Rigoletto, English National Opera review ★★★★★

The indefatigable orchestra of English National Opera has just been announced as the resident orchestra for Grange Park Opera 2025, a coup for the Surrey-based company, and an attractive new partnership for ENO as it pieces together its new future.

But GPO founder Wasfi Kani set feathers flying by claiming to stage 'the only summer opera season with a proper opera orchestra'. She meant it as a compliment to ENO musicians, to be sure, but with full-time jobs increasingly rare, in reality many players make their livings by swinging from opera pit, to concert hall, to West End show, via chamber music and teaching. This is the gig economy in every sense.

British players' extraordinary sight-reading skills are world-famous. You can put anything in front of these musicians and have a performance on first run-through. So hats off to ENO musicians, yes, but let's remember we may hear these same players at work elsewhere. Meanwhile Garsington Opera is joined by the Philharmonia every summer, Glyndebourne by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and, closer to home, Opera Holland Park fields the wonderful City of London Sinfonia. Proper opera orchestras all.

Weston Hurt (left) in the title role of Rigoletto. Photo: Tristram Kenton

So back to ENO, and judging by the opening night of Verdi's Rigoletto, in a revival of the stylish production by the late Jonathan Miller, Grange Park is in for a treat. Whether it be the sinister brass or the tender woodwind or the swell of sound beneath the great male chorus, this playing is the tops. It is not only fantastically musical, but solidly reliable too, like a handmade chair that doesn't shake when you throw yourself into with full weight. That was an invaluable asset to conductor Richard Farnes when voices strayed a little on opening night.

Miller's production takes Verdi's vengeful opera out of the dark streets of 16th-century Mantua in northern Italy, and moves it to Little Italy in 1950s New York. Violin cases may conceal machine guns as easily as instruments at Cerano's chic bar with mirror ceilings. Rigoletto himself is not a court jester but the jocular bar-tender, with a tragic home life. His wife has died, and he incarcerates his daughter out of terror for her honour in a dishonourable society.

This production was pitch perfect when it was first staged in 1982, and it is terrific to think that a whole generation is coming to it anew, and important to see it through the surprised eyes of first-timers. Sleek and seedy, design by Patrick Robertson and Rosemary Varcoe's is theatrical, and the story-telling, led by revival director Elaine Tyler-Hall, is clear. Despite Rigoletto's efforts, daughter Gilda is smitten with the lascivious duke, posing as a student, and the chorus of hoods and henchmen carry out a cruel abduction.

Robyn Allegra Parton as Gilda and Yongzhao Yu as the Duke. Photo: Tristram Kenton

It's always a challenge for singers to create a flawed character with a flawless voice. Finding that half-way point between being a villain and making beautiful music is American baritone Weston Hurt, in the title role. His Rigoletto can be rough, his impersonations of other singers a hoot, but when his heart breaks at the loss of his daughter, there is real pathos too.

Soprano Robyn Allegra Parton has a similar task: her weightlessly innocent Gilda must sound vulnerable and unformed, and here she is drawn/sung with a gossamer-fine line.

A showstopping performance as the assassin Sparafucile from bass William Thomas is worth the price of admission alone. He is due to return to the Royal Opera House soon: look out for him. This is one of the great British voices of his generation. Also exciting to discover is mezzo-soprano Amy Holyland, a sumptuous Maddalena, seductive sister and accomplice of Sparafucile.

William Thomas as Sparafucile and Yongzhao Yu as the Duke. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Tenor Yongzhao Yu's performance as the shape-shifting Duke is not quite as shiny as his evening suit, but there are lots of classy turns from the many alpha males around him. The abuse of women by men with power never goes away, and this production never fails.

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Rigoletto is sung in English, with English surtitles. Further performances are on 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 19 and 21 Nov. Click here to book