In the title role, Michael Chioldi, who had a big success here two years ago as Macbeth, once more proves himself a genuine Verdi baritone – by definition a unique dramatic vocal type with a big, trumpet-like sound that can weather sustained singing in the highest part of the range. The very sound of Chioldi’s voice is quite thrilling, but he adds to this a three-dimensional characterization that has the viewer hating the jester’s cruelty at the start, yet feeling his anguish – notably in Rigoletto’s great solo, Cortigiani, where the clown lets down his defenses and implores the vicious courtiers to return to him his kidnapped and ravished daughter