"Rigoletto": Opera with popcorn in the old factory

The Duca di Mantua has dyed pink hair and sings love arias to his Gilda between old boilers that go straight to the heart. The premiere of the opera "Rigoletto" in the old Viscosi pilot hall in Emmen near Lucerne captivated the audience.

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It has rarely been possible to experience opera so powerfully and directly: the experiment of transplanting an opera production into an industrial hall has been a complete success. Where until recently nylon stockings were produced, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra now plays and the opera ensemble of the Lucerne Theater sings the story of Rigoletto, the old man who mocks everyone and loses the only thing he holds dear at the end of the opera: his daughter Gilda.

Fantastic sound and performance space on several levels

The Viscosi's sound space is divided by several intermediate floors and there are countless boilers and metal constructions in the factory hall. The audience is seated on several intermediate levels and the opera is also performed on two levels, while the orchestra sits on the first floor. Surprisingly, the sound rises almost ideally into the room, making the opera so close and directly tangible. The musical director and conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Klingele, was sweating before the premiere, here is his reaction on Sunday evening:

Theater like Shakespeare's - with jesters and popcorn

Here, something is completely different from the usual visit to the opera. Brightly painted jesters mingled with the audience waiting in the entrance hall, greeted the guests and handed out sweet popcorn, which they were also allowed to take into the auditorium. The audience then experienced the overture standing on the lowest floor of the factory, right next to the orchestra. Suddenly, singers mingled with the audience and became the protagonists of the first scene, the sparkling ball at the court of the Duke of Mantua.

Young and mature top singers in the Viscosi

Afterwards, the audience was led into their section in blocks and placed on three levels of the former factory hall. What then unfolded was simply of grandiose quality and great emotional and dramatic intensity. Gilda, sung by the young Swedish singer Magdalena Rosberg, shone with a clear, fresh and moving voice - and together with the equally young but already very experienced Mexican tenor Diego Silva, who will also be singing at the New York Metropolitan Opera this year, embodied the newly in love couple Gilda and Duca di Mantova extremely convincingly. The Austrian bass-baritone Claudio Otelli, a former member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, gave the character of Rigoletto, who loses everything he thought he had in life with his daughter Gilda, a moving voice.

Gripping and lively production by Marco Štorman

With the 36-year-old theater, opera and film director Marco Štorman, who has won several awards in Germany, artistic director Benedikt von Peter has brought a visionary and modern man to the house, who implements his ideas in an unconventional way with his first directorial work for Theater Luzern: The audience is directly involved in the action. The closeness to the performers and the music means that this opera production touches you directly. You cannot and do not want to escape this intensity.

RIGOLETTO
21.10. - 02.12.2016, Viscosistadt Emmenbrücke
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