, Herrera performed in a gala concert with Plácido Domingo in Puerto Rico, sang Maddalena in Rigoletto with the Metropolitan Opera in Central Park, Charlotte in Werther in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Luisa Fernanda opposite Plácido Domingo at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Opéra de Marseille

During its period of great opulence following the Revolution, it was the site of many major opera presentations, including Verdi’s Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in 1860 and performances in 1866 of Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Barbiere di Siviglia by the famous soprano, Adelina Patti.

Opéra de Monte-Carlo

By the early years of the twentieth century, the Salle Garnier was to see such great performers as Nellie Melba and Enrico Caruso in La bohème and Rigoletto (in 1902), and Feodor Chaliapin in the premiere of Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte (1910).

Richard Verreau

He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London, as the Duke in Rigoletto, in 1957, other roles there included: Alfredo in La traviata, Rodolfo in La bohème, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Soffi Schønning

In 1928 she joined the roster of artists at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm where she made her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto under the baton of Armas Järnefelt.


Adolf Robinson

Other highlights of his career included the title characters in Rossini's William Tell, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Rigoletto, Hérold's Zampa, and Heinrich Marschner's Der Templer und die Jüdin.

Angelo Bendinelli

Later he performed in theaters in many Italian cities, like Bologna, Mantua and Venice, and performed important works such as Rigoletto, La sonnambula, L'amico Fritz, Iris, and Manon.

Anna Veleva

Among her recent roles have been Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, Musette in Puccini's La Boheme and Michaela in Bizet's Carmen produced by Columbia Artists Management.

Anne Evans

Evans made her debut as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto 1967 in Geneva and went on to make her debut in a leading role in 1968 as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the then Sadler's Wells, later English National Opera in 1968 to critical acclaim.

Berle Sanford Rosenberg

In Italy, Rosenberg performed for RAI television in various concert and opera productions, including Petite Messe Solennelle (Piacenza), Rigoletto (Milan Conservatory), In 1989, Berle went to the Minsk Symphony, to perform in the Eurovision production of the Verdi Requiem, in memoriam of the fifth anniversary of the Cernobyl atomic power plant tragedy.

Boiko Zvetanov

He began his career with major roles in Verdi operas such as the Duke in Rigoletto, Foresto in Attila and Radames in Aida, also Lindoro in Rossini's Italiana in Algeri, Fernando in Donizetti's La Favorita and Pollione in Bellini's Norma.

Carlos Cosías

Amongst his performances in the 2008/2009 season were role debuts as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto at the Croatian National Theater, and as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Teatre de La Farándula in Sabadell.

Daniel Oren

His opera repertoire includes many Verdi operas, including Aida, Simon Boccanegra, La Traviata, Rigoletto and Nabucco; Puccini operas such as Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot; as well as Andrea Chenier (Giordano), Norma (Bellini), La Juive (Halevy) and Carmen (Bizet).

Dino Borgioli

These qualities can be discerned in his two famous near-complete recordings of The Barber of Seville and Rigoletto which he made in 1929 and 1928 respectively for Columbia opposite baritone Riccardo Stracciari under the baton of Lorenzo Molajoli.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

In recent years Hvorostovsky's stage repertoire has almost entirely consisted of Verdi operas such as Un ballo in maschera, La traviata and Simon Boccanegra; he has appeared in Rigoletto and Il trovatore in a David McVicar production at the Metropolitan Opera with Sondra Radvanovsky.

Fedora Barbieri

Barbieri can be seen and heard in the role of Madelon on a DVD of the opera "Andrea Chénier", which stars Plácido Domingo, issued by the Bel Canto Society; also as Giovanna in "Rigoletto" filmed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle with Luciano Pavarotti, and again with Domingo as Mamma Lucia in Franco Zeffirelli's "Cavalleria rusticana".

Felice Varesi

Then, in 1851 at La Fenice, Venice, he created Verdi's Rigoletto, and in 1853, at the same house, he became Verdi's original Germont in La traviata.

Francesco Anile

In the last few years, Francesco Anile's repertory has gradually grown enriched by major roles, such as: Cavaradossi (Tosca), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Luigi (Tabarro), Ishmael (Nabucco), Manrico (Il trovatore), Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), and Radamès (Aida).

Gabriella Tucci

A versatile singer and an accomplished actress, Tucci was able to tackle a wide range of roles from bel canto to verismo, singing Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Elvira in I puritani, Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in La traviata, and Marguerite in Faust, as well as Maddalena in Andrea Chénier and the title role in Tosca.

