Month: October 2014

Homage to Dame Joan Sutherland: A Conversation with Director John Pascoe, Part 4

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This continues the series of conversations that I have had with British opera director John Pascoe. The following three parts of the conversation will memorialize Dame Joan Sutherland. OM. DBE, AC., who passed into legend on 10th October 2010: [Below: Dame Joan Sutherland in the final act of Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena” in the 1988 Royal Opera House … Read more

Review: A Stylishly Sung and Intelligently Staged “Masked Ball” at San Francisco Opera – October 4, 2014

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Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera”, loosely based on the historical assassination of Swedish King Gustavus III at a masked ball, is an iconic Verdian opera, which has a lustrous performance tradition at the San Francisco Opera.. [Below: King Gustavo (Ramón Vargas, front, second from left) has decided to ignore the advice of the Chief Magistrate (A. … Read more