Month: October 2014

 [Note from William: I attended both the first and fourth performances of the San Francisco Opera production of “Partenope”. The following remarks supplement those of the original review at Review: An Engaging Cast, Handel’s Seductive Music, and Christopher Alden’s Surreal Staging Enliven San Francisco Opera’s “Partenope” – San Francisco Opera, October 15, 2014.]   In my … Read more

Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian’s American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera  in the title role of Puccini’s “Tosca”. Performing a role she was singing for the first time, her gleaming soprano filled the War Memorial Opera House. Her second act showpiece Vissi d’arte received the great ovation that one expects from San Francisco audiences for a first rank … Read more

The San Francisco Opera was founded in 1923 but did not perform its first regular season opera composed by George Friderick Handel until 59 years later when Handel’s most performed operatic work, ‘Giulio Cesare”, was first mounted. In the 32 San Francisco Opera seasons that followed the 1982 “Cesare” eight different Handel operas have been performed. The eighth … Read more