Review: A Magnificent Mimi Leads a Youthful “Boheme” Cast – Santa Fe Opera, June 28, 2019

The Santa Fe Opera opened its 2019 season with a new production of Puccini’s “La Boheme”, directed by Mary Birnbaum. Vanessa Vasquez’ Mimi The evening proved to be a triumph for Arizona soprano Vanessa Vasquez as Mimi, leading an impressive young cast. [Below: Mimi (Vanessa Vasquez, standing, center) joins (seated from left to right) Rodolfo … Read more

Review: “Rusalka”- Beautiful Singing, Insightful Drama – An Opera “Not to be Missed” – San Francisco Opera, June 16, 2019

The San Francisco Opera’s final offering of its 2018-19 season was Sir David McVicar’s production of Dvorak’s “Rusalka”, the story of a human Prince and the water-sprite Rusalka, each an inhabitant of a separate world. Although Rusalka and the Prince both wish to love one another, the forces that weigh against that love ultimately dooms … Read more

Review: A Finely Sung “Orlando” Melds Handel’s Seductive Music with Harry Fehr’s Surreal Staging – San Francisco Opera, June 9, 2019

For only the second time in its history, the San Francisco Opera mounted a production of Handel’s operatic masterpiece, “Orlando”. Its first series of performances took place 34 years ago, during a time when baroque opera was only beginning to be performed regularly after an absence from the operatic stage of two centuries. For 2019, … Read more

Review: Francesca Zambello’s Theatrically Compelling “Carmen” – San Francisco Opera, June 5, 2019

The San Francisco Opera typically mounts five operas every fall and mounts three more the following summer. Tonight the second part of the company’s 2018-19 season opened with New York director Francesca Zambello’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen”, based on Zambello’s 2006 production for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Norwegian Opera. J’Nai Bridges … Read more