Verdi Centenary Sees Red Rigoletto

Italian city Parma has been hosting centenary celebrations this year to honor Italy´s best-loved composer, Giuseppe Verdi. The Verdi Festival 2001 pays full homage to the composer of such favorites as "La Traviata", "Rigoletto" and "Aida" and has attracted some of the big stars of opera.

The staging of the festival’s "Rigoletto" bears the distinct hallmark of one of the most important names in international theater: Henning Brockhaus, the German director, well known for his imaginative productions and daring reinterpretations.

For this production Brockhaus had his lighting designer immerse the Verdian work in a world of flaming red.

“When creating the lighting effects I drew inspiration from painters such as Fontana, Kandinsky and Fiume", says Franco Ferrari, Rigoletto’s Lighting Designer. “I wanted to use the lights as an expressionist painter would, literally daubing the set with intense color. The paintbrushes I used were the Martin MAC 2000s, MAC 500s and MAC600s. They performed exceedingly well and brought an entirely new element to the performance.”

Ferrari’s choice of Martin MACs confirms a growing interest in the theatrical world for automated moving head technology. The versatility of the Martin MAC has brought greater artistic freedom and is fast making unwieldy conventional lighting a thing of the past.