One of Britain's most promising singers takes on the title role in this week's Bermuda Festival presentation of Verdi's `Rigoletto'. Bass-baritone Keel Watson, who chose arias from Gershwin's `Porgy and Bess' for his concert debut at Royal Albert Hall in London, is a member of Midsummer Opera Company.

This highly accomplished and popular group, who thrilled Festival audiences with their previous productions of Mozart's `Cosi Fan Tutti' and `The Marriage of Figaro', have recently added Verdi's greatly loved opera to its repertoire.

Midsummer Opera, founded in 1985, began its rise to fame from the relatively humble setting of a garden in suburban London. Under the directorship of David Roblou, the quality of its productions was soon attracting attention from major London critics.

Since then, it has established a burgeoning reputation and has travelled extensively in Europe. Mr. Watson, who studied singing and trombone at Trinity College of Music (where he sang the requiems of Mozart, Verdi and Faure), then joined the English National Opera. For the past five years he has pursued a successful freelance career, during which he sang Michael Westbrook's `Coming Through the Slaughter' in its world premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. At the close of last year, however, he returned to the English National Opera (ENO), this time in the leading roles of `Falstaff' and Gremin in Tchaikovsky's `Eugene Onegin' at the ENO's London Coliseum.

Last summer, Mr. Watson drew critical acclaim for his title role performance in Verdi's `Falstaff' for Palace Opera in London's popular Holland Park Festival and then, for Pegasus Opera in the Covent Garden Festival. Recently, he sang his first `Macbeth' for Hasting Operas -- a production that was subsequently taken to Germany.

He has performed with the Opera de Nantes, during which he also sang `Country of the Blind' by Mark Anthony Turnage for the famed Aldeburgh Festival.

`Rigoletto' (of `La donne mobile' fame) is one of the world's most famous operas. Based on the novel `Le Roi s'amuse' by Victor Hugo, it is a tale of betrayal, revenge and murder -- all wrapped in a series of gorgeous arias and duets.

As the deformed court jester Rigoletto, Keel Watson takes on one of the great roles of opera, which first revealed the composer's dramatic genius: at the time of its composition in 1851, it was unusual to find a hero of an opera singing baritone rather than tenor and portraying a character who, on first impression, at any rate, is repellant rather than attractive.

`Rigoletto' will be performed in English and the company will again import the small, but excellent orchestra that was used for `The Marriage of Figaro'.

There are still some tickets available for `Rigoletto' which continues with performances at City Hall tomorrow, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.

Please telephone 292-8572 for reservations.

Keel Watson