William Burnett

I have been attending opera performances since my early teenage years. In 2005, I created operawarhorses.com, and have traveled throughout North America, and to Europe and Asia to report on opera performances and to interview opera performers, conductors and administrators.

Review: Anthony Roth Costanzo, Jarrett Ott and Kathryn Henry Lead Strong Cast for Corigliano’s New “Lord of Cries” – Santa Fe Opera, July 21, 2021

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Santa Fe Opera, in its second week of resuming performances after cancellation of its 2020 season, assayed the world premiere of John Corigliano’s and Mark Adamo’s opera “Lord of Cries”. The opera combines select characters of Euripides’ “The Bacchae” and Stoker’s “Dracula” and loosely weaves together bits of plot from each work. I attended the … Read more

In Quest of Summer 2021 Live Opera Performances in Santa Fe and San Francisco

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Note from William: My most recent review of an operatic performance was that of the Sarasota Opera’s production of Catalani’s “La Wally” on March 7, 2020. Although I was scheduled to review subsequent operatic performances in Chicago, San Francisco, the Glimmerglass Festival, Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston, every one of these performances was canceled as … Read more

Bel Canto in Troubled Times: A Conversation with lyric tenor Michele Angelini, Part Two

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Wm: Since the first part of this conversation was posted [Bel Canto in Troubled Times: A Conversation with lyric tenor Michele Angelini, Part One], you have appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival in Rossini’s “Il turco in Italia” directed by Mariame Clément, whose work I have admired [ Review: Mariame Clément Mounts Wagner’s “Liebesverbot”: Opéra du Rhin, Strasbourg, … Read more

Bel Canto in Troubled Times: A Conversation with lyric tenor Michele Angelini, Part One

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My conversation with Michele Angelini began at the Glimmerglass Festival where he was performing the lead tenor role in Rossini’s “La Gazza Ladra” and resumed during the global Covid-19 pandemic that has so disrupted the performance of opera.  [Below: tenor Michele Angelini; edited image of a Rebecca Fay photograph.]  Wm: Michele, the Glimmerglass performance of … Read more

Historical Performances: Dorothy Kirsten Leads “Butterfly” Cast for San Francisco Opera’s New Production, November 13, 1966

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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 eleventh of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season.  A few hours after attending a Saturday night performance of Berlioz’ “Les … Read more