Avatar photoWilliam 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: Aural Splendor Permeates Composer Mason Bates’ Revised “(R)evolution of Steve Jobs” – San Francisco Opera, September 24, 2023

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San Francisco Opera’s home, the War Memorial Opera House, is a hospitable venue for the walls of sound that emanate from the richly orchestrated works of Wagner, Puccini and Richard Strauss. It proved equally hospitable to the extraordinary operatic heavy metal sound created by the technologically-savvy composer Mason Bates. The composer’s electronic instrumentation proved a … Read more

Historical Performances: Geraint Evans, Stuart Burrows, Jane Marsh Welcome “The Magic Flute” into the San Francisco Opera repertory – September 23, 1967 and October 8, 1967

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I previously reported on a June 1967 performance I attended during the San Francisco Opera’s Spring Opera Theater [SPOT]. Between that June SPOT performance [Historical Review: Nicholas di Virgilio, Simon Estes Lead Impressive Cast in “Tales of Hoffmann” San Francisco Opera’s Spring Opera Theater [SPOT] – June 23, 1967] and the September 1967 opening of … Read more

Review: Luke Sutliff, Replacing Injured Rolando Villazón, Triumphs in Opening Night of Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” – Santa Fe Opera, July 29, 2023

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The fifth opera to be offered in Santa Fe Opera’s 2023 season, Monteverdi’s “Orfeo”, dating from 1607, is the oldest opera holding a space in the international performance repertory. Never before performed by the company, a new production was designed by director Yuval Sharon and new orchestration was created by contemporary composer Nico Muhly. The … Read more

Review: Passionately Sung, “Pelléas et Mélisande” in Netia Jones’ Attractive, Introspective Production – Santa Fe Opera, July 28, 2023

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The Santa Fe Opera, for the third time in its history (the first and second being 51 and 46 years ago) performed Debussy’s operatic masterpiece, “Pelléas et Mélisande”, in a new production created by British director Netia Jones. Jones’ attractive production, incorporating an absorbing lighting design by Canadian designer D. M. Wood, explores the contemporary … Read more