Month: September 2021

Streamed Performance Review: Patricia Racette’s Dramatic Elle in Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine” – June, 2019, Opera Philadelphia at the Elkins Estate

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Note from William: The following is a review of a filmed performance of “La Voix Humaine”. In 1958, French composer Francois Poulenc set a short play by French poet/dramatist Jean Cocteau to music.  Cocteau’s 1930 play was for a single character, a distressed woman engaged in a telephone call with a lover who has broken … Read more

In Quest of Fall 2021 Live Opera Performances in Los Angeles and San Francisco

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Il Trovatore (Verdi), Los Angeles Opera, September 18, 22, 25, October 3, 6 and 10, 2021. The Los Angeles Opera re-opens for its 2021-22 season (after the Covid-19 pandemic forced cancellation of its previous season) with Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, conducted by Maestro James Conlon. The role of Manrico is shared by tenors Limmie Pulliam (first … Read more

Review: Ailyn Pérez , Michael Fabiano, Alfred Walker, Soloman Howard Excel in a Memorable “Tosca” (with a Post-Finale Surprise) – San Francisco Opera, September 5, 2021

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San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, home to the San Francisco Opera, is a superb setting for performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” – an opera intertwined with the War Memorial’s history. The opera house opened with “Tosca” 89 years ago in 1932. After the company spent a season out of the opera house when it closed … Read more