Rigoletto

Verdi’s heartbreaking masterpiece returns, with reigning Verdi baritone Quinn Kelsey reprising his devastating portrayal of the hunchbacked court jester. Radiant soprano Nadine Sierra is his naïve daughter, Gilda, and tenor Stephen Costello is the rakish Duke of Mantua, with Maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi on the podium to conduct Bartlett Sher’s Weimar-inspired production. A second run of performances features the Met debut of rising tenor Pene Pati, alongside soprano Erin Morley and baritone Luca Salsi, conducted by Maurizio Benini.

World premiere: Teatro la Fenice, Venice, 1851. A dramatic journey of undeniable force, Rigoletto was immensely popular from its premiere and remains fresh and powerful to this day. The story, based on a controversial play by Victor Hugo, tells of an outsider — a hunchbacked jester — who struggles to balance the dueling elements of beauty and evil that exist in his life. Written during the most fertile period of Verdi’s artistic life, the opera resonates with a universality that is frequently called Shakespearean.