Verdi, famously, always wanted to write an opera based on King Lear. Equally famously, he never got round to composing it. Several of his greatest works, however, strongly resemble Shakespeare's tragedy, Nabucco being foremost among them.

Most of us think of the opera both as Verdi's first masterpiece and as a powerful demand for personal and political freedom. At its centre, however, we find a dramatic conflict between a half-mad king and his two daughters - one implacably ambitious, the other gentle yet strong-willed. This triadic familial relationship is very much at the centre of Opera North's revival, performed in concert while the company's base, the Leeds Grand, is being restored.

The cast is well-nigh impeccable. Alan Opie is a disturbing Nabucco, genuinely repellent as the racist monster of the first two acts, before keeping us just on the right side of empathy as madness consumes his life. As for his daughters, Claire Rutter's Abigaille is sharply contrasted with Jane Irwin's Fenena. Rutter - all gobsmacking coloratura, neurotic fury and defensive hauteur - gives the performance of a lifetime. And Irwin does wonders with the role of Fenena, presenting us with a portrait of a dignified woman calmly bent on determining her own destiny.

Vocally, the rest of it is equally imposing. Alastair Miles's Zaccaria mingles fervour with fanaticism. Leonardo Capalbo is a graceful Ismaele, while the choral singing is electrifying. But David Parry's conducting is rigidly militaristic and unyielding, particularly in passages where religious intensity is required. He inexplicably makes Va Pensiero sound like a Viennese waltz, while the cello sextet that prefaces Zaccaria's spiritual musings goes for absolutely nothing.

· Repeated on October 1. Box office: 0113-224 3801. Then touring.