April 26, May 1, 4, 10, 2019
Rigoletto, melodramma in three acts
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after the play Le roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo
Performance of (and at) the Metropolitan Opera, New York, NY, USA
Production of the Metropolitan Opera
This production of Rigoletto is set in Las Vegas, 1960
Conductor: Nicola Luisotti
Rigoletto: George Gagnidze
Gilda: Rosa Feola
Duke of Mantua: Matthew Polenzani, Stephen Costello (10)
Sparafucile: Dimitry Ivashchenko
Maddalena: Ramona Zaharia
Count Monterone: Stefan Szkafarowsky
Borsa: Eduardo Valdes
Marullo: Jeongcheol Cha
Count Ceprano: Paul Corona
Countess Ceprano: Samantha Hankey
Giovanna: Edyta Kulczak
A Page: Catherine MiEun Choi-Steckmeyer
An Usher: Earle Patriarco
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Chorus Master: Donald Palumbo
Production: Michael Mayer
Director: Gregory Keller
Set Designer: Christine Jones
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams
Choreographer: Steven Hoggett
The performance on May 1 was broadcasted live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM channel 75.
Photos (link to Rosa's Facebook page)
Excerpts:
La recita di domani sarà trasmessa in diretta Radio sul sito del Met (domani scriverò un nuovo post con il link). Purtroppo in Italia sarà l'1 e mezza del mattino. Spero di riuscire a recuperare una registrazione e poterla condividere con voi. Le regole sulla privacy qui in America sono diverse e per poter condividere con voi un video devo rispettare alcuni parametri. Questa piccola clip della recita del 26 aprile ( il mio debutto al Met ) non è a scopo di lucro. La vostra 🌹
Posted by Rosa Feola on Tuesday, April 30, 2019
“ 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓸 “ ... un piccolo trucchetto per sentirmi così innamorata quando pronuncio il nome di Gualtier Maldè ... mi basta pensare ad un altro nome ... 💕 ~~~ (thank you for the video to the special friend who knows whom I’m speaking about ❣️) ~~~ - questa piccola clip non è a scopo di lucro -
Posted by Rosa Feola on Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Reviews:
“Ms. Feola has a warm, full-bodied voice with natural bloom and a touch of darkening richness. She dispatched coloratura runs and filigree with ease and agility. There was nothing generic about the beauty of her singing. Depending on the dramatic urgency of the moment, she would inflect a phrase with an earthy, even steely sheen. She seemed at home in Michael Mayer’s garishly colorful production, which sets the story in 1960s Las Vegas, with the Duke (the tenor Matthew Polenzani, in excellent voice) presented as a sort of headliner on the strip. In fact, the contemporary trappings allowed Ms. Feola to tease out contemporary resonances from Gilda’s character.
From the start, you could sense how exasperated this restless Gilda was with her smothering father, the jester Rigoletto (the baritone George Gagnidze), who tries to keep her in seclusion at home. When the Duke, pretending to be a poor student, romances her, Ms. Feola’s Gilda practically trembles with pent-up longing. Even in the wrenching Act II scene when Gilda, having been kidnapped by the Duke’s men and brought to their boss, confesses all to her father, Ms. Feola’s Gilda was alternately consumed with shame and afire with helpless ardor.”
Anthony Tommasini, "The New York Times"
“In a deep field of talented vocalists, Rosa Feola’s debut as Gilda took top prize. Her radiant soprano and youthful countenance made for an exceptionally guileless interpretation. Her nimble voice had a simple, expressive quality.”
Patrick Clement James, "parterre box"
“The standout for all of us is Rosa Feola’s Gilda, whose voice is beautifully expressive, irresistible to the opera-lovers and newbies among us alike. Feola’s characterization of Gilda is compellingly three-dimensional, an impressive feat given the constraints placed upon her by a production that has a lot of set design but […] “no real blocking or traceable thought.”
[…] We all fall in love with Feola’s vulnerability, her indecision and anguish as she gets in over her head.
[…] I defy anyone to hear Rosa Feola sing “Caro nome” and not fall in love.”
Sylvia Korman, "parterre box"
“Making her highly anticipated Met debut as Rigoletto’s prepossessing young daughter Gilda, Italian soprano Rosa Feola revealed herself to be enchanting in the role. Feola’s mellifluous sound is of rich color and features a lovely quick spin that paints her as a youthful, energetic, if not somewhat naïve soul. A soul so pure and innocent that it will attract tragedy with magnetic force.
Her “Caro Nome” was the perfect balance of passionate and delicate. Jay Goodwin, the Met’s Editorial Director, mentions in the Program Note that because “Rigoletto” is driven constantly forward in an “arioso-like mixture” of recitative, aria, and ensemble numbers, it is important that Gilda’s signature aria (among other solo numbers) be “handled by the performers with tasteful understatement to avoid seeming out of place and stalling the crucial momentum.” As she sang of her beloved Gualtier Maldè, the Duke in disguise, Feola tenderly delivered skillful coloratura and jubilant trills, evoking the feeling of Gilda’s rapidly fluttering heart. Her staccato notes were punctuated with youthful anticipation, as if the young beauty could hardly catch her breath in her state of joy and excitement.
In revealing her disobedience to her father in the second Act, Feola initially presents her Gilda as distraught and embarrassed. However, as she relives the events leading up to that night – the discovery of the handsome young man at church, their romantic eyes-only conversations – she makes it clear that her distress has more to do with fear of hurting her father than her abduction and affair. In those moments, the infatuation of “Caro nome” could be still heard in her voice, gentle yet carrying an intense emotion, suggesting that she would remain beguiled by the Duke.
Feola performed Gilda’s final moments, as she chose to sacrifice herself for her lover, with a moving (almost frustratingly so) woefulness. Maintaining a warm, “pure” sound to the end, even through her sorrows and the thunder storm, the soprano highlighted Gilda’s youthful innocence in a way that not only made her death more heart wrenching but made Rigoletto’s loss all the more painful to experience.
[…] Feola’s Met debut was indeed a triumph […]”
Nicole Kuchta, "Opera Wire"
“Surely everyone enjoyed the evening’s soprano and tenor. Gilda can be a striking, high-wire Met debut role. Gianna d’Angelo, Mariella Devia, June Anderson, and Sumi Jo all pulled it off, and so, splendidly, did Italian-born Rosa Feola, after doing the part in Naples, Munich, Chicago, Zurich, and elsewhere. Feola made the naive girl both appealingly vulnerable and understandably chafing at her father’s evasions and restrictions. She made much of the text and sang in a limpid, well-projected lyric-coloratura that could ride the orchestra when necessary. Brava! She seems like a major addition to the company roster.”
David Shengold, "Gay City News"
“Rigogliosa, piena e rotonda è la vocalità di Rosa Feola, una Gilda molto ben cantata con voce non solo bella, ma soprattutto omogenea come è raro ascoltare in questo ruolo, spesso affidato a soprani dalla voce più sbilanciata nel volume verso il settore acuto. Le agilità sono sgranate con perizia, ma è soprattutto la chiusura della vendetta a impressionare, con un folgorante mi bemolle, pieno e sicuro, che entusiasma la sala del Met. E, per inciso, in un Rigoletto eseguito con parsimonia di puntature di tradizione (in pratica c'è solo questa, oltre a quella della “maledizione” finale del protagonista) le stesse acquistano anche una valenza espressiva più forte rispetto a esibizioni più generosamente circensi.”
Fabrizio Moschini, "OperaClick"
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