Rigoletto , along with La Traviata , is Verdi's masterpiece of maturity and presents an interesting innovation that will be addressed in this lecture by Massimo Giuseppe Bonelli: attention to the other , to the excluded and marginalized of society. The novelty of the theme—a deformed and ridiculous character, in Verdi's words, but one who experiences intense passions—fits perfectly with the musical innovation, which radically changes the bel canto style, leading it toward a more realistic and expressive form.

It has been several years now that el Círculo de Bellas Artes The Teatro Real and the other venues are joining forces to expand the cultural offerings and create a space for reflection accessible to everyone. In this case, they are putting the finishing touch on one of the most important premieres of the season, the Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto, which comes to the Royal Theatre from December 2 to January 2.

Massimo Giuseppe Bonelli has been the director of the Italian School of Madrid since 2020. An art historian, he has studied, in particular, the architectural sculpture of the Middle Ages and the tradition of classical Latin and Greek texts in 16th-century Italian painting. Since 2014, he has been the stage director of Italian operas such as Verdi's La Traviata , Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana , Puccini's Tosca , Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore , Pergolesi's La serva padrona , and Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda .

Image credits: Rigoletto – La donna è mobile, courtesy of the Teatro Real.