弄臣

Very satisfying. Truly the Italian know about singing and their operas. I think this is the best performed opera production I attended so far.

Most singers have good voices. Rigoletto was a high baritone with suitable vocal color, and was well charactered. No problem to toss off the Pari siamo high A.

The Duke was a nice lyric tenor, sounding like Alvarez in the middle and Calleja in the top, albeit sometimes thin. High notes were easy, although they went like weakened and falsetto in act 2 (only that act fortunately). The high D was nothing really special. His stage existence was not as real as Rigoletto or Gilda however.

Gilda was glaring with her soft, high pianissimos. An innocent enough caro nome. Did not heard she attempted the fashionable interpolations.

Guess Sparafucile is very proud of his lower voice, by extending that shiny note all that long. All singers have good vocal projection to fill the theatre (or is my seat tonight better acoustically?).

The Italian orchestra was on the job and aware of the happenings and balances. It seemed the team spent quite some effort on the stage sets, which were not reused between scenes. Also they were in good details. Also bravo on the chorus, which was very well in control.