Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
My review of San Francisco Opera’s 2007 production of Puccini’s “La Rondine” is posted at Review: The Remaking of San Francisco Opera Part II – Gheorghiu and “Rondine”, November 25, 2007. In preparing that review, it seemed like a supplementary commentary page on the opera, independent of the particular performance being considered, was warranted. The case … Read more
The last time that Puccini’s “La Rondine” was given in the San Francisco Opera’s main season, the Magda was Spanish soprano Lucrezia Bori (born in 1887) and the Ruggero was the Florentine tenor Dino Borgiolo (born in 1891). The opera performed it once. It has returned for its Main Season for seven additional performances in … Read more
San Francisco Opera is not quite at the trailing edge of productions contracted for by its former General Manager, Pamela Rosenberg. Her successor, David Gockley, is in a period where he benefits from the good choices for the company’s future that she made, while being able to distance himself from some of her commitments that … Read more
While additional lengthy reviews of opera performances by the San Francisco and Houston Grand Operas are prepared, as a change of pace, we are posting Tom’s review of a delicious presentation of Lehar’s “The Merry Widow” at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, as the 2007 Czech Opera Prague’s tour journeys to the Far … Read more
Houston Grand Opera’s second production of its 2007-08 season was its first mounting of Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment” since Beverly Sills performed Marie in 1973. Much has changed in the ensuing 34 years. Ironically, both Sills and Luciano Pavarotti, the greatest Tonio of the 20th century – probably, the greatest of all time – … Read more