To a full house at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver Opera(VO) brought up the curtain on its 2025-2026 season with a superb production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.
A coproduction with Pacific Opera Victoria, directed by Glynis Leyshon with VO Music Director Jacques Lacombe leading the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, this production of Rigoletto takes the setting to Victorian London. A posh Gentleman’s Club, a church, a pub and docks along the River Thames are all creatively represented in James Rotondo’s set design with Pam Johnson’s costumes highlighting the division of classes.
Opening with the playboy Duke of Mantua, (Yongzhao Yu, making his VO debut) bragging about his ability to woo Questa o quella “this or that” women to the collected gentlemen at the club. The club’s comical caretaker Rigoletto (Michael Chiodi, also making his debut) mocks the gentlemen who’s wives have been bedded by the Duke. This leads to one of the gentlemen to defend the honour of his daughter by placing a curse on the Duke who seduced her and Rigoletto, who mocked the elderly gent.
Down on the docks, Rigoletto has sequestered his daughter in a church out of the Duke’s wandering eye, but the beautiful Gilda (a stunning performance by soprano Sarah Dufresne) is mistaken by the club as his mistress. Seeing their chance at revenge for the fool’s mocking, the Duke successfully wins her heart as the gentlemen plot to kidnap Gilda. Enraged Rigoletto hires an assassin, Sparafucile (Nathan Berg) and his sister Maddalena (Emma Parkinson) to do away with the Duke.
Photo: Emily Cooper
Like a siren Maddalena succeeds in luring the lothario to their pub, where the Duke offers her the opera’s iconic La donna è mobile. Rigoletto and Gilda overhear his cheating ways, setting in motion a tragic ending.
In addition to Yu, Chiodi and Dufresne, also making their Vancouver Opera debuts are Mihnea Nitu, Julia Lorusso and Marianne Bertrand. Rounding out the company, along with the always excellent Leslie Dala directed Vancouver Opera Chorus, other featured players are Neil Craighead, Lyndon Ladeur, Jason Cook, Henry Chen and Heather Molloy.
As we’ve come to expect from Vancouver Opera, this season debuts with another preeminent production; creative sets and brilliant costumes, outstanding orchestra and stratospheric singing make Rigoletto one not to miss. Presented with English surtitles, Vancouver Opera’s Rigoletto has two more performances, October 30 at 7:30pm and November 2 at 2pm, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 630 Hamilton Street. Visit vancouveropera.ca for information and tickets.