EL ULTIMO SUENO DE FRIDA Y DIEGO – REVIEW OF 2026 LIVE FROM THE MET IN HD TRANSMISSION

 Reviewed by James Karas

The Met has wound up its 2025-2026 season of transmissions Live in HD with El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego composed by Gabriella Lena Frank with a libretto by Nilo Cruz. It was first produced in 2022 and now gets a grand production by the Met. The title refers to artists Frida Khalo and her husband Diego Rivera but the opera has little to do with their lives. But we do see some of her paintings and Rivera’s famous scaffold and  we are made aware of some of their tempestuous lives together and apart.

The opera has more to do with the Orpheus and Euridice myth turned on its head. This opera takes place in 1957, three years after the death of Frida. Diego goes to the cemetery on The Day the Dead in 1957 to seek a connection with her. The mythology is neither Greek nor Christian. It is Aztec.

Diego wants to see Frida so she can help him on his journey to the underworld. He is dying or is already dead and he wants to see her on earth and then make his way to the underworld with her.

We all know that Orpheus went down to Hades to implore the gods to give Euridice back to him using his lyre to convince them. It works but in the end, he loses her because she disobeys the order of the god not to look at him until they reached the earth. She looks at him.

Carlos Álvarez as Diego and Isabel Leonard as Frida in a scene from 
"El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego." Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

The Orpheus myth has mesmerized composers for more than four hundred years. The very first opera (now lost) was Jacopo Peri’s Euridice (1600). Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) was the first great opera and that was just the beginning. More than 80 operas have been written based on the myth and there have been six operas based on it in the 21^st  century.

Aside from the large Met chorus and dancers, El Ultimo Sueno has only four characters. Mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard sings Frida with an exceptionally beautiful voice. She is dressed as Frida in some of her self-portraits. Leonard bears amazing resemblance to Frida and it is one of the pleasures of the production.

Tenor Carlos Alvarez looks like a portly Diego thanks to padding and he is a passionate third husband to Frida. The marriage was tempestuous and, in many ways, unpleasant as they were both serially unfaithful but three years after her death and on the death of Diego we want them to find peace in the underworld. 

El Ultimo Sueno has huge production values that only an opera company like the Met can dream of providing. The first act in the cemetery and the underworld features a large cast of villagers in the cemetery who want to see their loved ones. It switches to the underworld, and we see skeletons, ghosts and dancers that are dazzling. There is a huge skeleton of a red tree with branches above and roots below. The tree of life and death?

The peasants recognize Diego in the cemetery and tell him that he needs faith in his heart to be allowed to see Frida. We meet the Warden of the Dead, Catrina with the hideous deathly face and body. She is the frightful guardian of the souls. She lays the rules for allowing someone to visit the earth. Only 24 hours and no touching. Frida had a horrible life on earth and is reluctant to go back but she eventually relents. 

Not much happens in the Orpheus myth and in El Ultimo. The librettist has added a character called Leonardo sung by countertenor Nils Wanderer. He is a fan of Greta Garbo and emulates her appearance and comically her manners. He wants to go to the earth to see her. Wanderer does a fine job vocally and is entertaining as a would-be Greta Garbo.

El Ultimo Sueno has some lush music and some grand flourishes but I would like to see and hear the opera more times to appreciate its contents and context. But the Met Opera Orchestra performs brilliantly under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Seguin. On first viewing, it proved impressive, enjoyable and a work that demands to be seen again and again.
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El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego by Gabriella Lena Frank (music) and Nilo Cruz (libretto) was transmitted Live in HD from New York’s Metropolitan Opera at select Cineplex theatres across Canada on May 30, 2026. There was an encore showing on June 19, 2026, that I saw. For more information go 

to: www.cineplex.com/events.

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

WERTHER – REVIEW OF 2026 CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Jules Massenet’s Werther has had a rocky history, but it has joined the standard repertoire even if it is with infrequent productions. The Canadian Opera Company last performed it in 1992. Thirty-four years later, it is offering us a new production, a co-production in fact with the Opera de Montreal and the Vancouver Opera. Nice to see Canadian companies co-operating. 

The libretto is based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, his sorrows being that he cannot get the woman he loves. That is hardly a unique occurrence and disappointment in love for the duration of a play or a novel, means that you take your moping and life goes on. You may take the case of King Edward VIII who give up a kingdom for the woman he loved.

