Next weekend, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Florida Opera Theatre proudly present Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, featuring performers who have appeared in major roles at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Principal cast members include Mark Walters (Rigoletto), Maureen O’Flynn (Gilda), Russell Thomas (The Duke of Mantua) and John Cheek (Sparafucile). Both performances will be conducted by Metropolitan Opera conductor and Arizona Opera Artistic Director Joel Revzen, and directed by Frank McClain of Florida Opera Theatre. Performances will be held Friday, March 2 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, 401 W. Livingston Street, Orlando.
Described by Opera News as “a force to be reckoned with,” baritone Mark Walters (Rigoletto) has performed numerous signature roles to critical acclaim, including Don Giovanni, Marcello in La bohème, Escamillo in Carmen and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. Walters performed Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and Escamillo in Carmen with Florida Grand Opera in 2010-2011. He was featured on a Richard Tucker Music Foundation concert and with Opera Tampa in A Night of Stars gala honoring the career of Plácido Domingo and debuted with Opera Naples as Escamillo in Carmen.
A native of Miami, tenor Russell Thomas (The Duke of Mantua) is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting vocal and dramatic talents on the international opera and concert scene, most recently as the First-Prize winner of the prestigious “Viñas Competition” in Barcelona (First Prize, Audience Favorite and Best Tenor) and at the “Competizione dell’Opera” in Dresden. Last season he performed the Duke in Rigoletto with the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, followed by Tamino in The Magic Flute and Andres in Wozzeck at the Metropolitan Opera, Faust in La Damnation de Faust in Frankfurt, the title-role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Boston Symphony and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Atlanta Symphony
Maureen O’Flynn (Gilda) is regarded as one of the world’s finest interpreters of Gilda in Rigoletto, performing the role with the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Plácido Domingo, Arena di Verona, Covent Garden, La Fenice, Genoa, Italy, San Carlo, Naples, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and debuted with Dallas
Opera, winning the company’s Callas Award as “Outstanding New Artist of the Year.” Baritone John Cheek, who plays the assassin Sparafucile, has appeared with New York’s Metropolitan Opera in more than 360 performances, playing the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Publio in La clemenza di Tito and Don Alfonso in Cosi Fan Tutte. At the New York City Opera he sang three title roles in one season: Boito’s Mefistofele, Verdi’s Attila, and the world premiere of Jay Reise’s Rasputin. In the following season, he sang the title role in a new production of Don Giovanni.
Conductor Joel Revzen has been on the conducting staff at New York’s Metropolitan Opera since 1999, and currently serves as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Arizona Opera. Maestro Revzen has led productions with the National Theatre of Mannheim Germany, the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, Minnesota Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, and numerous productions with the world-renowned Kirov Opera at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Rigoletto, which premiered in Venice, Italy on March 11, 1851, is based on a play by Victor Hugo. The story follows the womanizing Duke of Mantua and his court jester Rigoletto. After the Duke seduces the daughter of Count Monterone, and Rigoletto mocks him in court, the Count curses them both. The curse haunts Rigoletto throughout the rest of the opera. After the Duke seduces Rigoletto’s own loving, innocent daughter, Gilda, Rigoletto vows revenge and hires an assassin to kill the Duke. But Gilda, madly in love with the Duke, sacrifices herself to be murdered in the Duke’s place. Rigoletto, upon receiving what he thinks is the dead body of the Duke, is horrified to find his own daughter murdered, and the curse fulfilled.
Rigoletto will be performed with the orchestra on stage, rather than in the pit, bringing the cast downstage, and closer to the audience. This places greater emphasis on the musical expression of the drama. Lighting plays an even more crucial role in these productions than it does in traditional opera stagings because it is the primary agent for creating mood and establishing spatial relationships.
Tickets to Rigoletto are $15.75, $30, $42, $57 and $75. Students can purchase half-price tickets in select sections. To purchase tickets, phone the Orlando Philharmonic Box Office at 407-770-0071 or visit www.OrlandoPhil.org. Seating is assigned based on the date orders are received.
The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra has been producing operas over the past three years to critical, artistic and financial success. In 2012-2013, the orchestra will also perform Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. To learn more, phone 407-770-0071 or visit www.OrlandoPhil.org.