On July 6, 2018 Irina Lungu will make her Opera Australia and Sydney Opera House debut as Gilda in Rigoletto, in a production by Elijah Moshinsky and under the musical direction of Maestro Renato Palumbo, the first of a series of eight performances running through August 2, 2018. She will share the stage with Dalibor Jenis in the title role, Gianluca Terranova as the Duca di Mantova and Taras Berezhansky as Sparafucile.

“I am so thrilled to make my Australian debut as Gilda, a role that I have performed over fifty times and which served me as the vehicle for very important debuts, such as the one at the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera”, states the Russian soprano. “Though now I love this role, it wasn’t always the case. At the beginning I agreed to sing it because it fits my voice and it does contain sublime music, but I just could not understand and identify with such as “silly” girl. Then I went back to the original source, Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse, and realized that she is sacrificing herself out of fanaticism. It is easier for her to sacrifice herself than to admit the mistake she made with falling in love with the Duca.”

After this Sydney Rigoletto, upcoming and future engagements for Irina Lungu include Marguerite in Faust at the Teatro Real Madrid and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, her role debut as Elettra in Idomeneo and Norina in Don Pasquale at the Vienna State Opera, Violetta in La traviata at the Hamburg State Opera, and the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Ópera de Tenerife,

Information about Rigoletto for Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House:

Rigoletto: Dalibor Jenis; Gilda; Irina Lungu; Duca di Mantova: Gianluca Terranova; Sparafucile; Taras Berezhansky; Maddalena: Sian Pendry; Monterone: Gennadi Dubinsky; Marullo: Luke Gabbedy; Borsa: Benjamin Rasheed; Ceprano: Christopher Hiller; Giovanna: Dominica Matthews; Contessa di Ceprano: Ileana Rinaldi; Paggio: Sharon Olde; Usciere: Ryan Sharp.

Renato Palumbo, conductor; Elijah Moshinsky, stage director

Performances: July 6, 11, 14, 17, 20, 25, 28; August 2, 2018

[Photo by Victor Santiago]