Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
This is the sixth of ten observances of historic performances of the San Francisco Opera that I attended during the company’s annual tours of Southern California San Diego’s Fox Theatre has been an imposing landmark since it was launched in 1929 as a great movie palace, in ceremonies attended by visiting delegations of Hollywood stars. … Read more
Despite the Surgeon General’s warning about cigarettes, the recent production of Bizet’s “Carmen” at Opera Pacific, smoked Orange County. As one who has seen this numero uno opera for paying the bills countless wonderful times (including an August 2006 performance in Santa Fe, a link to whose review occurs at the bottom of this page), … Read more
Richard Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”, although firmly in the standard repertoire, has tended to be performed a little less often in recent years than the work that preceded it (“The Flying Dutchman”) and the eight operas he wrote afterwards. That appears, at least for the near future, to be changing. California’s three most important opera companies – … Read more