The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Is it an opera or a musical? Verdi’s operatic masterpiece “Rigoletto” travels to Las Vegas in the “Live in Hi-Def” broadcast by the Metropolitan Opera this Saturday afternoon. Plus, cellist Karl Lavine plays a FREE concert of Rachmaninoff on Friday at noon.

ALERT: This week’s FREE  Friday Noon Musicale, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, features Madison Symphony’s Orchestra principal cellist Karl Lavine (below) and pianist Karen Boe in the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

By Jacob Stockinger

One of the all-time great opera masterpieces is Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”

In fact, one nationally famous opera expert – who had studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – once told me it was his top choice to see for people who didn’t yet know opera. (The Ear would have surely thought that his choice for a first-timer would be Puccini’s “La Boheme.” But, nooooo.) The inexperienced listener would surely fall in love with the art form of opera after experiencing “Rigoletto,” he claimed.

Well, no one can deny that the 1851 opera by Verdi (below) does have its share of great drama and great tunes, including the famed  “La donna e mobile” and “Questa o quello” (at bottom in a YouTube video).

You can see and hear why the work is so great this Saturday afternoon when “Live From the Met in HD” will broadcast the newest production by the Metropolitan Opera of the classic work.

The live broadcast – complete with commentary and behind-the-scenes looks – will be at Point Cinemas on Madison’s west side and the Eastgate cinemas on Madison’s east side.

The show will begin at 11:55 CST and run about 3-1/2 hours. But seats often fill up quickly, and many audience members arrive at least one hour early to get the best seats or the ones they like.

The adventurous concept staging (below) updates the opera from 16th-century Italy, complete with a palace, duke and court jester, to mid-20th century Las Vegas, complete with show girls. The production has drawn some interesting and conflicting reviews. Is it really opera or a musical? some have asked.

So in preparation for going, you can look at these:

Here is a review by the senior critic for The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (below), who spoke in Madison during the centennial celebration of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte String Quartet:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/arts/music/an-unsteady-rigoletto-rat-pack.html?ref=metropolitanopera&_r=0

And here is a review by Pulitzer Prize-winner Manuela Hoelterhoff (below), who now works for Bloomberg News but who used to work for the Wall Street Journal:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/las-vegas-welcomes-verdi-s-hunchback-at-met-review.html

Here is some background and context I found particularly interesting at boston.com:

http://www.boston.com/2013/01/23/fdd-entry-cont/AoBFnQeymje6Ie9FeF9BxI/story.html

And here is a link to the actual promos for “Rigoletto” at the website for “Live From the MET in HD.” It features video and audio samples as well as links to a synopsis, a cast list and other information:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx

What do you think of the new production? The Ear wants to hear.