Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
The following conversation was based on a meeting at the War Memorial Opera House with the much-appreciated facilitatation of the San Francisco Opera. For previous communications between myself and tenor Brian Jagde, see: Rising Stars: An Interview with Brian Jagde. [Below: Tenor Brian Jagde; resized image of a photograph, courtesy of Brian Jagde.] Wm: You … Read more
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 fifteenth of sixteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1965 Fall season. The 1965 season ended with two new productions, one of Verdi’s “Ballo … Read more
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 fourteenth of sixteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1965 Fall season. The final performance of 1965 of my San Francisco Opera subscription series … Read more
The following is a list of operas performed in German, that I am scheduled to review in San Francisco, Chicago, Sarasota and Santa Fe: Elektra (Richard Strauss), San Francisco Opera, September 9, 13, 17(m), 19, 22 and 27, 2017. British director Keith Warner’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”, whose sets by Boris Kudlicka, is revived by … Read more
The following interview took place on the Santa Fe Opera “ranch”, between rehearsals of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” with the deeply appreciated facilitation of the Santa Fe Opera: [Below: Scottish director Paul Curran; edited image, based on a Christopher Reece Bowen photograph.] Wm: I like to begin each interview with some questions about an artists’ … Read more