Though mean-spirited, the jester Rigoletto — Verdi’s hapless, vengeful hunchback — wins our hearts as the outsider whom a heartless world so often abuses. “Rigoletto” remains an opera reminding us ...

Paul Groves was a child when he first heard that classic, mournful tenor aria usually sung by a clown on opera stages. The song — specifically one of its passages — is usually recognized even by those ...