OPERA: RIGOLETTO

Verdi’s Rigoletto is guaranteed to have you walking away from the Opera House humming. The rich melodies of this work, conducted by Giovanni Reggioli, include La donna e mobile, the very popular canzone about the fickleness of women that has become a showcase for tenors. The libretto, by Francesco Maria Piave and based on Victor Hugo’s Le roi s’amuse (1832), tells the story of a father’s destructive love and a powerful duke’s lechery. At the heart of this opera is a curse cast against the playboy Duke of Mantua and his ‘buffoon,’ the mocking hunchback Rigoletto, by the elderly Count Monterone whose daughter the duke has been, ‘dishonoured.’ For his part in that abuse, Rigoletto loses his much-loved daughter Gilda who becomes another victim of the Duke’s charms. Alan Opie delivers a powerful and moving Rigoletto and Emma Matthews is magnificent singing the role of the innocent and virtuous Gilda. Also notable are Paul O’Neill as the dashing amoral Duke and David Parkin as the ruthless assassin Sparafucile who uses his sister Maddalena to lure victims to their inn. This opera has very wide appeal: its tightly structured drama is thrilling from the opening scenes of decadence until the malevolent finale at the inn.

Until Nov 4, Sydney Opera House, $95-350, 9318 8200, opera-australia.org.au