A Powerhouse ‘Rigoletto’ Ends L.A. Opera Season

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By Truman C. Wang
6/1/2025

Photo credit: Cory Weaver

lisette oropesa as gilda, quinn kelsey as rigoletto

L.A. Opera’s Rigoletto, co-produced with the Atlanta Opera, boasts considerable visual flair in the form of new costumes, dancers, jugglers, plus ghosts.  Tomer Zvulun, the director (and Atlanta Opera’s General and Artistic Director), dials Verdi’s grim suspense drama up several notches.  Monterone is stabbed and then shot in act one after delivering his curse; in act two he reappears as a ghost – Commendatore-like from Don Giovanni, imposing and resolute.  During the tender final duet, Gilda wafts across the stage, singing her dying notes draped in blue ghostly light.  In the program note, Mr. Zvulun explains the supernatural elements as a mirror upon which we witness the jester’s mental decline.   It was a bold and effective concept that at once respects the tradition and heightens the original drama.  The stark, plain rotating sets by Erhard Rom are dimly lit to evoke a film noir-like psycho-drama. 

The seven dancers, clad in Jessica Jahn’s fanciful 1920’s flapper dresses, were having a roaring good time.  How often do you see sexy go-go dancers in the Duke’s party or during his “La donna mobile”, slinking and slithering to the swooning beat of the music?  Not to be outdone, the three juggler clowns performed some derring-do stunts in sync with the party music.

Lots of social media buzz surrounded a cast change announced in May, adding the celebrated Cuban-American coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa as Gilda, sharing the role with Kathryn Lewek who will sing the final two performances. When Oropesa last sang the role here in 2018, her Gilda was all voice (but what a voice!) and not much in the way of acting.  Seven years hence, her portrayal of Gilda has deepened and matured. Oropesa sang an exquisite “Caro nome”, in a rendition at once beautifully studied, delicate and passionate.  She can float limpid, affecting high notes and turn accurate, shapely coloratura.  Her trills were perfectly formed pearls.  Oropesa is also a brave, spirited singer ready to dare, well able to ride the storm trio, to crown the climax of the quartet, to ring out in “Si, vendetta”.  A truly superb Gilda, Oropesa is a singer who lends distinction to all she does.

As the Duke of Mantua, René Barbera displayed a supple and shiny tenor that grew more firm and beautiful as the evening went on.  His first aria “Questa e quella” was flat and unexciting, but his last, “La donna e’ mobile”, was confidently and seductively phrased.

Rigoletto is one of baritone Quinn Kelsey‘s best roles, and he sang it formidably.  No hunchback in this production, this Rigoletto is misshapen only in the head.  Kelsey reminded me a lot of the power and reserve that Sherrill Milnes brought to “Cortigiani”, but a more burnished, beautiful tone than Juan Pons.  His duet with hired assassin Sparafucile (the superb bass Peixin Chen) and “Pari siamo” crackled with drama and forward momentum. Sarah Saturnino’s mezzo-soprano has more vocal glamour than most Maddalenas I have heard.  The L.A. Opera Chorus (men only) sang and acted winningly as villainous courtiers hiding behind their masks. 

James Conlon’s conducting was supple, sensitive and exciting.  The orchestral playing had the fluid and spontaneous feel of a small-town Italian house orchestra.  The limpid, steady first flute in Gilda’s aria and the robust, full-throated first cello in Rigoletto’s scena were among the many memorable orchestral highlights.  The score is presented complete – full versions of “Ah! Veglia, o donna”, Rigoletto-Gilda duet, Gilda-Duke’s farewell, and both verses of Duke’s aria  “Possente amor”.  Even the coda for “Caro nome” ends in high B natural as Verdi wrote it, not high E as printed in some corrupt editions.

Other Rigoletto dates are June 8,12,15 (with Oropesa as Gilda) and 18, 21 (Lewek as Gilda). It has just been announced that Domingo Hindoyan will succeed Conlon as L.A. Opera’s Music Director in the 2026/27 season.

photo by classical voice

Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.