Opera Warhorses

I attended the third and final San Francisco Opera performance of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” in the first week of the company’s strike-shortened 2026-27 season. The new to San Francisco Claus Guth production’s season-opening performance occurred only five nights before. As will be discussed at the end of this performance review, this was my seventh San … Read more

“Mary Queen of Scots” is the second offering of the San Francisco Opera’s 2026-27 season. Composer Thea Musgrave’s 1977 opera is a foray into mid-16th century Scottish history during the Stuart (Steward) dynasty. The opera is set in the economically depressed Scotland of the year 1561 through 1567, when the country was both religiously and … Read more

It has been 16 years since the Santa Fe Opera last presented Mozart’s final opera, “The Magic Flute”. This season the Santa Fe Opera premiered a new production of the opera, co-produced with England’s Garsington Opera Festival. A talented group of opera singers were recruited for the opera’s large cast. Josh Lovell’s Tamino [Photo: Josh … Read more

In October 2023, the Konzert und Theater St-Gallen, Switzerland, mounted the world premiere of American composer Tobias Picker’s “Lili Elbe”, whose librettist was Aryeh Lev Stollman. The world premiere starred transgender baritone Lucia Lucas as Lili and soprano Sylvia D’Eramo as Gerda Wegener. The premiere’s success led to the opera being awarded the “Best Opera … Read more

In its 2026 season, the Santa Fe Opera presented “Rodelinda”, the eighth opera by George Frideric Handel performed in the company’s history. Lucy Crowe’s Rodelinda [Photo: Rodelinda (Lucy Crowe, right) sits with her son, Flavio (Maximilian Moore left); edited image, based on a Bronwen Sharp photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.] British soprano Lucy Crowe … Read more

In 2021, the Santa Fe Opera presented Italian director Alessandro Talevi’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin”. Although the company had reopened following the darkened months of 2020 resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, many compromises had to be made to meet government-imposed limitations on the numbers of persons onstage at the same time. [Photo: … Read more

The late British director Lee Blakeley’s production of “Madama Butterfly” premiered at Santa Fe Opera in 2010. The company revived his production in 2018 and again this season. For both this season and the 2018 revival, Conductor John Fiore utilized the music and libretto of Puccini’s first revision of the score – the now seldom-heard … Read more

The San Francisco Opera revived Keith Warner’s visually absorbing production of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”, last seen here in 2017 [Review: San Francisco Opera’s “Elektra” – Goerke, Pieczonka in a Gory, Gloriously Sung Night at the Museum – September 9, 2017]. The opera is about a Greek family, consisting of a mother (Klytemnestra), her son Orest … Read more

This is the second review of two consecutive performances of Gioacchino Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. taking place at the San Francisco Opera in June, 2026. My first review is posted at: Review: Joshua Hopkins, Levy Sekgapane, Maria Kataeva Lead “Barber of Seville” Cast One – San Francisco Opera, June 5, 2026. That review includes … Read more

San Francisco Opera dedicated much of the month of June 2026 to a celebration of Gioacchino Rossini’s most famous opera, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” which it presented with two alternating casts of principal artists. I attended performances by each cast and am reporting on each separately. Joshua Hopkins’ Figaro [Photo: Figaro (Joshua Hopkins) stands besides … Read more

I attended the second of eight San Francisco Opera performances in the world premiere run of Huang Ruo’s and David Henry Hwang’s opera “The Monkey King”. With this new work, San Francisco Opera continued its production of operas based on great Chinese classical literature. Nine years ago the first of these extraordinary operas, Bright Sheng’s … Read more

I attended the third of five scheduled San Francisco Opera performances of Matthew Ozawa’s handsome new produciton of Wagner’s “Parsifal”. The opera was beautifully sung, the singers accompanied by the brilliant sound of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, led by the company’s Music Director, Maestra Eun Sun Kim. Brandon Jovanovich’s Parsifal [Photo: The naive, youthful … Read more

The San Francisco Opera’s music director, South Korean Maestra Eun Sun Kim, has committed to conducting one Verdi and one Wagner opera each San Francisco Opera season. This provides the company with an opportunity to give special attention to works of the two 19th century operatic geniuses. Verdi’s mid-19th century opera “Rigoletto” is the third … Read more

This review is of the third of four scheduled Santa Fe Opera performances of a Garsington Opera production of Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” (now owned by the Canadian Opera Company). Jacquelyn Stucker’s Governess [Photo: Jacquelyn Stucker as the Governess; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.] … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera revived Laurent Pelly’s 2021 production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”. This review is of the fourth of nine performances of Mozart’s opera scheduled for the 2025 season. Ailyn Pérez’ Countess Almaviva [Photo:: Ailyn Pérez as the Countess Almaviva; edited image of a Ken Howard photograph for the Metropolitan Opera, courtesy … Read more