In the opera’s creaky plot Werther is in love with Charlotte, and she has no objection to reciprocating his grand passion except for the fact that she is married and not prepared to betray her husband. And adultery is not an option. This is noble love.

Massenet’s librettists provide some padding like rehearsing Christmas carols in July, meeting some local people to help with the advancement of the plot and an extended death scene. If a man is willing to give up his life for love, he is entitled to some of our time.

The COC production by Alain Gauthier with sets designed by Olivier Laudreville and costumes designed by Leilah Dufour Forget is very good and there is nothing they could do about the creaky plot. But to Gauthier’s credit he remains faithful to the feel of the opera.

The opera opens with the ever-reliable bass Robert Pomakov as the Bailiff trying to get his six children to rehearse Christmas carols in July. They will get them right by Christmas.  

Werther, our hero, enters the yard of the Bailiff’s house and he is in a state of ecstasy. He has not seen Charlotte, the woman that will make him more ecstatic which in his case is impossible. He is at the peak. He wonders if he is awake or dreaming. This is paradise where the woods sigh like a harp. He goes on praising nature, the sun, the walls, the hedges in almost erotic language. The expression of that powerful ardor in the opening scene and to the end of the opera is in the hands and vocal chords of tenor Russell Thomas. Through solos and duets his defining romantic being is maintained with unfailing sonority.

 Victoria Karkacheva and Russell Thomas in Werther. Photo: Michael Cooper

The inspirer of his passion is not nature or the hedges and flowers, but the lovely Charlotte sung by soprano Victoria Karkacheva in her debut with the COC. Charlotte in the hands of Karkacheva has everything to offer as a woman but there a couple obstacles. She is first betrothed and then married to Albert (bass-baritone Gordon Bintner – fine performance). And she promised her mother that she will marry Albert. Karkacheva has a lovely voice and she expresses passion and restraint but eventually tells Werther that she does love him and they kiss. In this opera a kiss is the equivalent of a celestial experience.      

Soprano Simone Osborne sang the role of Sophie, Charlotte’s teenage sister. We like her character and her lovely singing except that on a couple of occasions that orchestra drowned her out.

Johannes Debus conducted the COC Orchestra in the outpouring of romantic music (it’s a package deal) that rounded off the evening.

The set by Landreville consisted of some moveable walls and a view of the background when we are in the Bailiff’s yard. The background is a bland colour and it is at odds with Werther’s aria praising nature. Would some lush greeneries not have been more appropriate? Maybe it would make no difference. Werther sees or dreams of whatever he wants anyway.

Director Gauthier does a highly commendable job by giving us a well-thought out, solid and enjoyable production.    
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Werther by Jules Massenet with a libretto by Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann is being performed seven times by the Canadian Opera Company until May 23, 2026 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. For details see www.coc.ca
James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto  

EUGENE ONEGIN – REVIEW OF 2026 LIVE IN HD FROM THE MET PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The bad news is that New York’s Metropolitan Opera has a deficit of $30 million for the 2025 -2026 season that nears its end. The good news is that we are still able to see some Live from the Met in HD transmissions. The latest one was Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in a revival of Deborah Warner’s 2013 production. It represented the 165^th performance of the opera at the Met.

The production boasts a first-rate cast with soprano Asmik Grigorian as Tatiana and baritone Iurii Samoilov as Onegin. Tatiana is the young, impressionable girl living on the family estate, mostly reading books. She goes for a walk with the dashing Onegin and falls passionately in love with him. We do not see the walk. Tatana wants to tell Onegin that she loves him so she spends a night composing a letter to him. Alas, Onegin rebuffs her, ever so politely.

She grows up, marries a decent aristocrat and in the end sends Onegin packing when he tries to get her to leave her husband. She may love him but she will not betray her husband,

That is the role that Grigorian must fulfil. The letter scene is the heart of the opera and         she delivers the fears, doubts, love and passion demanded. She sings beautifully and communicates all those emotions to the audience.

Asmik Grigorian, Maria Barakova, Iurii Samoilov, and Stanislas de Barbeyrac. 
Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

Samoilov has all the traits of a jerk but he comes out better than that perhaps because he appears to have matured. He dumped the innocent Tatiana and killed his friend in a duel after acting abominably towards him but we see him repentant.  There he is. Samoilov has a marvelous voice and he gives us a vocally splendid and theatrically credible Onegin.

Tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac sings the sympathetic role of the tragic poet Lenski, Onegin’s friend and dueling victim as well as Olga’s betrothed. He is decent but jealous and challenges Onegin to a duel. He sings the beautiful farewell aria with surpassing passion and beauty.

Tatiana’s sister Olga is sung by mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova. She is not a diehard romantic like her sibling and flirts with Onegin causing the duel. A fine performance. The lesser roles of Filippyevna (Larissa Diadkova), Prince Gremin (bass-baritone Alexander Tsymbalyuk) are sung splendidly.

Unfortunately, I cannot give the same praise to the set designed by Tom Pye and some of the blame must go to producer Deborah Warner unless she had no input in it. The opera is set on a large and wealthy estate. The opening scene takes place in an outside structure of the estate. It has dirty windows and I have no idea what Tatiana and Olga are doing there or what the building is supposed to be. The peasants enter through there so it can’t be part of the house but I did not like the drab look.

The second and all-important letter scene is set in Tatiana’s’ bedroom. There is no bed and she is writing the letter on the floor. I have no idea why. The ballroom in the house on the estate is not much better.

On to the palace of Prince Gremin, Tatiana’s husband. We have Greco-Roman columns (they always look impressive) but hardly beautiful, there is no ceiling and it looks like we are out in the open with a blue sky on top.

Maestro Timur Zangiev conducted Met Orchestra and Chorus in Tchaikovsky’s lush and beloved score.

Eugene Onegin by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (libretto by the composer and K. S. Shilovsky after Pushkin) was shown Live in HD on May 2, 2026, at the Cineplex Theatre, Shops at Don Mills, Toronto and other theatres across Canada. Encore showing on May 16, 2026. For more information go to: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE AND ERWARTUNG – REVIEW OF 2026 REVIVAL OF LEPAGE PRODUCTIONS

Reviewed by James Karas

The Canadian Opera Company in 1993 produced two infrequently staged operas, namely Bela Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Arnold Schoenberg’s ERWARTUNG. The director of both works was the inimitable Robert Lepage. The productions were reprised in 2015 and eleven years later they are back at the Four Seasons Centre with Francois Racine as the revival director.

Both one-acters are twentieth century operas and are a long way from Verdi and Puccini. Duke Bluebeard brings his new wife Judith to his dark and formidable castle. Before the curtain rises, they walk across the stage; he is dressed in a blue uniform and she is walking behind him in a trailing bridal gown. Then Set and Costume designer Michael Levine shows the newlywed couple in the long walls of the dark castle and the Duke asks her if she wants to go back to her family and her betrothed.

They address each other affectionately and she insists that she wants to stay because she loves him. She will change the cold castle into something warm, she says. She notices seven doors that are locked and wants to open them all.

American bass-baritone Christian van Horn is an upright and sonorous Bluebeard who is clearly hiding something but he expresses his love for Judith and tries to dissuade her from opening the seven doors that are represented by projected lights that resemble keyholes.

Karen Cargill and Christian van Horn in Bluebeard's Castle. 

Photo: Michael Cooper

Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as Judith is a woman in love who has given up everything to be with Bluebeard. She will not be dissuaded from opening the mysterious doors and she stays in the castle despite the dreary milieu and the frightful sights that she encounters upon opening the seven doors. 

We watch the revelations as they appear when the doors are opened. The Torture Chamber, the Armory, the Treasury, The Secret Garden, The Kingdom, the Lake of Tears and finally The Silent Wives. Different colors of lights flash through the doors, the contents are covered in blood and tensions are rising  about Bluebeard’s true character. We fear that Judith’s demand to see what is behind every door without understanding the dangers that are perhaps all too obvious could end in tragedy. The music varies from dissonant and discordant to martial, to shimmering, to expansive, to funereal and finally to hushed horror as Judith joins the procession of Bluebeard’s three former wives as they all march towards eternity.

Cargill gives a superb performance, revealing Judith’s strength in insisting on finding the truth and her failure to realize the abyss that she is walking into. She expresses both strength and naivete and we follow her thoughts and development while listening to  her vocal prowess and beauty.

Lepage controls the conduct of the characters and maintains the macabre atmosphere and fearful situation with Hitchcockian finesse. A brilliant production.

