Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
The 1987 David Hockney production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”, one of the treasures of the Los Angeles Opera, traveled to the mid-continent for the first time for nine performances at Chicago’s Lyric Opera. Lyric’s headliner was its Isolde, Deborah Voigt. Although 12 days earlier, she had been indisposed for one performance (which proved an … Read more
[Wm: This is the second part of my interview with Ian Campbell, the General and Artistic Director of the San Diego Opera, and the stage director of a new production of Massenet’s “Don Quixote (Don Quichotte)”.] Wm: I understand that you became friends with Luciano Pavarotti in Australia in the 1960s. IC: Yes, it was in … Read more
“Don Quixote (Don Quichotte)”, a work of Jules Massenet’s maturity, had its premiere in 1910, the last year of the 20th century’s first decade. Ninety-nine years later, the San Diego Opera has mounted a new production of this work. [Below: a poster prepared for the Parisian premiere of “Don Quixote (Don Quichotte)”, at the Theatre … Read more
[Note from William: Continuing my interviews with persons involved in producting live operatic performances, we begin a two-part series with Ian Campbell, General and Artistic Director of the San Diego Opera.] [Below: San Diego Opera’s Ian Campbell; edited image of a photograph, courtesy of San Diego Opera.] Wm: You commissioned and are personally directing a … Read more
As the first offering of its 2009 season, San Diego Opera mounted Puccini’s “Tosca” in the historic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production that it came to own. The “Tosca” performances, occurring just a month after the 150th birthday of the Tuscan composer’s birth, starred French soprano Sylvie Valayre in the title role, with Americans Marcus Haddock as the painter Mario … Read more