Andrea Sanguineti conducts Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Aalto-Theater in Essen on October 25 and November 8 and 14. The Italian conductor, who serves as General Music Director of the Aalto Musiktheater and the Essener Philharmoniker, leads performances of Kateryna Sokolova’s production, which premiered in September 2025. The cast includes Claudio Otelli in the title role, Alejandro del Angel as the Duke of Mantua, Natalia Labourdette as Gilda, Almas Svilpa as Sparafucile, and Anna Lapkovskaja as Maddalena.

Inspired by the world of Oscar Wilde and late-Victorian London, Kateryna Sokolova’s staging relocates Verdi’s tragedy to an opulent society in which cruelty and decadence coexist with profound loneliness. The production features sets by Nikolaus Webern and costumes by Constanza Meza-Lopehandía.