Simon Keenlyside, de Engelse bariton die op 2 december een prachtig liedprogramma brengt in Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, kreeg een fraaie recensie in The Guardian voor zijn vertolking van de hoofdrol in Verdi’d Rigoletto in The Royal Opera House deze maand. Recensent Tim Asley schrijft: “Simon Keenlyside who plays Verdi’s tragic jester in a startling performance that is as much about physicality as it is about singing. Whirling around on crutches in the opening scene, he reminds us of Antony Sher’s Richard III. His gestures are obscene, and few Rigolettos have quite so forcefully brought home the fact that the loathing with which he satirises the Mantuan court is genuine rather than assumed.”