Verdi: Rigoletto (Bregenz Festival, 2019, Directed by: Stölzl)

A new production of Rigoletto opened the 2019 Bregenz Festival. For Giuseppe Verdi's terrifyingly beautiful story of the hunchbacked court jester, director Philipp Stölzl draws on every resource of his staging artistry, promising an opera spectacle of a truly special kind. Director and set designer Philipp Stölzl emphasizes Verdi's unique contrasts between spectacle and intimate chamber drama in his production. The circus-like revelry at the court, the daring abduction, and the terrifying storm at night are set against tender scenes between father and daughter, as well as Gilda and the Duke. With the opportunity to stage it on the Bregenz lake stage (the world's largest of its kind, with 7,000 spectators), a long-cherished dream comes true for Stölzl: the idyllic landscape of Lake Constance provides the ultimate canvas, and the incredible technical and structural possibilities of the lake stage bring even the most daring ideas to life. Stölzl's set design is dominated by a gigantic, almost 14-meter-high head. Thanks to the most sophisticated technology, it is fully articulated and, in combination with a giant hand, can express moods and emotions with fascinating subtlety.