ERWARTUNG (it means expectation) is described as a one-act expressionist monodrama for a solo soprano and a large orchestra. The soprano, called simply The Woman, in this production is Anna Gabler and her partner is the COC Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus.

For half an hour, we follow the Woman through a gamut of  emotions, states of mind and crises. There is darkness and a long wall. She is in a forest looking for her lover. We see a man in a white coat, there is cot or is it a hospital bed on the stage? Is she hallucinating? She is looking for her lover and finds a body. Is it her dead lover? Her love turns to hatred and jealousy – did her lover have a mistress? She experiences exaltation, fear, horror and anguish. We are not sure of her mental state nor of what she is seeing.

Anna Gabler in ERWARTUNG. 

Photo: Michael Cooper

Schoenberg’s music is atonal, complex and I have heard nothing like it before. It is the second time  that I am seeing this opera and the denseness of the music and the plot, the quick changes in the conduct of the Woman, from possible hallucination to outright madness to whatever one can imagine is out of this world.

I can only express admiration for the performance of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Debus and Lepage’s take on the monodrama.     

Bluebeard’s Castle and ERWARTUNG may not be your regular operatic fare but if you see them, you will not soon forget them. You might find yourself having a great night at the opera.      _________________________

Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartok and ERWARTUNG by Arnold Schoenberg opened on April 25 and will be performed seven times until May 16, 2026, at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario.  www.coc.ca

 James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto

PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE – REVIEW OF 2026 OPERA ATELIER PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

I consider Opera Atelier a beacon of civilization on Toronto’s horizon. It has produced baroque operas since 1985 and it has taken its productions around the world. Versailles, Seoul, Glimmerglass, Houston, Potsdam, Tours, Japan are some of the places where they have been invited.  

This  year it is producing Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, a twentieth century opera that they had to reengineer to fit the venue, style and demands of the work. You will see a twentieth century opera that maintains a connection with the Baroque era.

How? you may well ask. Opera Atelier provides the text of a lecture by Dr. Christopher Bagan that is thoroughly informative. Dr. Began takes a twentieth-century opera and looks at it “through the eyes of the Couperin, Charpentier, and Rameau” all good French composers of the Baroque era. He wants to make the opera suitable for Koerner Hall’s specific acoustics and aesthetics. And to make sure that happens he “seamlessly interweaves short instrumental works by Charpentier and Rameau directly into the Debussy score.” In other words, Opera Atelier retains its connection with Baroque opera with a twentieth century item on the menu. That may be classified as having your cake and eating it too.

The venue for this production is the elegant Koerner Hall which is suitable for smaller works and a smaller orchestra. An orchestra of about sixty is too big for the hall but fourteen players fit simply fine. The opera calls for scenes by a spring in a park, scenes in a palace as well as a visit to the palace vault. Director Marshall Pynkoski and Set Designer Gerard Gauci leave much to the imagination with a minimalist, brilliant production. Gauci produces beautiful sketches that are projected on the stage.

That is not all. With Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg on the Artistic team and the Artists of the Atelier Ballet, we are treated to gorgeous ballet sequences. The twelve members of the troupe, the women dressed gorgeously, perform magnificently. The dancer playing Eros is spectacular but is not specifically credited in the program. Kudos to the dancers and Costume Designer Michael Gianfrancesco.

Meghan Lindsay and Antonin Rondepierre. Photo: Bruce Zinger

Soprano Meghan Lindsay, a veteran of Opera Atelier productions, gives a stunning performance as the mysterious Melisande. Hers is the toughest role in the opera and she sings with beautiful intonations and vocal flourishes. Tenor Antonin Rondepierre, a rising star in early music, sang with poise, control and vocal beauty. There is a scene where Mélisande sings from a tower window with Pelleas outside reminiscent of the  balcony scene in Romeo and Juliette. The two also spend part of a night together. These are scenes of surpassing beauty and sensuality.

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee as Genevieve displayed her lush voice and stage presence again, albeit in a relatively small role. We want more.

Bass-baritone Douglas Williams sang the heavy Golaud who loses Melisande to his brother Pelleas. He is presented as unlikeable but that is no reflection on Williams’ singing and stage presence. It was fine.

Bass-baritone Philippe Sly made his debut with Opera Atelier as King Arkel, the old and tolerant ruler facing tough decisions and baritone Parker Clements made his debut with Opera Atelier as the doctor.     