Georges Baklanoff

In 1910 Baklanoff made debuts with three important companies, the Boston Opera Company (as The Miserly Knight), the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (as Verdi's Rigoletto), and the Royal Opera House in London (as Rigoletto and Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca).

Gwynne Howell

His roles have included most of the major bass roles of the Verdi and Wagner repertories, such as: Miller, Sparafucile, Ferrando, Padre Guardiano, Phillip II, Landgrave, Hans Sachs, Gurnemanz, etc.

Hariclea Darclée

Among the many roles she portrayed are Gilda in Rigoletto, Ophélie in Hamlet, Valentine in Les Huguenots, Violetta in La traviata, Desdemona in Otello, Mimì in La boheme, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the title roles in Manon, Manon Lescaut, Aida, and Carmen.

Henri Albers

A highly versatile singer, he also appeared in the title roles of La Monnaie's productions of Hamlet, Rigoletto, Hérodiade, and Le roi Arthus, as well as singing Count di Luna in Il trovatore, Iago in Otello, and Baron Scarpia in Tosca.

Hisham Abdel Khalek

His operatic repertoire includes 20 operas ranging from Aida, Tosca, Carmen, Rigoletto, La Traviata, La Boheme to Turandot.

Irina Zhurina

After studying singing at the Kharkiv Art Institute, she joined the Kharkiv Opera in 1971, where she sang the leading roles in La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, etc.

Ivo Vinco

Vinco sang all the great bass roles of the Italian repertory notably; Oroveso, Raimondo, Sparafucile, Ferrando, Fiesco, Padre Guardiano, Gran Inquisitore, Alvise, etc., and can be heard in several recordings.

James Pease

On his discharge in 1945, he appeared at the Montreal Festivals and in a series of operas at the New York City Center Theatre, making his debut there as Sparafucile on 9 May 1946 (continuing to sing at that venue until 1953).

Lyric Opera Baltimore

The 2012-13 season featured La bohème (with Anna Samuil and Timothy Mix), Don Giovanni (in conjunction with the Peabody Institute), and Rigoletto (starring Stephen Powell and Bryan Hymel).

Maria Barrientos

She remained committed to that house through 1920 where her other roles included Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Amina in La sonnambula, Elvira in I puritani, Gilda in Rigoletto, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and the title roles in Lakmé and Mireille.

Operatunity Oz

Operatunity Oz was a 2006 talent search, and accompanying four-part television documentary by Simon Target, in which Opera Australia conducted a nationwide search to find someone in Australia without professional opera experience, who could be coached to sing in a staged operaVerdi's Rigoletto in the event — on the stage of the Sydney Opera House in the company of professional performers, as part of Opera Australia's regular season.

Rita Shane

Over eight seasons, she also sang in La bohème (as Musetta), Un ballo in maschera (as Oscar), Le siège de Corinthe, La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Le prophète (as Berthe, in John Dexter's production), and Rigoletto.

Sári Barabás

She studied in Budapest with Frau Speckler, and made her debut at the Budapest Opera in 1939, as Gilda in Rigoletto.

Simona Houda-Šaturová

She has since returned to the PSO as a guest artist as the title heroine in Lucia di Lammermoor (2004, 2008, and 2009), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (2005), Gilda in Rigoletto (2008–2009), Rosina (2009).

Suzanne Adams

Her roles at the Met included Juliette, Marguerite, Marguerite de Valois from Les Huguenots, Micaela from Carmen, Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira from Don Giovanni, Philine from Mignon, Berthe from Le prophète, the Forest Bird from Siegfried, Nedda from Pagliacci, Gilda from Rigoletto, Infanta from Le Cid, Inès from L'Africaine, and Mimì from La bohème among others.

Teatro Caupolicán

In 1939 there was an opera program which included The Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly, and Rigoletto.

Tudor Davies

He sang a number of leading tenor parts from the Italian, French and German repertoire, such as Lohengrin, Tamino, Florestan, Faust, Don José and the Duke of Mantua.

Valeria Barsova

In 1915, she was singing in a Moscow cabaret when she was noticed by Sergei Zimin, director of the Zimin Opera, where she made her operatic debut in 1917, as Gilda in Rigoletto.

Virginia MacWatters

MacWatters sang at the New York City Opera from 1946 to 1951, in The Pirates of Penzance (as Mabel, conducted by Julius Rudel), Rigoletto (as Gilda, with Giuseppe Valdengo and Luigi Infantino), Il barbiere di Siviglia (as Rosina, opposite Enzo Mascherini), The Old Maid and the Thief (as Laetitia, with Marie Powers), Le nozze di Figaro (as Susanna), Les contes d'Hoffmann (as Olympia), and Ariadne auf Naxos (as Zerbinetta).