Rigoletto was the first Verdi opera ever performed at Seattle Opera, in January of 1965. The great American baritone Cornell MacNeil, who would return several times to Seattle, sang the role of the grotesque, tormented jester.
Renato Cioni (Duke of Mantua) and Patricia Brooks (Gilda) in Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1965 © Margaret Marshall
Cornell MacNeil (Rigoletto), Margery MacKay (Maddalena), General Director Glynn Ross, Patricia Brooks (Gilda), Leon Lishner (Sparafucile), Maestro Anton Guadagno, and Renato Cioni (Duke of Mantua) backstage after a Rigoletto performance, 1964 © Margaret Marshall
Renato Cioni (Duke of Mantua) and courtiers in Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1965 © Margaret Marshall
Cornell MacNeil (Rigoletto) and Leon Lishner (Sparafucile) in Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1965 © Margaret Marshall
Haraldo Lara (Monterone), Cornell MacNeil (Rigoletto), and courtiers in Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1965 © Margaret Marshall
Patricia Brooks (Gilda), Cornell MacNeil (Rigoletto), and Gertrude McCoy (Giovanna) in Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1965 © Margaret Marshall
