A stunning world-renowned opera performance by inspired singers, who dazzled the audience with their voices those are beautiful, resonant and seamless in their first show in Bahrain National Theatre on Saturday 19th January. The performance was a magical inspiration of Italy's most talented writer and opera music composer, Giuseppe Verdi’s eternal masterpiece Rigoletto. The opera night was attended by many dignitaries, ambassadors, opera – singing lovers, who enjoyed the mesmerizing acts and events surrounding the world-acclaimed Italian tale by the maestro Verdi.
The National Theatre stage witnessed many challenging and mixed emotions through this famed Italian opera, Rigoletto, which first premiered in 1851. Giuseppe Verdi’s timeless tale explores themes of love and revenge. Rigoletto, the hunched-backed jester at the Court of the Duke of Mantua, is a merciless cynic. His lethal tongue and ruthless actions make powerful enemies that plot his downfall. Verdi perfectly captures Rigoletto’s complex nature in the music. He is a character who is unable to sustain any one mood--and thus musical style--for very long. He begins a scathing manner to agitated string accompaniment, but in the course of the through-composed scene the character of the music changes gradually but completely, until, by the end, Rigoletto is supplicating the courtiers to intimate orchestral textures. The musical forms used in the opera, rather than consisting of a preponderance of set arias and ensembles in the Rossinian and Bellinian tradition to which Verdi was heir, instead grows out of the psychology and emotions of the characters and is projected in a series of duets, or interactions, between characters.
In a press conference with the Italian media, before the start of performance, H.E Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammad Al-Kahlifa, Minister of Culture, stressed the importance of music as a channel of discourse between cultures and civilizations. It comes in the context of promoting dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, which is one of the key values espoused by the international community, which is at the heart of every human being. H.E highlighted during this press conference the constant support and sponsorship of HM King Hamad and HR Prime Minister to the development of cultural life in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Indeed, H.E argued the wise leadership of this country inaugurated the official opening of the National Theatre during Manama as the Capital of Arab Culture' celebrations and it stands as the first supporter and sponsor of Manama as the Capital of Arab Tourism, 2013.
Maria Cristina Mazzavillani Muti of Italy’s Ravenna Festival, this version of Verdi’s popular opera founder and director expressed her gratitude and appreciation to H.E Minister of Culture for her continuous support for the development of cultural life in Bahrain. She also expressed her delight to discover "This beautiful country and hospitable people, where very visitor feels at home, finds no cultural barriers separating him from his brothers and gets delighted by the richness and diversity of individual differences".
Based on a story by Victor Hugo, Rigoletto is a darkly tragic, gut-wrenching opera that ends in a senseless death. Wherever it's set, this remains the powerful tragedy of an overprotective father, his beautiful daughter and his lecherous boss. It is Rigoletto's own "fear and loathing" that inadvertently brings about the demise of the one person he truly loves. The concert represents an innovative and exciting approach in several ways. First of all, the musical performances involve the live interaction between traditional instruments and musicians from different cultures, in this way emphasizing that dialogue goes beyond words and can thrive also in the realm of music.
The two-day performance by famed Italian opera and tale of love and sacrifice by Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto, began at the Bahrain National Theatre on Saturday 19th within the Cultural Tourism segment of the year-long programme of the Capital of Arab Tourism 2013.Considered the first of the operatic masterpieces by Verdi during the latter half of his career, this was the first Italian opera staged in the newly opened theatre.
The next performance is scheduled for 21 January 2013.
