Francesco Maria Piave News

Michael Mayer's 2013 production of Verdi's Rigoletto, set in a 1960s Las Vegas casino, returns to the Met January 20. Italian conductor Pier Giorgio Morandi makes his company debut leading Željko Lu?i? in the title role opposite Olga Peretyatko as Gilda and Stephen Costello as the Duke.

The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's timeless classic, Rigoletto, replete with beautiful music at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC).  Last performed by the company in 2010 at bergenPAC, Verismo Opera performs this important work of the operatic repertoire on Sunday, October 23, 2016, 3:00 p.m., at the theatre, located at 30 North Van Brunt Street, in Englewood, New Jersey U.S.A.  

 Pittsburgh Opera announces its 2016-2017 season. The season includes the very first world premiere in our 78 year history and two Pennsylvania premieres. The season will encompass four operas produced at the Benedum Center and two Resident Artist operas - the annual production at Pittsburgh CAPA Theater and the Second Stage Project at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters.

La MaMa presents, in association with Columbia Stages, the world premiere advance staging of Baby Fat, Act 1, a Screeching Weasel Rock Opera. Baby Fat: Act I boasts music and lyrics by Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel ('Cool Kids') and libretto by Ben Weasel (after Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave). Michael Scholar, Jr. (The Black Rider) directs this November Theatre production, scheduled for a strictly limited engagement at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre at 66 East 4th Street, NYC from July 21 - July 23.

La MaMa presents, in association with Columbia Stages, the world premiere advance staging of Baby Fat, Act 1, a Screeching Weasel Rock Opera. Baby Fat: Act I boasts music and lyrics by Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel ('Cool Kids') and libretto by Ben Weasel (after Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave). Michael Scholar, Jr. (The Black Rider) directs this November Theatre production, scheduled for a strictly limited engagement at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre at 66 East 4th Street, NYC from July 21 - July 23.

La MaMa, presents in association with Columbia Stages the world premiere advance staging of BABY FAT: Act I, a Screeching Weasel Rock Opera. BABY FAT: Act I boasts music and lyrics by Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel ("Cool Kids") and libretto by Ben Weasel (after Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave). Michael Scholar, Jr. (The Black Rider) directs this November Theatre production, scheduled for a strictly limited engagement at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre at 66 East 4th Street, NYC from July 21 - July 23.

Amore Opera closes the 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. This tale of innocence lost and vengeance gone tragically awry will be presented in full production with full orchestra conducted by Douglas Martin, with stage direction by Amore Opera's Artistic Director Nathan Hull. 

Beginning April 1, Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi's SIMON BOCCANEGRA, with Plácido Domingo starring in the title role.

Beginning April 1, Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi's SIMON BOCCANEGRA, with Plácido Domingo starring in the title role.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2016–17 Season repertory and roster of international guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House, as well as initial programming for SF Opera Lab 2017 presentations at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Taube Atrium Theater. The Company's 94th Season will also mark Matthew Shilvock's inaugural year as San Francisco Opera's new general director, succeeding his mentor and internationally respected impresario, David Gockley, who will step down on July 31, 2016.

Thrilling theater and unforgettable music -- that's what audiences can expect from Seattle Opera's 2016/17 Season. The company today announced the operas next up at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. They include: The Wicked Adventures of Count Ory, Hansel & Gretel, La traviata, Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute.

Vancouver, BC ~  Vancouver Opera kicks off the exciting 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi's thrilling blockbuster, Rigoletto. Powerful baritone Gordon Hawkins will sing the title role, with international superstar soprano Simone Osborne as Gilda and acclaimed tenor Bruce Sledge as the Duke. Sensational melodies, heartbreaking drama and vivid characters make this dark, tender drama of love and revenge irresistible.

Vancouver, BC ~  Vancouver Opera kicks off the exciting 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi's thrilling blockbuster, Rigoletto. Powerful baritone Gordon Hawkins will sing the title role, with international superstar soprano Simone Osborne as Gilda and acclaimed tenor Bruce Sledge as the Duke. Sensational melodies, heartbreaking drama and vivid characters make this dark, tender drama of love and revenge irresistible.

Miami Lyric Opera will stage Verdi's RIGOLETTO, today, July 11, 2015 at 8:00pm and Sunday, July 12, 2015 at 4:00pm at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

Miami Lyric Opera will stage Verdi's RIGOLETTO, Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 8:00pm and Sunday, July 12, 2015 at 4:00pm at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

Brett Bailey, the artistic director of Cape Town-based performance company Third World Bunfight, is back in South Africa for a short while and has begun working on his next project, THE RAFT, that will deal with the migrant crisis on the Mediterranean Sea.

Nine years before IL TROVATORE took the prize for Verdi's most outlandish story line--with gypsies, stolen babies and mistaken identities--there was ERNANI, with a different kind of complicated plot to make your head spin. The Met's current revival of its 1983 production of the opera stars a formidable quartet: soprano Angela Meade, tenor Franceso Meli, bass-baritone Dmitry Belosselskiy and, last but certainly not least, tenor/baritone Placido Domingo.

Opera Philadelphia's 41st Season serves as a reminder that the company is, as The Washington Post reports, “taking chances, offering unusual and new work along with repertory staples, and carving out a place for themselves as proponents of American opera.” As General Director & President David B. Devan and Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovarisannounced today, the carefully curated 2015-2016 lineup offers two new American operas: the East Coast Premiere of Cold Mountain, by composer Jennifer Higdon and librettist Gene Scheer and starring the dream team of Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, and Jay Hunter Morris (February 2016); and the World Premiere of ANDY: A Popera, a Warhol-inspired opera-cabaret featuring a score by Dan Visconti and original songs by Heath Allen (September 2015).

The Atlanta Opera celebrates its 35th year of live productions with Giuseppe Verdi's tragic masterpiece, Rigoletto. This new, visually stimulating production is a co-production of Boston Lyric Opera, The Atlanta Opera, and Opera Omaha and was originally directed by The Atlanta Opera's General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun.

These characters are awful, foolish people, and I hate them. Let me illustrate. Just for kicks, the Duke of Mantua, with the help of his court jester, Rigoletto, seduces Countess Ceprano, wife of Count Ceprano. After helping the Duke bed the countess, Rigoletto spends a good portion of time mocking Count Ceprano for, I don't know, having a failing marriage? Angry, the Count curses the Duke and his court, and Rigoletto loses his life and everything he loves including his beloved daughter Gilda.