Last night I attended IU music school's rendition of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. I came away relatively unimpressed. The last time I saw Rigoletto was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange at Cambridge. It was by Ellen Kent and The Chisinau National Opera in collaboration with The Ukranian National Opera of Odessa.

I am not quiet sure what was missing. My memories of the performance at Cambridge were that it was bolder, a lot more heart rending and passionate. The humilation of Countess Ceprano, Count Ceprano's curse, Rigoletto's reaction all set the stage for the rest of the story to unfold elegantly... the whole atmosphere they setup was so much more lively. At IU I felt that they missed something in the beginning and everything else felt watered down as a consequence.

That said, there was some good talent at IU. Also the stage, props and costumes were so much grander that what they had at Cambridge. I bit the bullet and bought center orchestra season tickets to the opra at IU. The next one is Susannah.