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.

World Premiere Run Review: Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra” – San Francisco Opera, September 18, 2022

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John Adams’ latest opera, whose plot is derived from the Shakesperean tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, received its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera. A run of six additional performances was scheduled to follow the world premiere. This review is of the third of the seven total performances. There is much to admire in San … Read more

In Quest of San Francisco Opera Centennial Season Operatic Performances, October 2022 through July, 2023

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Each of the following operas is scheduled for the San Francisco Opera’s 2022-23 centennial season. Dialogues of the Carmelites (Poulenc and Lavery) October 15, 18, 21, 26 and 30, 2022 Olivier Py’s production, co-produced by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Bruxelles, is imported to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the … Read more

Review: A Hilarious “Barbiere di Siviglia” from Hopkins, Swanson, Fons and Burdette – Santa Fe Opera, August 6, 2022

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The Santa Fe Opera revived Rossini’s most popular opera, “The Barber of Seville”, after its 17-year absence from the company, in a brilliant new production by Australian-born British director Stephen Barlow. First performed in 2016 at Britain’s Grange Festival in Hampshire (near Winchester), the production mixes 18th century fashions with abundant references to studiously anachronisitic … Read more