All Palermo wonders: why is the foreign governor of occupied Sicily, Guy de Montfort, so stuck on the freedom-fighting local firebrand Henri? Because he’s Henri’s dad, that’s why. Not that Henri has a clue. Twenty years earlier, Montfort abducted and raped Henri’s mother, who escaped and brought her boy up to hate him. Now, to everyone’s astonishment, Montfort is giving this hostile, fatherless nobody the run of the palace. In a rare London revival, Verdi’s first grand opéra in the epic French style fields a powerhouse cast led by Quinn Kelsey as Montfort, Valentin Dytiuk as Henri, and Joyce El-Khoury as Hélène, an indomitable Austrian duchess with fish of her own to fry. (Dytiuk and El-Khoury—late replacements for artists previously announced—are creating a lot of buzz, likewise Sara Cortolezzis, who steps in for El-Khoury on October 3.) The monumental production, originally staged by Kasper Holten during his tenure as director of opera for the Royal Opera House, has now been turned over to Stefan Herheim, a marquee name in his own right. Speranza Scappucci, the company’s newly appointed principal guest conductor and a Verdian of authority, takes the podium. —Matthew Gurewitsch