Historical Performances: “Dialogues of the Carmelites” with Venora, Resnik, Ericsdotter – San Francisco Opera, October 26, 1963

Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the last of ten such observances of performances from the company’s 1963 Fall season. San Francisco Opera’s final 1963 Saturday night series performance was a … Read more

Historical Performances: “Forza del Destino” with Leontyne Price, James McCracken – San Francisco Opera, October 24, 1963

San Francisco Opera launched a new Leni Bauer-Ecsy production of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” as a vehicle for Leontyne Price. James McCracken was her Don Alvaro in a stirring performance led by Italian Conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. [Below: the Leni Bauer-Ecsy sets for the monastery scene in “La Forza del Destino”; edited image, based on … Read more

Historical Performances: “Cosi fan Tutte” with Schwarzkopf, Vanni, Valletti, Prey, Wolovsky, Grist – San Francisco Opera, October 19, 1963

The next offering on my 1963 Saturday night San Francisco Opera subscription was a revival of the acclaimed George Jenkins production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” that had been my first performance of a Mozart opera seven seasons before [See Cosi Fan Tutte – October 25, 1956.] Elizabeth Schwarzkopf was again Fiordiligi, joined by three artists … Read more

Historical Performances: Vickers, Shuard, Resnik in “Die Walküre” – San Francisco Opera, October 10, 1963

As a college sophomore, in my third year as a subscriber to the San Francisco Opera, I had already experienced Bellini’s “Sonnambula” with Joan Sutherland, Verdi’s “Aida” with Leontyne Price, Regina Resnik and Sandor Konya, and Reri Grist, Cesare Valletti and Hermann Prey in Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” (I also had purchased seats off my … Read more