50 shades of Rigoletto – The premiere of Verdi’s opera in Landestheater Linz

Conductor – Martin Braun

Stage director – Andreas Baesler

I do not know if Donald Trump has ever seen “Rigoletto” at the opera. But from this day on, his doppelgänger is, for sure, seen and remembered in the opera house of Linz – choosing girls at the Miss World event at his tower and at the same time singing the part of the Duke of Mantua  in “Rigoletto”. The idea is not bad at all, diplomacy aside… Although, when some political satire starts to compete with Verdi’s music – chances to succeed are relatively small.

Unfortunately, the trend of putting masterpieces of Italian opera in some obscure political prism of modern reality and add some sex-scenes to make it “real” – is still fashionable, particularly in Germany and Austria, but does not always respond to public’s expectations and leaves few questions unanswered. Let’s say it’s a matter of taste!

First and most important: the premiere of Rigoletto at the Landestheater Linz was a great success! Despite a light “buu” for the stage director at the end. The award for this success goes to an excellent cast and particularly the protagonists, Federico Longhi, Julia Sitkovetsky and Hyojong Kim.

The performance started with a very impressive and touching scene of Rigoletto entering the stage and with its back to the public, looking at the mirror putting the costume of a jester, red wig and make up: “ridi, pagliaccio…” Oh sorry… Just a Déjà vu  form the wrong opera…

 Rigoletto leads us to the Miss World event at the “Trump tower”, where the Duke / Trump tries to entertain himself with a little show staged for him by Rigoletto and the beauty queens. Colourful event is disturbed by the arrival of Count Monterone, who demands her daughter – suspiciously younger-looking “girlfriend” of Mr. trump/Duke of Mantua. After that things get a little worse…

The stage turns into the apartment of Rigoletto (actually, every next scene is simply another floor of the tower), where he keeps her also underaged innocent daughter Gilda in a company of teddy-bears and less trustworthy Giovanna. The continuation is easy to figure out. We end up somewhere in the basement or a parking of the building, where Sparafucile (presumably, a plumber of the tower) and his sister Maddalena (cleaning lady) kill Gilda instead of Duke.

Certainly, there were moments that had a necessary effect: moments, that were really entertaining (for example, “La donna e mobile” performed as a type of Karaoke – thumbs up for the tenor!), but also the ones that were not really appreciated by the public for their vulgarity and slight lack of taste. no, it does not make it convincing to stage an amateur pornography with the Duke and Maddalena (during the whole quartet Duke had his finger in the underwear of Maddalena). No, we do not need to hear her scream and shout during the following recitativo to figure out what is going on between her and Duke at the back seat of the car – it only disturbs music, words and the plot, which already exists, by the way! And again – NO! Rigoletto is not about pedofilia and Gilda with teddy-bears and air-balloons – is not exactly what Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave wanted to talk about.

Let’s rather concentrate on the musical interpretation, which definitely saved not very successful staging. I am sure Landestheater Linz is very proud of its orchestra (Bruckner Orchestra) with its rich and brilliant sound and reliability in almost any repertoire. Conductor Martin Braun was very clear and precise interpreting Rigoletto, his energetic approach and tensions towards the massive sound was very impressive, but almost covered the sensibility of the opera.

The protagonist – Duke’s jester Rigoletto, interpreted by Federico Longhi is already known in Linz after his success as Falstaff last year. As an actor and as a singer – he was the leading force of the performance. he displayed a great variety of colours and emotions on the stage: from full and almost brutal sound of the father raging to protect his daughter in “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” and “Si, vendetta” – to the airy, almost whispering and incredibly emotional “piangi, fanciulla…” Apart from great singing qualities, what makes his performance very special, is that federico Longhi gives significance to each word, each action.

Very interesting young singer Julia Sitkovetsky as Gilda. She charmed the audience with her beautiful voice and virtuosity. Very good in the first act – where one after another, almost without a break Gilda has to sing duet with Rigoletto, duet with Duke and finally her aria. She is definitely a singer to be noticed and followed, for sure on her way to a great career. Although, maybe would be more adequate to hear her in lighter roles. Despite the fact, that Gilda is seen as typical role of a lyric coloratura, should not be forgotten, that in next acts she has to come forward with a very dramatic experience: she is not a girl any more, but a deeply hurt and still loving women, who grants her own life to the unfaithful, ignorant lover. Her character did not develop very much to that direction in difference to Federico Longhi, who became stronger and stronger in every next act.

Vocally excellent Duke – Hyojong Kim. With his easy top notes and flowing legato – perfect cast for the role: inspiring and brilliant in the “Parmi veder le lagrime”, playful in “la donna e mobile”. Probably this particular staging was not exactly the best choice for him and  the blond hair is not his fashion trend to follow! But let’s say so: he did his best to interpret Donald Trump, but was more successful interpreting the Duke!

Impressive Sparafucile – Dominik Nekel. Interesting voice with notable volume. Artistically very suitable to the character of an evil plumber, he was meant to represent. Slight problems with intonation, but should be taken in consideration that he was still ill on the day of premiere.

The production is very unfortunate for Maddalena – Jessica Eccleston. She could be a very talented young singer, but with all her image and character – seemed rather Musetta mistakingly entering the wrong opera. Also with her voice – it is not an adequate cast for the role. Probably best suited for the higher parts.

Very good Count Monterone – Nikolai Galkin. Also good cast for the secondary roles, partially represented by the artists of the choir:  Vaida Raginskyte (Giovanna), Mitsuyo Okamoto (a page), Kathleen Louisa Brandhofer (Countess Cheprano), Rastislav Lalinsky (Count Cheprano), Xiaoke Hu (Borsa) and Justus Seeger (Marullo).