William Burnett

Although I recently posted a review of San Francisco Opera’s June 14th performance of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold”, circumstances caused me to attend a second performance of this first opera in Francesca Zambello’s production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. My first review outlined my views on what I regarded as an extraordinarily high standard of singing. In the latter part of … Read more

San Francisco Opera’s mounting of the first opera in Francesca Zambello’s “American Ring” proved to be an extraordinary experience for admirers of the Wagnerian tetralogy.  It brought together all of the essential elements to meet the requirements of a world class Wagnerian performance.  The first element, and San Francisco Opera’s most striking achievement, is an almost uniformly … Read more

We are now well into the “Puccini Year” whose high point will be the observance of the 150th anniversary of Puccini’s birth on the 22nd of December. A consequence of the celebrations is a new appreciation for the hitherto less popular works of the Tuscan master. For example, there has been sufficient interest in his “La … Read more

Opera Pacific’s Musical Director and Conductor, John DeMain, is associated with major performances of the two most popular American operas – Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Floyd’s “Susannah”. DeMain was the principal conductor of “Porgy” in both its Houston Grand Opera production from 1976 (seen in San Francisco in three different decades, as well as at … Read more

In 2004, San Diego Opera mounted a new production of Bizet’s “Les Pecheurs de Perles” (The Pearl Fishers), that since has traveled to Detroit (Michigan Opera Theatre, which co-owns the production), San Francisco, New York City Opera and Miami (Florida Grand Opera).  It returned to the San Diego Civic Theatre, this May, with Zandra Rhodes’ … Read more

Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” (performed in the United States as “The Capulets and the Montagues”) has accumulated some unwelcome baggage over the years, which seems to obligate a partisan of the opera to an introductory paragraph or two in its defense.  First, there is confusion with the English Bard’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, with which … Read more

San Diego Opera once again dispelled the myth that insufficient numbers of opera singers are available to cast the mature works of Giuseppe Verdi, by assembling a cast for “Aida” worthy of any opera house.  With so many of the familiar late 20th century Verdian opera performers no longing performing (at least not the Verdi roles), the … Read more

January in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County In the previous part of this celebration of Southern California’s 2007-08 Operatic Winter Wonderland, I lauded the Los Angeles Opera’s “Don Giovanni”.  This was followed by the “California Does Wagner” festivities in January, with the Los Angeles Opera performing “Tristan und Isolde” and the San Diego … Read more

San Diego Opera, which began the evening of March 22nd with an imaginative new production of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” followed with a new production, starring Jose Cura and Elizabeth Futral, of, “I Pagliacci”, the only truly successful opera of Ruggero Leoncavallo. [Below: Canio (Jose Cura) shows possessive affection to Nedda (Elizabeth Futral); edited image based on a Ken Howard … Read more

San Diego Opera, which achieved successes earlier in its 2008 season with an elegant production of Wagner’s “Tannhauser”, followed by a an extraordinarily effective revival of Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” assembled the elements for yet another major undertaking – new productions and dramatic re-evaluations of the revered double bill of Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Ruggero … Read more

Note from William.  With this webpage, we will begin a series of articles on what we believe is a relatively unknown travel destination for excellent operatic productions – Southern California during the winter months. You have seen my reviews for recent blockbuster performances at Los Angeles Opera and San Diego Opera.  However, as Tom’s multi-part discussion of the … Read more

The San Diego Opera premiere of Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” will be considered a milestone in the performance history of this relatively unknown masterpiece of Italian opera. It was the California debut of Albanian singer Ermonela Jaho, already familiar to American audiences in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit. She is scheduled to alternate performances of Violetta in … Read more

In the past 12 months, two of California’s opera companies each presented new productions of  Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”. Each production was based on radical story line re-conceptualizations by controversial theatrical innovators Ian Judge (Los Angeles Opera) and Graham Vick (San Francisco Opera). To open its 2008 season, the San Diego Opera revealed a production that was … Read more

Conductor James Conlon led the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra in a passionate reading of Wagner’s masterwork, “Tristan und Isolde”. This was the third time that David Hockney’s colorful production (1987) of the great Romantic music drama was presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Los Angeles Opera’s home. It was also seen in October 2006 … Read more

In this four-part series I have identified several major changes in the direction of the San Francisco Opera, under the new leadership of David Gockley. The series has sought to put four operas, each of which I felt was presented in exemplary performances in Fall of 2007, into a wider perspective. The three previous parts … Read more

Previously, I have cited the San Francisco Opera production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”, conceived by Ron Daniels with sets by Michael Yeargan, as an extraordinary experience.  The production, utilizing modern techniques of stagecraft, set design and lighting technique, sets out to recreate the emotional impact that a performance of the David Belasco’s English language play had on Puccini. … Read more