William Burnett

The late composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 Spanish-language opera “Florencia en El Amazonas”, has been revived in a new co-production between the Washington National Opera (where the production debuted in September 2014), the Los Angeles Opera and the San Francisco Opera. The lushly-scored, romantically melodic work is a Latin American fantasy about three couples, two present on … Read more

The night after the first San Francisco Opera performance of its co-production of “La Boheme” with Houston Grand Opera and Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company [see Review: Michael Fabiano, Alexia Voulgaridou are Vocally Splendid in John Caird’s Cleverly Conceived “La Boheme” – San Francisco Opera, November 14, 2014], the opera was presented again with a cast in … Read more

Puccini’s “La Boheme” is a perennial candidate for the title of world’s most popular opera.  There are a couple of other contenders, bur none so peopled with likeable characters so in love with life, and so affected when one of them, Mimi, succumbs to a fatal illness.. The San Francisco Opera has a long record … Read more

San Francisco Opera, mixing old and new, continued a highly successful fall season by mounting its historic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production of Rossini’s “Cenerentola”. It proved to be another smash hit, resulting in standing ovations for the four principals and conductor Jesus Lopez-Cobos. First mounted in the 1969 season for Spanish mezzo Teresa Berganza, it is literally the oldest … Read more

The Houston Grand Opera, as the opening night of its 60th season, mounted Verdi’s “Otello” with Simon O’Neill in the title role, Ailyn Pérez as Desdemona and Marco Vratogna as Otello’s nemesis Iago. I attended the third of five scheduled performances. Simon O’Neill’s Otello [Photo: Simon O’Neill as Otello; edited image, based on a Lynn … Read more

Swedish director Göran Järvefelt’s 1988 production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” was revived by the Houston Grand Opera. Sporting a cast consisting of veteran operatic comedians Nuccia Focile as Despina and Alessandro Corbelli as Don Alfonso, it provides the vehicle for showing the talents of four young rising stars of opera. Rachel Willis-Sørensen is Fiordiligi, Melody … Read more

The venerable Lyric Opera opened its 2014 season with a new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, the opera that opened the first Lyric Opera season 60 years ago. The new production was created by Robert Falls, the Artistic Director of the even more venerable Goodman Theater, which is currently celebrating its 90th season. Although “Don Giovanni” is … Read more

One of Renée Fleming’s favorite roles is the Countess Madeline in Richard Strauss’ opera 1942 opera “Capriccio”. Lyric Opera mounted John Cox’ familiar production that time-shifts the opera from 1770s to the salon in a Parisian suburb of the 1920s (inspired by the Countess of Polignac, the famous patron of the arts). I last saw the Cox production of … Read more

For a revival of Sir David McVicar’s effective production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, the Lyric Opera of Chicago enlisted a stellar cast, led by South Korean tenor di forza Yonghoon Lee  in the lead role, Amber Wagner as his sweetheart Leonora, Stephanie Blythe as his mother Azucena, and Quinn Kelsey as his rival and unknown brother, the … Read more

Barrie Kosky’s production of Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” is the second half of a double bill of operas being performed by the Los Angeles Opera. A review of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas”, the first half of the double bill, can be found at Review: Barrie Kosky’s Spirited “Dido and Aeneas” Arrives at Los Angeles Opera – October 25, 2014.]   … Read more

Barrie Kosky’s production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” is the first half of a double bill of operas being performed by the Los Angeles Opera. A review of Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle”, the second half of the double bill, may be found at Béla Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” at Los Angeles Opera – October 25, 2014.   Director Barrie … Read more

 [Note from William: I attended both the first and fourth performances of the San Francisco Opera production of “Partenope”. The following remarks supplement those of the original review at Review: An Engaging Cast, Handel’s Seductive Music, and Christopher Alden’s Surreal Staging Enliven San Francisco Opera’s “Partenope” – San Francisco Opera, October 15, 2014.]   In my … Read more

Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian’s American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera  in the title role of Puccini’s “Tosca”. Performing a role she was singing for the first time, her gleaming soprano filled the War Memorial Opera House. Her second act showpiece Vissi d’arte received the great ovation that one expects from San Francisco audiences for a first rank … Read more

The San Francisco Opera was founded in 1923 but did not perform its first regular season opera composed by George Friderick Handel until 59 years later when Handel’s most performed operatic work, ‘Giulio Cesare”, was first mounted. In the 32 San Francisco Opera seasons that followed the 1982 “Cesare” eight different Handel operas have been performed. The eighth … Read more