Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
John Adams’ latest opera, whose plot is derived from the Shakesperean tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, received its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera. A run of six additional performances was scheduled to follow the world premiere. This review is of the third of the seven total performances. There is much to admire in San … Read more
Each of the following operas is scheduled for the San Francisco Opera’s 2022-23 centennial season. Dialogues of the Carmelites (Poulenc and Lavery) October 15, 18, 21, 26 and 30, 2022 Olivier Py’s production, co-produced by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Bruxelles, is imported to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the … Read more
The Santa Fe Opera revived Rossini’s most popular opera, “The Barber of Seville”, after its 17-year absence from the company, in a brilliant new production by Australian-born British director Stephen Barlow. First performed in 2016 at Britain’s Grange Festival in Hampshire (near Winchester), the production mixes 18th century fashions with abundant references to studiously anachronisitic … Read more
Simon O’Neill’s Tristan and Tamara Wilson’s Isolde In the first 64 years of its 65-year history, the Santa Fe Opera had never presented any of the three-act operas of German composer Richard Wagner. (These three-act operas comprise eight of the ten Wagner operas in opera’s standard repertory, excepting only “The Flying Dutchman”, last performed 34 … Read more
A highlight of the Santa Fe Opera’s 2022 season is Sir David McVicar’s extraordinary production of Verdi’s final masterpiece, “Falstaff”, starring Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey in the title role. Quinn Kelsey’s Sir John Falstaff Falstaff is a role that encompasses a range of emotions, acting skills and comic timing. In a bravura performance, Quinn Kelsey showed mastery … Read more