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: A Praiseworthy “Eugene Onegin” in Robert Carsen’s “World Treasure” Production – Houston Grand Opera, November 1, 2015

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Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”, the second offering of the Houston Grand Opera’s 2015-16 season, was presented in Canadian director Robert Carsen’s classic production, created for the New York Metropolitan opera and now owned by the Canadian Opera Company (Toronto). [Below: Eugene Onegin (Scott Hendricks, left) makes the acquaintance of Tatyana (Katie Van Kooten, right) at her country home; … Read more

Review: Monastyrska, Dolgov, Dobber in Caird’s Dramatic “Tosca” – Houston Grand Opera, October 31, 2015

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Puccini’s “Tosca” opened the Houston Grand Opera’s 2015-16 season. I attended the third of six scheduled performances. The principal cast consisted of Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role, Siberian tenor Alexey Dolgov as Mario Cavaradossi, Polish tenor Andrzej Dobber as Baron Scarpia and Russian bass Dmitri Bellosselskiy as Cesare Angelotti. [Below: Liudmyla Monastyrska as Floria Tosca; … Read more

World Premiere Review: Heggie’s “Great Scott” is a Great New Opera, Hilarious, Endearing, Sophisticated, Profound – The Dallas Opera, October 30, 2015

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“Great Scott”, the highly anticipated collaboration of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally, is unlike anything else in the operatic repertory. A tour de force created for Kansas mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, it is simultaneously a parody on the Rossini comic opera, an affectionate ribbing of the early 19th century Italian style of music-drama, a sentimental … Read more

Review: The Jun Kaneko “Magic Flute” Revived – San Francisco Opera, October 20, 2015

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In the final season of the tenure of its General Director David Gockley, the San Francisco Opera, revived one of the Gockley era successes, the Jun Kaneko production of Mozart’s fantasy opera, “The Magic Flute”. First unveiled in 2012 [see my reviews at Perfect Game: Gunn, Shagimuratova Shine in New Kaneko-Designed “Magic Flute” – San Francisco Opera, June 13, 2012 and A … Read more

Rising Stars: An Interview with Efraín Solís

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The following interview took place at the War Memorial Opera House, with the much-appreciated facilitation of the San Francisco Opera.   [Photo: Baritone Efraín Solís; resized image of a publicity photograph, courtesy of Efraín Solís.] Wm: Tell me, Efraín, about  about your earliest memories of music. ES: I grew up in the Orange County California town … Read more

Review: Soprano Nadine Sierra’s, Director Michael Cavanagh’s Vivid “Lucia di Lammermoor” – San Francisco Opera, October 8, 2015

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The San Francisco Opera mounted an illuminating new production of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”, staged by Canadian director Michael Cavanagh, with notably effective sets and projections by Washington scenic designer Erhard Rom. Nadine Sierra’s Lucia The production proved to be a triumph for Florida soprano Nadine Sierra, who had replaced an established star on short notice, … Read more

In Quest of Puccini’s “Tosca” and “Butterfly” in the American Southwest – October 2015 to December 2016

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“Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly” are two of the most performed operas in the United States. Below are four productions I am scheduled to review between the months of October 2015 and December 2016.    Tosca (Puccini), Houston Grand Opera, October 23, 24, 31, November 3, 6 and 14, 2015. British director John Caird created his imposing production of Puccini’s “Tosca” … Read more

A Second Look Review: “Luisa Miller” at the San Francisco Opera, September 27, 2015

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My review of the San Francisco Opera 2015-16 season opener  [Review: Michael Fabiano’s Star Ascends in Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” – San Francisco Opera, September 11, 2015] praised the lead tenor, entire cast, conductor, orchestra and stage direction. One follows, when one can, the great operatic voices singing at their prime in live performance, so I made … Read more

A Second Look Review: “Sweeney Todd” at San Francisco Opera, September 20, 2015

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Having reported on the two performances that introduced Lee Blakeley’s production of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” first to Houston [Review: “Sweeney Todd” at Houston Grand Opera: Nathan Gunn, Director Lee Blakeley Make a Compelling Case for Sondheim as Opera, April 24, 2015] and then to San Francisco [Review: Searing Performances by Brian Mulligan and Stephanie Blythe for … Read more

DVD Review: Francesca Zambello, the American Musical and the San Francisco Opera, Part I: “Show Boat”

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This DVD review of Jerome Kern’s and Oscar Hammerstein’s “Show Boat” is the first of two reviews of productions of classic American musicals performed by the San Francisco Opera. Each DVD is of a production conceived and staged by director Francesca Zambello. For the review review of George Gershwin’s and Dubose Heyward’s “Porgy and Bess” see: … Read more

Mounting the Big Shows: An Interview with Director Lee Blakeley

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Lee Blakeley’s production of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” is performed by the San Francisco Opera seven times during September, 2015. The following interview took place at the Santa Fe Opera, whose facilitation is deeply appreciated.   [Photo: Director Lee Blakeley; resized image of a Roy Tan photograph, courtesy of Lee Blakeley.] Wm: Please relate how you came … Read more

Review: Searing Performances by Brian Mulligan and Stephanie Blythe for San Francisco Opera’s First “Sweeney Todd” – September 12, 2015

