The presentation of the Opus has been part of the Prolight + Sound trade fair in Frankfurt since 2002.
The production of Rigoletto by Munich-based director Philipp Stölzl has been selected for this year’s ‘Opus – German Stage Award’. The presentation ceremony will be held during an evening event during Prolight + Sound on April 2, 2020.
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The story follows Rigoletto, who is a joker, and his latest wisecrack has started a vendetta that’s far from funny. Now, with his daughter seduced by the dissolute Duke, Rigoletto is out for revenge.
The production set features a 35-tonne moving head with a removable nose, a 338 square-metre collar controlled by a cable winch, two movable hands made of steel, wood and polystyrene, a tethered balloon filled with 1,300 cubic-metres of helium.
Also, over 300 spotlights, 60 of them moving lights, were installed to ensure the right atmosphere while the total output of the stage’s sound systems amounts to no less than 220,000 watts.
The jury was impressed not only by the hydraulic control of the life-like clown parts but also, in particular, by the integration of the opera dramaturgy in the technical aspects. In Bregenz, the technology is not just there for technology’s sake but goes hand-in-hand with the implementation of an artistic idea which qualified Rigoletto as this year’s Opus winner.
Rigoletto is the result of a process that took three years from the planning stage to the final corrections. Just building the stage took ten months and involved no less than 46 equipment suppliers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The target-oriented collaboration between the various technological disciplines has produced an impressive, all-embracing holistic musical and theatrical experience. Philipp Stölzl and his team took a calculated risk in scenic, artistic and technical terms. And mastered it in an outstanding way.
In its first season in Bregenz, Rigoletto was a huge success with capacity audiences throughout. Stölzl’s gigantic and colourful spectacle begins its second season on July 23, 2020.
