Rigoletto

Lust, power and innocence collide with fatal consequences in Verdi’s devastating masterpiece.

The Duke has it all: money, power, looks, and any woman he wants – any woman, that is, except Gilda, the innocent young daughter of hunchbacked jester Rigoletto. But when Gilda is kidnapped and seduced by his master, Rigoletto plots revenge – with tragic results.

Verdi’s own favourite opera, Rigoletto is a tragedy of Shakespearean scope, a disturbing psychological portrait of a man caught in a corrupt world, an outsider in a system built on power and privilege. A dramatic score, heavy with menace, includes many of Verdi’s greatest tunes, including La donna e mobile. Rising star Christiane Lutz directs Glyndebourne’s first ever production, reimagining Verdi’s classic drama for our own age.

After his 'marvellous' Pinkerton in 2016’s Madama Butterfly, Matteo Lippi returns to the Glyndebourne Tour as the seductive, power-hungry Duke. Georgian baritone Nikoloz Lagvilava makes his Glyndebourne debut as Rigoletto, with prize-winning South African soprano Vuvu Mpofu as his daughter Gilda, and Oleg Budaratskiy as assassin Sparafucile.