Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
The following interview took place with the deeply appreciated facilitation of the San Francisco Opera. [Below: Bass Erik Anstine; edited image, based on a Rebecca Fay photograph, from erikanstine.com.] Wm: I’ve enjoyed watching your career develop over the past seven years, having first seen you in performances of the Seattle and Los Angeles Operas. However, your debut at … Read more
The following interview took place in the administrative offices of the Houston Grand Opera, whose facilitation of this interview is very much appreciated: [Below: Bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni; edited image, based on a photograph by Catherine Pisaroni.] Wm: My first question of most artists I interview is of their earliest memories of music and … Read more
As the third offering of its 2017 summer season, the San Francisco Opera mounted English director John Caird’s imaginative production of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. First performed in San Francisco in 2014, the production was revived with an attractive young cast, whose realization of Caird’s detailed staging, proved once again that opera singers can be good actors. [Below: Act II (French … Read more
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo was Giovanni and Erwin Schrott was Leporello in a revised production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the San Francisco Opera. They were joined by a world-class cast under the direction of French Maestro Marc Minkowski. Ildebrando d’Arcangelo’s “Don Giovanni” Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, in his San Francisco Opera debut, was an energetic and stylish Giovanni. D’Arcangelo sang Giovanni’s … Read more
San Francisco Opera began its summer season with a beautifully sung performance of Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, starring Hawai’ian baritone Quinn Kelsey in the opera’s title role. Quinn Kelsey’s Rigoletto Kelsey’s Rigoletto perfomance demonstrated a mastery of both the vocal and dramatic requirements of one of the great (if not the greatest) baritone roles of the Italian repertory. Much of the role … Read more