Opera Warhorses

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

The first performance of “Die “Walküre” in Santa Fe Opera history took place on July 26, 2025. This is a review of the second of five scheduled performances of Santa Fe Opera’s 2025 season. Tamara Wilson’s Brünnhilde [Photo: Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe … Read more

The opening performance of the Santa Fe Opera’s 2025 season was a James Robinson’s co-production (with Seattle Opera, of which Robinson is General and Artistic Director) of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. This performance review is of the fifth of ten scheduled performances. Sylvia d’Eramo’s Mimi [Photo: Sylvia d’Eramo as Mimi; edited image, based on a Curtis … Read more

This review continues my discussion of the San Francisco Opera’s 2025 revival of John Caird’s production of Puccini’s “La Boheme” posted at Review: A Superbly Performed “Boheme”, Starring Pene Pati, Karen Chia-Ling Ho, Andrea Carroll and Lucas Meachem – San Francisco Opera, June 15, 2025.. This review discusses the performances of three alternate cast members … Read more

The last production of San Francisco Opera’s 2024-25 season to open was Mozart’s “Idomeneo” The earliest of Mozart’s seven most important operas, it dates from 1781 when Mozart was not quite 25 years old. Matthew Polenzani’s Idomeneo The opera takes place in the aftermath of the Trojan War on the Island of Crete. The Kingdom … Read more

For the Spring 2025 weeks of its 2024-25 season, the San Francisco Opera scheduled nine performances of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. For six of those performances the lead roles of Mimi, Rodolfo, Musetta and Marcello were to be sung by four artists designated as the “first cast”. Four other artists were scheduled to alternate those four … Read more