Rigoletto in Shanghai

There is great anticipation for the staging of a great classic of Italian opera, Rigoletto, at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall. Maestro Long Yu will conduct the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the chorus, while Leo Nucci, one of the best baritones in the world, will play the role of the court jester, Rigoletto. The opera in three acts, composed by Giuseppe Verdi in 1851 with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, is based on the drama by Victor Hugo, The King Has Fun. It focuses on the dramatic figure of a court jester, Rigoletto, who was initially censored. In Hugo’s drama, which was not well received by the public or critics, the debaucheries of the French court were described in no uncertain terms, with the libertinism of Francis I, King of France, at its core. In adapting the opera, a compromise was reached to have the action take place in Italy, at the court of Mantua, which no longer existed at that time, transforming the King of France into the Duke of Mantua.