Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
William Burnett 
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the seventh of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. In 1961, the San Francisco Opera premiered director Dino Yannopoulos’ production of … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the sixth of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. The next offering on my Saturday night San Francisco Opera subscription was … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the fifth of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. The San Francisco Opera’s 1966 season had mounted five opera productions in less … Read more
Historical Performances: Kirsten, Campora, Wolansky, Ghiuselev in San Francisco Opera’s Last 20th Century Performance of Montemezzi’s “L’Amore dei Tre Re” – October 15, 1966 Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the … Read more
Most of the following interview was conducted on the Santa Fe Opera “Ranch” with the much-appreciated facilitation of the Santa Fe Opera: Wm: I ask my interviewees their earliest memories of music, and of opera. What were yours? AM: My earliest memories of music come from piano and from dance. As an only child, my parents … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the third of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. A week after the Saturday night subscription series performance of RIchard Strauss’ “Elektra”, … Read more
The following interview was conducted with American director Francisco Negrin, whose productions of operas by Handel, Gluck and Massenet I reviewed for this website, but whose scheduled Fall 2020 productions of Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore” at the Los Angeles Opera was postponed for a year and of Massenet’s “Werther” at the Houston Grand Opera was canceled, … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the second of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. My second performance of the San Francisco Opera’s Fall 1966 season was … Read more
This is the second of two discussions of DVDs of productions of classic American musicals performed by the San Francisco Opera, following DVD Review: Francesca Zambello, the American Musical and the San Francisco Opera, Part I: “Show Boat”. Each DVD is of a production conceived and staged by director Francesca Zambello.\ David Gockley, San Francisco Opera’s … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the first of fourteen such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Fall season. San Francisco Opera’s 1966 main season opened with the company’s first ever performances … Read more
[Below: Canadian baritone Elliot Madore; resized image of a Cryil Mater photograph.] Wm: I like to know the earliest memories that my interview subjects have of music? What are yours? EM: My love of music was fostered at a young age singing with my school choir. I vividly recall being utterly taken and transfixed by … Read more
The following interview with New York countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen was conducted with the facilitation of the Houston Grand Opera. [Below: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen; publicity photograph by Fay Fox.] Wm: Aryeh, often ask my interview subjects about the earliest memories that they had of music. What were yours? ANC: I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, … Read more
This is the ninth installment in a series of conversations between myself and British opera director John Pascoe, regarding operas for which he created the whole production, or a production’s sets or costumes. This conversation follows: A Conversation with John Pascoe, Part 8: Memorializing “Radically Authentic” Conductor and Baroque Music Scholar Alan Curtis. Wm: John, … Read more
The following conversation is the follow-up to an in-person interview conducted in 2016 in Santa Fe. See: Opera as Drama: An Interview with Director Stephen Lawless. Wm: Stephen, since our interview in Santa Fe, I’ve reviewed your new productions of Weber and Mozart operas at Virginia Opera in Norfolk and at the San Diego Opera, … Read more
Note from William: The following conversation took place between myself and Director Paul Curran, following up on our previous interview [Telling the Story: An Interview with Director Paul Curran]. [Below: Director Paul Curran; edited image, based on a Dietmar Schulz photograph, courtesy of paulcurrandirector.com.] Wm: It’s been three years since my interview with you at … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the fifth of five such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Spring Opera Theater season. Less than two years after my first live performance … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the fourth of five such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Spring Opera Theater season. Douglas Moore’s biographical opera “Carry Nation” provided a pyschological portrait … Read more
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the third of five such observances of performances from the company’s 1966 Spring Opera Theater season. Mezzo-soprano Helen Vanni had opened the 1966 San Francisco Spring … Read more
Sarasota Opera’s 2020 winter season opened in February with a production of Puccini’s “La Boheme”, the quintessential Italian opera. I reviewed the ninth of 13 scheduled performances. Sarasota Opera’s “Boheme” was well-sung and admirably staged. Regrettably, one week after the performance, the fast-moving spread of the Covid-19 virus led the Sarasota Opera to cancel the … Read more
Sarasota Opera’s 2020 winter season included Donizetti’s 1832 operatic comedy, “The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore)”, presented in an attractive production with a strong cast.
The Sarasota Opera mounted an attractive and dramatically satisfying production of Charles Gounod’s melodious opera “Roméo et Juliette”, inspired by Shakespeare’s romantic play.
Sarasota Opera mounted Alfredo Catalani’s masterwork, “La Wally”, one of the core works created as part of the Italian verismo movement that began in the 1890s. Caitlin Crabill’s La Wally Like his Italian contemporaries Pietro Mascagni and Giacomo Puccini, Catalani was a disciple of the composer Richard Wagner, whose influence can be discerned in the … Read more
I am scheduled to travel to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston to review the following operas by Ludwig von Beethoven and Richard Wagner between September 2020 and January , 2021. [The entire Fall, 2020 San Francisco Opera season was canceled due to the Covid19 pandemic.] Fidelio (Beethoven), San Francisco Opera, September 12, 15, … Read more
The Los Angeles Opera mounted Donizetti’s operatic masterpiece “Roberto Devereux” about the aging Queen Elizabeth I’s romantic entanglement with the dangerously impetuous Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux. A few days before the first performance, Canary Islands soprano Davinia Rodriguez, who was to sing the role of Elizabeth I, became ill and withdrew from the performance … Read more
Update: The Lyric Opera announced on March 12, 2020 that all scheduled performances of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs” were canceled, in response the declaration of a national emergency related to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Aptil 2020, the Lyric Opera of Chicago debuts the complete production of Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelung”, with sets … Read more