RIGOLETTO

Opera Australia, Tuesday July 21, 2026. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House.

Music — Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto — Francesco Maria Piave
Conductor — Sesto Quatrini
Director — Elijah Moshinsky (Rehearsed by Kate Gaul)

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Opera Australia’s beloved production of Verdi’s evergreen tragedy is now 35 years old, and at this point is almost as venerable as the opera itself. Inspired by “Italy’s La Dolce Vita era”, the late Elijah Moshinsky’s inventive and lively interpretation, aided immeasurably by Michael Yeargan’s rotating “dollhouse” scenic design, remains one of the company’s most effective and unique productions, and is, in the cleverness of both the conception and its subsequent realization, an always welcome reminder of the company’s capacity for self-awareness. If the world’s most architecturally iconic opera house needs, of necessity, a resident opera company, and if there are those who might be tempted to hold place with a bare minimum of effort merely, settling for artistic breakeven as a default… to be the opera company you have in the Sydney Opera House so that there’s an opera company in the Sydney Opera House… then it’s productions like this one that defy such a crass, “McOpera” mindset — to reject hubris, to embrace singularity, and to aspire to be iconic in one’s own right.

As the market squeezes ever harder, and money becomes an issue across the board, the temptation to rest on laurels, to tick boxes, and to fill only to the first line must be a deafening siren song. Risk is risk even at the best of times, so to be reminded of what can be done when real innovation and vision weds perfectly with tradition becomes more of a necessity in these fraught times than perhaps ever before.

Cast in extremely fine fettle

Like their equally reliable, decades-old productions of Madama Butterfly and La Traviata, upon which this reviewer has previously reported, this Rigoletto now serves also as a showcase for its various casts, and on this revival’s opening night, which coincided with the company’s 70th birthday, it just so happens that the principal cast — indeed, the entire cast — was in extremely fine fettle.

Musically, the performance was outstanding. Not perfect, but its imperfections were  negligible and very easily overlooked given the glory that was otherwise on offer.

Dalibor Jenis opened the throttle on the title role: vocals, commitment, and impact all writ large. We immediately want to hear — and watch — his Iago, his Macbeth, his Scarpia, his Don Giovanni. We can point to no single moment or aria worth enshrining over any other… his entire performance was the defining highlight.

Gemma Nha is a star, plain and simple. Full vocal honors from start to finish… ravishing pianissimi, glittering acuto, and tasteful, measured pacing. Her “Caro nome” was positively transcendent. The staging did not always help, but if the several avoidable moments of “stand-and-deliver” stodge really was rehearsal director Kate Gaul’s best choice, then Nha’s vocalism went a long way towards filling the resulting void. She was a committed and compelling actor, when permitted.

Kang Wang, well within his wheelhouse as the Duke, cut a dash, acted with charm and intelligence, and sang with all the swagger and brilliance we always hope for but do not always get. His “Ella mi fu rapita” in particular was one of the evening’s great highlights, and if his “La donna è mobile” once again put the tenor’s (and the audience’s) interests over the composer’s, it was as expected as ever. (Will we ever again hear this earworm of earworms sung without the interpolated, show-ponying high note? Probably not. Is it worth getting our panties in a bunch about? Probably not. Is this now ubiquitous defiance of the composer’s intentions worth noting periodically? Absolutely.) Sadly, pandering to this canary moment is as much conductor Sesto Quatrini’s fault as anyone’s, but cosa ci vuoi fare?

Gennadi Dubinsky and David Parkin gave sonorous bassi support as Monterone and Sparafucile respectively, and Sian Sharp came dangerously close to stealing the  entire evening with a sharply observed and beautifully sung Maddalena. The remaining cast were an entirely worthy and consistent ensemble.

Gaul handled Moshinsky’s staging mostly extremely well, despite several moments where stillness spilled over into negligence, with more than a few dramatic and narrative possibilities consigned to landfill, in service, presumably, to reverence.

Quatrini led the Opera Australia Orchestra through a spirited and occasionally inspired evening of music-making, deftly supporting the company through one or two sketchy moments to emerge triumphant.

Overall, the evening was a more-than-worthy tribute to the company’s 70 years of service and artistic innovation, and a solid marker of what we hope will be the prevailing focus of its incoming Artistic Director (rebadged as “Director of Opera”) — namely, a good faith attempt to illuminate and evolve both the form, its practice, and its community. Here’s to the future. La speranza è l’ultima a morire.

Four stars out of five. Not perfection, but you can see it from here.

David Meadows