Houston Grand Opera’s Rigoletto was sung in Italian but needed no translation as the performers transcended emotions in this very tragic opera.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is an opera based on Victor Hugo’s play about a duke’s court jester, who, after falling into disfavor with the court, is cursed. His only daughter, the chaste and naive Gilda, is the one who suffers the consequences.’
Rigoletto, played by baritone Scott Hendricks, had warned his daughter Gilda, portrayed by soprano Albina Shagimuratova, not to leave the house for fear it would be found out she was his daughter. The duke, played by tenor Eric Cutler, discovers the jester’s secret and tricks Gilda into falling in love with him by posing as a poor student.
But as in every great tragedy, Rigoletto‘s plan is botched and his secret is revealed to everyone with horrifying results.
The role of Rigoletto is often considered one of the most challenging opera roles, but Hendricks performs the role of the hunchbacked jester flawlessly. Hendricks lets the audience feel Rigoletto‘s pain as he blends the notes he sings with the jester’s tragic emotions.
Though all the performances are wonderful, only Shagimuratova’s performance as Gilda matches the emotional depth of Rigoletto.
Shagimuratova is the gold medal winner of the 2007 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and has performed from Salzburg to Los Angeles.
Shagimuratova lights up any scene she’s in. Her expert range makes child’s play of the difficult variations in Verdi’s music. Shagimuratova’s acting is also quite good and she too needed no supertitles as her performance transcended spoken words.’
Other notable performances came from bass Andrea Sivestrelli, who plays an assassin willing to kill for the highest bidder, and from Maria Markina, the assassin’s sister who lures unsuspecting victims into his lair.
The costumes, designed by Peter Hall, are also worth mentioning. Hall, whose designs have been worn by Dame Judi Dench and Elizabeth Taylor, also created the costumes for the 1994 and 2001 performances of Rigoletto.’ The clothing, beautiful and historically accurate, became almost a character in and of itself. When the entire court is gathered at a party in the opening of Rigoletto, Hall’s designs shine.
Sung in Italian, Rigoletto is performed with English super-titles. At first it was awkward to look up at the words and then down at the action, but soon the screen was forgotten altogether as the captivating story unfolded. Performed with skill and passion, Houston Grand Opera’s performance of Rigoletto is a prime example of how music is truly a universal language.
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