For my money Rigoletto is one of Guiseppe Verdi's finest operas.

It was his 17th and comes full of great tunes of the tumtytum school, which you cannot help but want to whistle at the darker, more sinister curses this opera also contains.

Along the way there is the heartbreaking soprano aria Carlo Nome, the jolly Questa Quella and the universally known La Donna E Mobile.

Dominating the whole opera is the embittered, persecuted hunchback jester Rigoletto - and Ellen Kent of Opera International has trawled the state operas of Odessa and Chisinau to find one of the best Rigolettos I have ever seen or heard.

Ukrainian baritone Vladimir Dragos claimed the stage with grotesque shape, ungainly step and his wonderful velvety dark voice. When he sang of the love he has for his daughter you knew he meant it and when he sings of wreaking vengeance he is equally convincing.

This tale of seduction, kidnap, intrigue deceit and murder is set in the corrupt Renaissance court of the Duke of Mantua, where morals are easy and rape seems to be a regular after-dinner entertainment. This court includes a pet golden eagle and Olga, a Scottish eagle with a 7ft wingspan, stole the scene.

The small chorus is highly effective but it is the principals who set the pulse racing. The randy duke was finely sung by Andriy Perfilov and the lovely Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter, was Maria Tsonin, the winner of last year's Vienna Opera House singing competition.

In the pit was conductor Yuriy Holota, who did the score splendid justice.