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The first of the Lyric Opera's two productions this spring is Giuseppe Verdi's rousing melodrama, Rigoletto, starring nationally renowned baritone Richard Paul Fink in the title role as the tragic stricken court jester. Mary Dunleavy, who starred as La Traviata for the Company last season, is his daughter, Gilda, with Canadian tenor David Pomeroy, fresh off his Metropolitan Opera debut, as the swaggering Duke of Mantua.  The Opera opens this weekend on Saturday, March 20 and plays on March 24, 26 and 28 (Sunday matinee).

Rigoletto marks one of the high points in all Italian opera. Verdi, who came along after the triumvirate bel canto masters Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, had been working for twenty years to perfect a style of composition which melded Italianate singing with the drama of stage action.  In Rigoletto he perfected this technique, and jumped from being a fine imitator to the preeminent creative genius. It launched the second half of his career in which he wrote a long string of masterpieces including La Traviata, Aida and Otello, but many experts think that he never combined music and drama any better than in Rigoletto.

In this opera, the music serves the drama rather than the other way around, as a result the music is finely tuned to the subtleties of the characters it portrays. 

The womanizing Duke of Mantua (the tenor, of course), is given swaggering and boastful melodies such as the great arias Questa di quello ("This one or that one") and La donna e mobile ("Women are fickle") that perfectly depict his carefree, dangerous persona.  The vulnerable and lovesick Gilda, who falls head over heels for the worthless rake, is beautifully characterized in the soprano aria Caro nome ("Carved upon my heart...is that name"), a floating melody.  Her father, the protective and spiteful court jester Rigoletto, is splendidly portrayed in Cortigiani! ("Courtiers!"), a song of exasperation which the baritone addresses to the Duke's courtiers as he seeks the return of his beloved daughter, who has been carried away for the royal's pleasure.

Then, of course, there is the spectacular quartet in the last act which is one of the glories of Italian ensemble music, to say nothing of several moving orchestral interludes, including the ominous storm music in Act I which sends chills up every spine.

A fine performance of Rigoletto requires outstanding singers and actors, and for this production the Lyric Opera has assembled a group which, at least on paper, appears to be one of the best ever to appear in Kansas City.

Richard Paul Fink, who sings the title role, has sung a number of opera's great baritone roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin and the San Francisco Opera, among others, as well as overseas with Paris Opéra-Bastille, Berlin State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, and the Sydney Opera.  Rigoletto is one of his favorite roles, along with Amonasro (Aida), Alberich (the Ring Cycle), Klingsor (Parsifal), Scarpia (Tosca), Iago (Otello) and the four villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Soprano Mary Dunleavy returns to the Lyric Opera stage to reprise a role she has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Teatro Municipal de Santiago and in other houses. Her career has also taken her to Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu, the New York City Opera, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Cincinnati May Festival, Washington National Opera, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Opéra National de Paris and De Nederlandse Opera, among others.

David Pomeroy, who sang with the Lyric Opera in Madama Butterfly (2006), recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Les Contes d'Hoffmann. The Canadian native sings with the opera companies of Edmonton, Vancouver, Quebec, Montreal, Calgary and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, as well as opera houses in Fort Worth, Connecticut, Michigan, Florida and elsewhere in the United States.

Bass Kevin Short, who last appeared at the Lyric Opera as King Claudius in Hamlet (2006), sings the assassin Sparafucile.  Short frequently sings overseas, including at the Bregenz Festival in Austria, the Opéra Comique in Paris, and the Teatro Nacional São Carlos in Portugal.

Catherine Ratliff, an apprentice singer from the University of Kansas, will portray Maddalena, while Jennifer Forte and Stephen Fish of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance will portray Giovanna and Count Ceprano. Ben Gulley, Robert McNichols Jr., Amy Cahill and Victoria Botero round out the Rigoletto cast.

Garnett Bruce is the stage director for Rigoletto. He directed the Lyric Opera's La Bohème in 2002, and has also staged works for the opera companies in Houston, San Francisco, Austin, Orlando, Utah and Wolf Trap, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others.

Ward Holmquist, the Lyric Opera's artistic director, will conduct.

PREVIEW:
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Rigoletto
Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 26 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 28 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org


Top photo: Richard Paul Fink as Rigoletto.

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.

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