This winter, Quinn Kelsey returns to a signature role, the title character in Verdi’s Rigoletto, bringing his towering interpretation of the tortured father to audiences in Toronto. It’s a happy return to the Canadian Opera Company for the baritone, who gave his first performances as Rigoletto at COC in 2011. Since then, Kelsey has sung Rigoletto at some of the world’s greatest houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, a performance that appeared as part of The Met: Live in HD, Opéra National de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and many others.
Of a recent performance at LA Opera, Seen and Heard International said, “Kelsey inhabited the role so completely that I forgot I was in the theatre watching an entertainment: he laid bare Rigoletto’s soul for all to see. His warm, honeyed baritone was rich in power, nuance and color, and his body language, so organic to the hunchbacked jester, weary and beleaguered from his life at court, felt like he wasn’t acting. He moved from surly jester to doting father to a man undone by events with slight adjustments to his bearing that spoke volumes.”
Kelsey joins a magnificent cast in Christopher Alden’s production, under the baton of Johannes Debus. Sarah Dufresne sings Rigoletto’s innocent daughter, Gilda, on January 24, 28, and February 6, 8, with Andriana Chuchman taking over the role on February 10, 12, 14. Ben Bliss sings the lecherous Duke of Mantua, with Peixin Chen as the assassin Sparafucile, and Zoie Reams as his seductive sister, Maddalena.
Rigoletto plays January 24 – February 14 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.
