William Burnett

The New Orleans Opera, performing in the spacious Mahalia Jackson Theater, presented Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera”, utilizing G. Alan Ruznak’s sets that place the opera in mid-19th century New Orleans. The performance (the first of two) was a vehicle for native son Paul Groves’ role debut in the lead tenor part of Riccardo. Thoughts on … Read more

In 1868, the hottest ticket in Europe was the premiere of Charles Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette”, at Paris’ Theatre Lyrique on the Seine’s East Bank (just a few hundred feet West from where the present Theatre du Chatelet is located). It was one of the most successful opening nights of any opera in history, with … Read more

Five years ago, Bizet’s “Carmen” was presented by San Francisco Opera, in the classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production (See my review at Halevy Triumphs in Ponnelle “Carmen” – S. F. December 3, 2006). Mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen, then an Adler Fellow, the highest level of the San Francisco Opera Young Artists’ programs, was the Mercedes, the comprimario mezzo … Read more

Since I am on record as proposing that Sir Nicholas Hytner’s physical production of Handel’s “Xerxes” for London’s English National Opera be included on a list of “world treasures”, no one should be surprised at my high regard for San Francisco Opera’s  presentation of Hytner’s conceptualization. I had reported last year on the production’s revival for … Read more

Teams of artists from Italy and the United States collaborated in creating the San Francisco Opera’s imaginative new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”. Team Italy consisted of Conductor Nicola Luisotti, Soprano Serena Farnocchia singing Donna Elvira (her San Francisco Opera debut season), and four artists for whom this production was their American debut – Basso … Read more

As the world moves closer to the bicentennial year of the birth of opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, performances of his great 1875 “Requiem” memorializing Italian poet and patriot Alessandro Manzoni, will be part of the Verdi observances of the world’s great centers of European culture. Manzoni’s most famous work I Promessi Sposi strongly influenced the … Read more

This is my third review of a performance of the John Pascoe production of Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” (see The Donizetti Revival, Second Stage: Radvanovsky, Grigolo in Pascoe’s WNO “Lucrezia Borgia” – November 17, 2008 and Fleming, Fabiano, Frizza Fuel San Francisco Opera’s Flaming, Fulfilling First “Lucrezia Borgia” – September 23, 2011) and the second one  during the … Read more

Already this year, I have posted two previous reviews of performances of the esteemed David Hockney production of Puccini’s “Turandot”. The production incorporates the Hockney’s set designs with the wondrous costumes designed by his one-time collaborator, Ian Falconer. The production provided the opening night festivities for the opening nights of  both the San Diego Opera’s … Read more

As the vehicle for her return to the San Francisco Opera after a decade’s absence, Renee Fleming introduced California audiences to an opera and production that she has championed, the John Pascoe production of Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia”. The Fleming-Pascoe collaboration on Donizetti’s influential masterpiece – a milestone in Italian opera – is clearly a labor … Read more

Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte”, not performed by the Los Angeles Opera in a decade and a half, has been mounted in an elegant production, created for the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival by Nicholas Hytner (since knighted as Sir Nicholas),  to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. [Below: Sir Nicholas Hytner, who conceived the production of “Cosi … Read more

For the opening night of Los Angeles Opera’s 25th season, the company chose a work it has never performed before – Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”.  The production used was the 2006 production that the late British stage director Steven Pimlott had devised for London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Helsinki’s Finnish National Opera. The Pimlott … Read more

The world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ new opera “Heart of a Soldier”, took place at the War Memorial Opera House, itself dedicated to the heroes of World War I, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. The opera, the third San Francisco Opera … Read more

A few physical opera productions should properly be considered works of museum-quality art. David Hockney’s production of Puccini’s “Turandot”, one of San Francisco Opera’s most spectacular productions, unquestionably belongs in such a category. (The production was co-produced with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where it premiered in 1992. The first performance in San Francisco in 1993 is … Read more

This is the eighth post that I’ve made from a visit to the 2011 Glimmerglass Festival, of events that occurred in a period of 52 hours duration – five operas, an interview with Glimmerglass Festival Artistic & General Manager Francesca Zambello, and a concert of American songs by lyric baritone Nathan Gunn, accompanied by his … Read more