Drama in Verdi's orchestration: Muti conducts Rigoletto excerpts

By Nahoko Gotoh, 07 April 2019

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“played with intense energy, but also with an Italianate clarity”

Reviewed at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan: Main Hall, Tokyo on 4 April 2019

Verdi, Rigoletto (Concert performance of excerpts)

Riccardo Muti, Conductor

Francesco Landolfi, Rigoletto

Venera Protasova, Gilda

Giordano Lucà, The Duke of Mantua

Antonio Di Matteo, Sparafucile

Daniela Pini, Maddalena

Tokyo Harusai Festival Orchestra

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

Trojan’s Carousel: a magical night of dreams come true in Prague

Frank Kuznik, 23rd April

A vintage opera at the National Theatre offers charming adventures for children and musical sophistication for adults.

*****

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

More reviews...

Nahoko Gotoh

Nahoko is a UK-based Japanese music journalist with a background in musicology. She writes regularly for various Japanese media including Ongaku no tomo and Mostly Classic magazines.

Drama in Verdi's orchestration: Muti conducts the Tokyo Harusai Festival Orchestra in Rigoletto