On July 3, 2026, at Tsarevets Fortress Palace, Ruse State Opera presents one of the eternal operas – Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. On the eve of the 175th anniversary of the world premiere of this music and drama masterpiece, Ruse Opera offers a premiere of a new production, specially created for its stage. Giuseppe Verdi became so engrossed in writing this work that he became absolutely addicted. That is why he managed to complete this opera in only 40 days. Perhaps because of this short and intense creative period, the original title, The Curse, was later changed several times. The all-powerful political and religious censorship of that time intervened and even imposed some changes in the libretto. Verdi remained adamant and managed to preserve the main idea – how the unscrupulous and cynical power brings with it the weight of the curse, which with the force of retribution falls on the fate of innocent victims. However, in order to protect the authority of the monarchy in Italy, the censorship had to change the names and the place of action. Thus, King Francis I became the Duke of Mantua, and the jester Triboulet, the hero of François Rabelais and Victor Hugo from “The King Amuses himself” – into Rigoletto. Initially, the opera was called Triboulet, but later he became Rigoletto, which comes from the French rigolote – funny.
The premiere of “Rigoletto” was on March 11, 1851 at La Fenice theatre in Venice and was a triumphant success. Verdi was applauded literally after every musical part. He remained extremely pleased with his work and in a letter from that time shared that “I may never write anything better”.
Just a few months after its premiere in Venice, “Rigoletto” marched with spectacular success in the theatres of Budapest, Vienna, Prague, London. In Ruse, however, “Rigoletto” came up a century after its creation – on April 21, 1952 with conductor – Konstantin Iliev and director Mikhail Hadzhimishev and to this day remains the stage of Ruse Opera.

“RIGOLETTO“
Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto – Francesco Maria Piave
Based on Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse (The King Amuses Himself)
Conductor – Dimitar Kosev
Director – Nina Naydenova
Scenography – Elitsa Georgieva
Costumes – Yana Dvoretska
Conductor of the choir – Steliyana Dimitrova-Hernani
Concertmaster – Konstantin Dimitrov

Featuring:
Rigoletto – Dobromir Momekov /guest/
Gilda – Daniela Karaivanova
Duke of Mantua – Mikhail Mihaylov
Sparafucile – Momchil Milanov
Maddalena – Gloria Pencheva
Giovanna – Tetyana Kamilova
Count Ceprano – Stoyan Stoyanzhov
Countess Ceprano – Rowena Saraniti
Matteo Borsa – Ivan Penchev, Bogdan Lupea
Count Monterone – Deyan Kostadinov
Marullo – Stanislav Maslianka
A Court Usher – Boril Dimitrov
A Page – Gergana Garvalova

Choir and Orchestra of State Opera – Ruse