Royal Opera House presents ‘Rigoletto’ at the Eye Cinema

The Royal Opera House Live from Covent Garden returns to the City’s Eye Cinema on Tuesday next, January 16, with one of Verdi’s most popular operas, Rigoletto.  It will start at 7.15pm.

Giuseppe Verdi wrote in 1855 that Rigoletto, based on Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse, was his ‘best opera’. He had to overcome State censorship to stage it – the censors objected to its depiction of an immoral ruler – but he was vindicated by the première’s huge success in 1851.

David McVicar’s production highlights the cruelty at the heart of the court of Mantua. Richly dressed courtiers engage in orgies and revelries to Verdi’s heady, spirited dances. The opera’s many musical highlights include La donna è mobile, in which the Duke boasts of his disregard for women; Gilda’s exquisite duets with Rigoletto and the Duke; and the gorgeous Act III quartet that weaves the voices together as the story reaches its shattering conclusion. Tuesday’s production of Rigoletto at London’s Royal Opera House will be screened via satellite to the Eye at Wellpark.

For information regarding this and other Royal Opera House events at the Eye, log onto www.eyecinema.ie  or call 091 780078.