Verdi: Rigoletto Dmitri Hvorostovsky

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901): Rigoletto, Act I:
• 1Prelude02:28
• 2Della mia bella incognita borghese01:40
• 3Questa o quella01:41
• 4Partite? Crudele!02:11
• 5Gran nuova!00:41
• 6Ah, più di Ceprano02:00
• 7Ch'io gli parli04:58
• 8Quel vecchio maledivami!04:50
• 9Pari siamo!... Io la lingua04:02
• 10Figlia! Mio padre!05:23
• 11Già da tre lune son qui venuta01:13
• 12Ah, veglia, o donna, questo fiore05:53
• 13Giovanna, ho dei rimorsi03:03
• 14È il sol dell'anima, la vita è amore03:32
• 15Che m'ami, deh, ripetimi02:10
• 16Gualtier Maldè... Nome di lui sì amato08:14
• 17Riedo!... Perché?02:23
• 18Zitti, zitti, moviamo a vendetta03:02
• Rigoletto, Act II:
• 19Ella mi fu rapita!02:31
• 20Parmi veder le lagrime02:51
• 21Duca, Duca!02:24
• 22Possente amor mi chiama03:13
• 23Povero Rigoletto!03:55
• 24Cortigiani, vil razza dannata04:58
• 25Mio padre!01:57
• 26Tutte le feste al tempio03:26
• 27Ah! Solo per me l'infamia00:53
• 28Ah! Piangi, fanciulla, piangi02:56
• 29Schiudete... Ire al carcere Monteron dee01:12
• 30Sì, vendetta, tremenda vendetta02:17
• Rigoletto, Act III:
• 31E l'ami?02:17
• 32La donna è mobile03:02
• 33Un dì, se ben rammentomi01:39
• 34Bella figlia dell'amore04:20
• 35M'odi! Ritorna a casa01:45
• 36Maddalena?02:59
• 37È amabile invero06:43
• 38Della vendetta alfin giunge l'istante!05:14
• 39Chi è mai, chi è qui in sua vece?01:57
• 40V'ho ingannato... Colpevole fui05:04
• Total Runtime02:06:57

Info for Verdi: Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi may have written his most glamorous and heroic roles for tenors, but he often assigned his more psychologically complex and conflicted character portrayals to baritones—and Rigoletto is just such a role: perhaps the greatest baritone role ever written. It demands not only a magnificent voice, but also a supremely gifted actor who is able to convey a broad range of emotions, human qualities, and inner subtleties. Enter universally beloved Dmitri Hvorostovsky: a prolific Delos artist and supreme Verdi baritone. The resplendent beauty and incomparable versatility of his voice is matched only by the depth of his interpretive soul.

In this—Dmitri’s first-ever (and long-awaited) complete recording of Rigoletto—he performs the title role magnificently, along with an all-star supporting cast. Choral-orchestral splendor comes courtesy of renowned maestro Constantine Orbelian, his Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, and the men of the Kaunas State Choir.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Rigoletto)
Nadine Sierra (Gilda)
Francesco Demuro (Iol Duca)
Andrea Mastroni (Sparafucile)
Oksana Volkova (Maddalena)
Kaunas Symphony Orchestra
Men of the Kaunas State Choir
Constantine Orbelian, conductor

Dmitri Hvorostovsky
was born and studied in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. In 1989, he won the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. From the start, audiences were bowled over by his cultivated voice, innate sense of musical line and natural legato. After his Western operatic debut at the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, his career exploded to take in regular engagements at the world’s major opera houses and appearances at renowned international festivals, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro alla Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera, and the Chicago Lyric Opera.

A celebrated recitalist in demand in every corner of the globe — from the Far East to the Middle East, from Australia to South America — Hvorostovsky has appeared at such venues as Wigmore Hall, London; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh; Carnegie Hall, New York; the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, Moscow; the Liceu, Barcelona; the Suntory Hall, Tokyo; and the Musikverein, Vienna. The singer regularly performs in concert with top orchestras like the New York Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and conductors, including James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Termikanov and Valery Gergiev.

Dmitri retains a strong musical and personal contact with Russia. He became the first opera singer to give a solo concert with orchestra and chorus on Red Square in Moscow; this concert was televised in over 25 countries. Dmitri has gone on to sing a number of prestigious concerts in Moscow as a part of his own special series, ‘Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Friends.’ He has invited such celebrated artists as Renée Fleming, Sumi Jo and Sondra Radvonosky. In 2005 he gave an historic tour throughout the cities of Russia at the invitation of President Putin, singing to crowds of hundreds of thousands of people to commemorate the soldiers of the Second World War. Dmitri now tours the cities of Russia and Eastern Europe on an annual basis.

Constantine Orbelian, Conductor
The brilliant pianist and conductor Constantine Orbelian is the first American ever to become music director of an ensemble in Russia. His appointment in 1991 as Music Director of the celebrated Moscow Chamber Orchestra was a breakthrough event, and came in the midst of Orbelian's successful career as a concert pianist. In September, 2000, Orbelian was named Permanent Guest Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic, putting him in a unique leadership position with not only Moscow's outstanding chamber orchestra but also its most illustrious symphony orchestra. In January, 2004 President Putin awarded Orbelian the coveted title 'Honored Artist of Russia,' a title never before bestowed on a non-Russian citizen.

Booklet for Verdi: Rigoletto