Rigoletto, by Verdi, inaugurates the seventh Season of the Palau de les Arts

• Students from the Professional Conservatory of Valencia and musicians from the Desarroya Foundation collaborate for the first time with the Orchestra of the Valencian Community

Valencia (9-11-2012).- Omer Meir Wellber will inaugurate the seventh season of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía with Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi tomorrow, Saturday, November 10.

The Israeli maestro begins his second year leading the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana with this work, which he will also conduct in I due Foscari and Il barbiere di Siviglia .

This is Omer Meir Wellber's second Verdi opera in Valencia, following his performance of Aida in 2010. Rigoletto is also one of the 'fetish' pieces in the career of the director from Beer Sheva, with which he debuted at the prestigious Austrian festival Wiener Festwochen in 2011.

The Palau de les Arts presents this Verdi melodrama in three acts in the production by Belgian stage director Gilbert Deflo for La Scala in Milan, which has been adapted by the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw (National Opera of Poland).

Ezio Frigerio (set design) and Oscar-winning Franca Squarciapino (costume design) present a new work in Valencia, following Simon Boccanegra , the first Verdi opera performed at the Palau de les Arts. Stanislaw Zieba (lighting design) and Zofia Rudnicka (choreography) complete the creative team for the largest production ever staged in the Main Hall of this cultural venue.

Established values and rising stars

The baritone Juan Jesús Rodríguez, from Huelva, embodies Rigoletto, the hunchbacked jester of the court of the Duchy of Mantua. This distinguished Verdi interpreter, who has performed at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Liceu, and the Teatro Regio in Turin, enjoyed great success in Il trovatore at the recent Festival del Mediterrani.

She is joined by Italian tenor Ivan Magrì (Duke of Mantua) and American soprano Erin Morley (Gilda), whom major American newspapers hail as one of the most promising coloratura sopranos of her generation. Following her participation in Robert Lepage's new production of The Ring of the Nibelung for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, her schedule includes engagements with the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera.

Winner of numerous opera competitions, Ivan Magrì has studied with Luciano Pavarotti. With an extensive career in the Italian repertoire, the tenor from Catania has sung the role of the Duke of Mantua, among others, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, and the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo.

Paata Burchuladze (Sparafucile) completes the quartet of principal singers. The Georgian bass returns to the Valencian arts center, where he performed Boris Godunov last season. Burchuladze boasts one of the most prolific careers in his vocal range, with appearances in leading opera houses and concert halls worldwide. Invited by Herbert von Karajan for the Salzburg Festival, he has also developed a significant recording career.

The cast of Rigoletto is completed by Adriana Di Paola (Maddalena), Mario Cerdá (Borsa), Miguel Ángel Zapater (Count of Ceprano) and the singers from the Center de Perfection Plácido Domingo Marina Pinchuk (Giovanna), María Kosenkova (Countess of Ceprano), Daniel Stefanov (Court Usher) and Charlotte Martin (Paje).

First collaboration

The Ballet of the Generalitat joins for the first time with the stable bodies of the Palau de les Arts (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and Choir de la Generalitat Valenciana) in an operatic production.

The Rigoletto in-house band is comprised of students from the Valencia Professional Conservatory who, under the direction of Ricardo Casero, are making their debut at the Valencian arts center. Members of the Desarroya Foundation are performing as musicians on stage.

Bicentenary of Verdi's birth

Rigoletto is the first of the operas with which the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía pays tribute to Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) on the bicentenary of his birth.

The 2012-2013 season at the Valencian arts center also includes the titles by the composer from Busseto: I due Foscari , with Plácido Domingo in the lead role, and Otello , with Zubin Mehta conducting.

The Palau de les Arts closes the so-called 'popular trilogy' of Giuseppe Verdi with Rigoletto after performing La Traviata in 2010, with Lorin Maazel as musical director, and Il trovatore at the V Festival del Mediterrani directed by Zubin Mehta.

Giuseppe Verdi premiered Rigoletto on March 11, 1851, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. This opera in three acts, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse , is, after La Traviata , the most performed opera by the Italian composer.

The Palau de les Arts has scheduled five more performances of Rigoletto on November 13, 16, 18, 21, and 24. For more information, please visit www.lesarts.com .