Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
The San Francisco Opera, a company with deep roots in the traditions of Italian opera, serving a city that was created by the California Gold Rush, launched a spiffy new production of “Girl of the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West)” – Puccini’s masterpiece about a love affair in a community of ’49er miners. Vocal … Read more
Gounod’s “Faust” returned to the San Francisco Opera stage after an absence of a decade and a half, in a Lyric Opera (Chicago) production by Robert Perdziola that is both resourceful and interesting. It proved the vehicle for displaying facets of the artistry of five San Francisco Opera-trained former Adler fellows, soprano Patricia Racette (Marguerite), … Read more
Over the past year, I have reviewed the first night of each of the four operas of the Los Angeles Opera’s production of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs”. Regrettably, schedule conflicts have made it impossible for me to see the four operas in succession concentrated in a nine day period, or even to repeat all … Read more