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The San Francisco Opera mounted Lee Blakeley’s mammoth production of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” with New York baritone Brian Mulligan in the title role and New York mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as Todd’s partner-in-crime, Mrs Lovett. Nothing surpasses the macabre merriment that exudes from a great “Sweeney” performance. Superb portrayals of Todd and Lovett by Mulligan and Blythe, … Read more

Review: Michael Fabiano’s Star Ascends in Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” – San Francisco Opera, September 11, 2015

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The San Francisco Opera opened its 2015-16 season with a rousing revival of Verdi’s “Luisa Miller”. Famously a “tenor’s opera”, it is unabashedly a vehicle for the brilliant lyric tenor voice of Michael Fabiano, a rapidly rising star on the world’s operatic stages. Only the third tenor to appear in San Francisco as the opera’s hero Rodolfo (his … Read more

Engaging Operatic Fare in Texas – October 2015 – March 2016

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There is much of interest for opera-goers in the 2015-16 seasons of the Houston Grand Opera and The Dallas Opera. Below are four productions I am scheduled to review between the months of October 2015 through March 2016. One is a world premiere, three are significant productions of major operas that tend to be mounted less often than they should … Read more

The Impact of Young Operatic Artist Programs: An Interview with Michael Heaston of the Washington National Opera and Glimmerglass Festival

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Wm: This post is part of a series of interviews on the impact of Young Artists programs, both on the career of opera singers and the opera companies that offer them. The interview took place at the Glimmerglass Festival, whose facilitation is greatly appreciated.   [Below: Michael Heaston; resized image of a publicity photograph, courtesy of … Read more

Santa Fe Opera Invests in its Future: An Interview with General Director Charles MacKay

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The following interview took place in the administrative offices of the Santa Fe Opera, whose facilitation of this interview is deeply appreciated. Following the conversation, the Santa Fe Opera announced that it has commissioned its 15th world premiere for its 2017 season, Mason Bates’ opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs”   [Below: Santa Fe Opera General Director … Read more

Review: Hurt, Bauer, Angeletti, Barton, Thomas in “Nabucco” – Seattle Opera, August 9, 2015

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The Seattle Opera has an established tradition of mounting opera productions in which the key principal roles are double cast. This permits the opera company to maximize the number of performances on Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees, when demand for tickets is at its strongest. For Verdi’s “Nabucco”, the Seattle Opera selected pairs of artists, … Read more

Review: Mary Elizabeth Williams’ Beautifully Sung Abigaille, Deep Casting Enrich New “Nabucco” – Seattle Opera, August 8, 2015

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Until this evening, Seattle Opera had never performed Verdi’s first great success, “Nabucco”. It was mounted in an innovative new production that highlighted the opera’s musical wonders – vocal, choral and orchestral – while presenting the famously implausible plot in a reasonably effective way. Mary Elizabeth Williams’ Abigaille No company should present “Nabucco” without singers adept in the … Read more

World Premiere Review: All-Star Cast and Crew, Ardent Audience Ovation for Higdon’s “Cold Mountain” – Santa Fe Opera, August 1, 2015

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Charles Frazier’s Pulitzer Prize award-winning novel Cold Mountain is focused on two persons, Confederate soldier W. P. Inman and his Charleston-born sweetheart, Ada Monroe, whose lives have been transformed completely by the devastation that the Civil War wrought upon the South. Composer Jennifer Higdon teamed with librettist Gene Scheer to create an opera out of Frazier’s sprawling work. … Read more

Review: Penda, McKinny, Brubaker, Jagde Impress in Daniel Slater’s Psychiatrically Searing “Salome” – Santa Fe Opera, July 31, 2015

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The Santa Fe Opera presented Richard Strauss’ “Salome” in an intense production by English director Daniel Slater. Alex Penda’s Salome [Photo: Alex Penda as Salome; edited image, based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.] The performance starred Bulgarian soprano Alex Penda. Her chilling portrayal plumbed the tenets of Freud’s revolutionary theories of … Read more

Review: “La Finta Giardiniera”: Madcap Mozart at the Santa Fe Opera – July 29, 2015

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Santa Fe Opera’s new production of “La Finta Giardiniera” proved to be an effectively mounted and beautifully sung presentation of the 18-year old Mozart’s foray into romantic comic opera. Each aria is a masterpiece. Santa Fe Opera audiences were treated to a performance in which the seven principals were carefully chosen to excel in an opera of which the company intends … Read more

A Second Look Review: Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Glimmerglass Festival – July 21, 2015

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My final mainstage experience at the 2015 Glimmerglass Festival was attending a second performance of Anne Bogart’s staging of Verdi’s “Macbeth” [See my first review at Review: Gripping Portraits by Eric Owens, Melody Moore in Anne Bogart’s Staging of Verdi’s “Macbeth” – Glimmerglass Festival, July 17, 2015]. Even with so much to admire in the three … Read more

A Conversation with John Pascoe, Part 8: Memorializing “Radically Authentic” Conductor and Baroque Music Scholar Alan Curtis

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This post continues a series of conversations that I have had with British opera director John Pascoe.  Wm: Last week, your long-time colleague, Maestro Alan Curtis,  so important to the movement to prepare scholarly and performable editions of baroque opera works, died in Florence. I learned of his death from you as I was on my way … Read more