William Burnett

For the Seattle Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” two pairs of artists sing the lead roles of Eugene Onegin and Tatyana, alternating performances. This review of the second performance supplements my remarks contained in Review: Seattle Opera’s Melodious “Eugene Onegin” led by John Moore and Marjukka Tepponen, January 11, 2020. Michael Adams’ Eugene Onegin … Read more

The Seattle Opera presented Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” in an attractive production by Tomer Zvulun. For the eight scheduled performances, the two principal roles, Onegin and Tatyana, alternate between two pairs of artists, with the remaining roles to be performed by the same artists throughout the run. I attended both the first and second performances, for … Read more

Six years ago I reviewed the Los Angeles Opera’s first performance of Barrie Kosky’s production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” [Outrageously Inventive, Unceasingly Entertaining – Kosky/Andrade /Barritt’s Silent Movie “Magic Flute” Wows L. A. – Los Angeles Opera, November 23, 2013]. As before, the spoken dialogue is cut and the arias and recitativo accompagnato passages … Read more

Even though all of the season’s performances of “Manon Lescaut” have taken place, it was an unambiguously successful run of a deserving opera. It was a confirmation of the high quality performances one can expect from the San Francisco Opera. There is melodramatic power in a Puccini leitmotiv performed fortissimo by the San Francisco Opera … Read more

San Francisco Opera has enlisted a vocally and dramatially impressive cast for German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel”. The expanded 65-member San Francisco Opera Orchestra resounded elegantly in the War Memorial Opera House. This a “must-see” holiday experience, sung in an enchanting English translation. Sasha Cooke’s Hansel and Heidi Stober’s Gretel Texas mezzo-soprano Sasha … Read more

In the early 18th century the Abbe Prevost published a scandalous story of a privileged young woman who is torn by the dual desires for passionate love (with the relatively poor Chevalier des Grieux) and worldly riches (with the wealthy Geronte). Puccini’s opera, based on Prevost’s famous work, is a stark morality play, in which … Read more

Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of Handel’s “Saul”, first seen in England’s 2015 Glyndebourne Festival, was presented by the Houston Grand Opera. Kosky mounted a powerful psychological drama. Charles Jennens’ libretto for “Saul” – composed in the late 1730s – was concerned as much with contemporary religious controversies as the Biblical stories about the youthful David … Read more

The San Francisco Opera has unveiled the first part of a trilogy of new opera productions for the three Mozart operas of which Lorenzo da Ponte was librettist. The first of these productions, “The Marriage of Figaro” introduces two of the themes that underlie the three productions. The first of these themes is that all … Read more

“The Abduction from the Seraglio”, one of Mozart’s seven major operas, is the most problematic to stage. Composed for the “Enlightened Monarch” Austria’s Emperor Joseph II, the tale of European women kidnapped and sold into slavery to a Turkish pasha contains minefields for directors wishing not to offend 21st century sensibilities. Alison Moritz’ Production Director … Read more

Exactly a century after Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev finished his score for the fantasy opera “Love for Three Oranges”, Opera Philadelphia presented it in Alessandro Talevi’s production, first seen in Florence Italy’s Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Opera Philadelphia presented the opera in English, assembling an English-speaking cast, all but one of whom are American. Jonathan Johnson’s … Read more

Opera Philadelphia, mounting Handel’s opera “Semele”, assembled a superb cast of principals led by Amanda Forsythe, Daniela Mack and Alek Shrader. The principal singers were supported by a large chorus, a team of dancers and an orchestra able to do justice to Handel’s hauntingly beautiful baroque harmonies. Handel wrote technically difficult, richly melodic vocal lines … Read more

The Los Angeles Opera’s 2019-20 season opened with Barrie Kosky’s production of Puccini’s “La Boheme”, imported from Berlin’s Komische Oper. Saimir Pirgu’s Rodolfo and Marina Costa-Jackson’s Mimi The opening night performance was the occasion of the return of Albanian lyric tenor Saimir Pirgu to the Los Angeles Opera, the site of his 2008 American operatic … Read more

Britten’s “Billy Budd” returned to the San Francisco Opera repertory after a 15 year absence., utilizing Michael Grandage’s spectacular production. The production represents the three-levels of the 18th century warship HMS Indomitable. Strong performances in the opera’s three principal roles and a taut musical performance by the cast, San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus under … Read more

San Francisco Opera opened its 97th season with Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette”. The evening was a resounding success. The principal artists, supporting cast, orchestra and chorus superbly performed in Jean-Louis Grinda’s tautly-directed production, Pene Pati’s Roméo New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, of Samoan birth and heritage, was originally scheduled for the last of the seven … Read more

California composer Jake Heggie, in collaboration with librettist Gene Scheer, has composed another richly melodic, major new work. The new opera,”If I Were You” was created for the impressive voices and imposing talents of the young artists of the Merola Opera Program, that is associated with the San Francisco Opera. A dramatically satisfying, through-composed opera, … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera has announced three consecutive years of opera world premieres for the company’s 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. 2019’s new opera, Poul Ruders’ “The Thirteenth Child”, is based on the Brother Grimm’s Fairy Tale “The Twelve Brothers”. David Leigh’s King Hjarne, Tamara Mumford’s Gertrude and Bradley Garvin’s Drokan In “The Thirteenth Child” … Read more

A stellar sextet of operatic artists presented a beautifully sung performance of Mozart’s “relationship” opera “Cosi fan Tutte”. Deconstructing “Cosi fan Tutte” New York stage director R.B. Schlather conceived a production intended to bypass what many regard as the inherent absurdities of Lorenzo da Ponte’s libretto to delve deep into the subconscious motivations of the … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera imported David Alden’s English National Opera production for the company’s first ever performances of Janacek’s “Jenufa”. Laura Wilde’s Jenufa South Dakota soprano Laura Wilde brought a voice of power and dramatic intensity to the opera’s title role, successfully negotiating the range of emotions expressed by the ill-fated character. Wilde clearly has … Read more

The Central City Opera, located in a historic Colorado mining town whose elevation is 8,500 feet, performs in a 550 seat opera house. [ Below: the Central City Opera House; edited iimage of a publicity photograph, courtesy of the Central City Opera.] In the 21st century, the Central City Opera began a long-term relationship with … Read more

Since Francesca Zambello assumed the directorship of New York’s Glimmerglass Festival in 2011, an American musical, performed by operatic voices has been one of each festival’s four MainStage offerings. This year, Zambello’s well-traveled “Show Boat” production, arrived at the Glimmerglass Festival to take its place as 2019’s musical. “Show Boat” (1927) is an historically important … Read more

Francesca Zambello, General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, brought her imaginative production of “La Traviata” to the Festival’s Alice Busch Theater. Zambello conceives the party at the opera’s beginning as Violetta reliving of her first meeting with Alfredo while she, on her death bed, awaits Alfredo’s promised arrival. [Below: the final quintet from Verdi’s “La … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival presented the world premiere of an important new opera, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson, by Broadway musical composer Jeanine Tesori (who won a 2015 Tony for Fun Home), . The opera is concerned with the impact on a Harlem policeman, his wife and their community when the policeman’s son is shot … Read more