Claude Debussy tells us that his only opera is “A Lyric Drama in five acts and twelve scenes” and from its premiere in 1902, it has been a challenging work to stage and appreciate. Its complex symbolism, impressionistic music and lack of any memorable melodies were not a good recipe for a runaway hit. Opera Atelier, with the help of Dr. Began, has found the formula for a successful production.

Opera Atelier Founding Co-artistic Directors Marshall Pinkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse  Zingg have been enriching Toronto with their productions for forty one years. May I repeat that Toronto would be a culturally poorer city without them.
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Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy was performed from April 15 to 19, 2026 at Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto. https://www.operaatelier.com/

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto.

TRISTAN UND ISOLDE – REVIEW OF 2026 LIVE FROM THE MET PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

New York’s Met Opera has a new production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and it transmitted it to hoi polloi in local theatres around the world. It is an extraordinary production and a rich  collection of superlatives will accompany my review.

Wagner had doubts about Tristan und Isolde being produced and opined that “supremely talented performers are the only ones equal to the task”. The first company that agreed to stage it, dropped after rehearsals began because the singers and the orchestra agreed that it was much too difficult to perform. The second company that took it up, saw its leading tenor become terrified of his role and back out. The opera was judged unsingable after dozens of rehearsals and dropped; there were other disasters but you can look them up yourself.

The new Met production by Yuval Sharon shows his brilliant imagination that together with the work of Set Designer Es Devlin, and superior creative team delivers a Tristan und Isolde that will blow your mind.

Lisa Davidsen as Isolde and Michael Spyres as Tristan in "Tristan und Isolde." 
Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

The plot is straightforward but what Wagner did with it is anything but straight or simple.  The hero Tristan (Michael Spyres) is taking the beautiful Irish Princess Isolde (Lise Davidsen) to Cornwall to marry his uncle King Marke (Ryan Speedo Green). Tristan was injured when he killed Morold, Isolde’s betrothed. She used her magical powers to heal Tristan’s wound without knowing his identity and because he looked in her eyes and she fell in love with him. There is a bit more to it than that but listen to the orchestra and it will all make sense.

Without going into detail, the love between the two develops in depth and passion that can only be experienced and expressed by Wagnerian heroes and mere mortals like us can only imagine. The use of a love potion helps.         

Wagner’s prescription that only supremely talented singers can perform his opera is met by dramatic soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde, tenor Michael Spyres as Tristan with mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne, bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny as Kurwenal and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as King Marke.     

Michael Spyres as Tristan in Act III of "Tristan und Isolde." 
Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera

The demands on the major singers are enormous. What most composers can do in five or ten minutes, Wagner holds the feet of the singers to the fire twice or three times longer. Davidsen has vocal prowess, control, tonal beauty and range that can only be summarized as extraordinary. She displays her masterful singing in the first act with Brangäne, her love scene with Tristan and of course the signature Liebestod. The number of singers that can ma0tch her can be counted on one hand and you may have a finger or two left untouched.

The demands on tenor Spyres as Tristan are not as onerous as those on Isolde but his performance is stunning both vocally and morally as the troubled faithful servant of the king. He is bringing Isolde to marry King Marke and his passionate love for Isolde forces him to betray his sovereign. He is a knight and such conduct reaches the depth  of treachery. Spyres makes us feel the pain of his treachery and enjoy his first-rate vocal performance.

Gubanova Brangane as the mixer of potions and Isolde’s companion has performed the role of Brangäne numerous times and she reprised it with ability and vocal mastery. The same kudos belong to bass baritone Tomasz Konieczny as Kurwenal and bass-baritone Green as King Marke. The King displays humanity and generosity in the face of a painful offence and fundamental betrayal.

