RIGOLETTO — MASKS, POWER, AND THE ECHO OF FASCISM
When the curtain rises on “Rigoletto” at LA Opera, the audience is confronted by a surreal and unsettling tableau: around thirty masked men in suits, standing in tight formation, their faces obscured by animal visages and commedia dell’arte grotesques, stare back at
L.A. OPERA — TURANDOT
Everyone knows TURANDOT’s “Nessun Dorma,” one of the best-known tenor arias in opera. When sung by Russell Thomas (Calaf) in the current LA Opera engagement, the audience breaks out with enthusiastic applause, a rare gesture reserved for those truly magical