Lisa Davidsen as Isolde, Ekaterina Gubanova (back to camera) as Brangäne, 
Ryan Speedo Green as King Marke, Tomasz Konieczny as Kurwenal, and 
Michael Spyres as Tristan. Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera

The bravura singing is matched and enhanced by the production values provided by Sharon and the rest of the creative team. I can only mention a few extraordinary touches. Some of the opera is performed on two screens. We see the characters on the upper screen and at times on the lower screen as well. Some of the action is seen through an eyeball that opens into a tunnel and zeroes in on the performers. There are some amazing scenes with gorgeous colours as well as more naturalistic ones with King Marke. Jason H. Thompson designed intricate projections, Ruth Hogben has designed amazing videos that are often dazzling and unexpected.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the powerful Metropolitan Opera Orchestra fortissimo and thrillingly.
Do not worry about the fate of the lovers, They defeat death with death. All was caused by the love potion. In death there is reconciliation, redemption and apotheosis through the power of love and Wagner’s music.
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Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner was transmitted Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera on March 21 and a reprise on April 13, 2026, at the Cineplex VIP Cinema, Shops at Don Mills, Toronto and other theatres across Canada. For more information: www.cineplex.com/events        

James Karas is the Culture Editor of the Greek Press, Toronto

RIGOLETTO – REVIEW OF 2026 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN, PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden has revived the 2021 production by Oliver Mears of Verdi’s Rigoletto, a favourite vehicle for opera houses around the world. As a result, both the opera and the jester have been seen in some unlikely places. Even a moderate operaphile could have sat through productions set in a Las Vegas Casino, a high-rise apartment building in New York and in a circus, to mention a few that come to mind.

The current revival is replacing the 2001 staging by David McVicar which was in a class of its own. When I reviewed that production, I wrote that the opening scene resembled an orgy. We saw a disheveled woman running across the stage with breasts exposed, clutching her clothes. We know that she had just been raped. The courtiers of the Duke of Mantua, sexual predators, chase women, grab them sexually and simulate coitus and act like predatory animals that is frightful and abhorrent. There was also a naked man. 

Director Mears takes a far more civilized approach to the operatic chestnut and the result is a highly enjoyable and refined production. The set by Simon Lima Holdsworth emphasizes dark tones, and the presence of lust and evil in the Court of Mantua is unmistakable. We see a large copy of Titian's Venus of Urbino, showing a naked woman lying languidly on a bed and the suggested violent Rape of Europa. In the latter, Zeus disguised as a bull abducts and then rapes a young woman.

In this production, we see Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda in a well-lit bedroom wearing night clothes before she is abducted and violated. Her presence in her bedroom is the only pleasant scene in the opera before the despicable courtiers abduct her. The beautiful duet with her father takes place in the darker tones of the stage.

George Petean as Rigoletto and Aida Garifullina as Gilda in 

Oliver Mears' Rigoletto, The Royal Opera ©2026 Marc Brenner

Mears has a lot of help from the superb cast in this marvelous production. Baritone George Petean as Rigoletto goes through a gamut of emotions. He ridicules the courtiers mercilessly and is an unsympathetic character trying to produce laughter for the amoral  and despicable duke. We see him and hear his sonorous voice in his scene with his beloved Gilda. And finally, we see the vengeful Rigoletto who pays Sparafucile to assassinate the Duke. Rigoletto is physically and psychologically deformed and his love of his daughter is his redeeming feature.

He is cursed by Count Monterone (baritone Blaise Malaba) and it arouses terror in him that runs thematically and musically throughout the opera. He decides to have the Duke killed and gets the services of  Sparafucile (bass William Thomas) who is professional, efficient and devoid of emotion in his job. He is frightful. We see all these situations and emotions in Rigoletto’s life in Petean’s splendid performance.

The lovely and innocent Gilda is sung by soprano Aida Garifullina. We first see Gilda through the curtains in her bedroom. She is in or around her bed in a beautiful room without singing a note. The scene is an addition by Mears. She is innocent and naïve with a loving father. She goes to church where she has seen a handsome young man who tells her he is a poor student. She sings “Caro nome” the beautiful aria inspired by his name. It is an expression of love, goodness and purity that Garifullina delivers with passion and poignancy that she holds onto throughout the performance.

The poor student that Gilda has fallen in love with is the lecherous and narcissistic Duke of Mantua. Tenor Ivan Ayon Rivas has the vocal and physical equipment for the role from his lascivious conduct at court to his description of women in “La dona e mobile” when visiting  a brothel at the end of the opera. Rivas sings with poise, assurance and gusto.  Women are toys to be played with and tossed out.

Veteran conductor Mark Elder led the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in a superb  performance of the score in a richly thought out and outstanding production of Verdi’s classic.

This is a solid and outstanding production that does not need outlandish effects like a casino or an apartment building, even an orgy.
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Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Francesco Maria Piave continues with some cast changes until April 23, 2026, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. www.roh.org.uk

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto