Quests and Anticipations

Over the next year, I am scheduled to review four performances of three Italian operas that premiered between 1892 and 1896 by the composers Alfredo Catalani and Giacomo Puccini. Playwright Luigi Illica was librettist or co-librettist for each of the three operas. La Boheme (Puccini), Los Angeles Opera, September 14, 22, 25, 28, October 2 … Read more

During the next year and a half, I am scheduled to review performances of contemporary productions of four operas composed by the great baroque composer, George Frideric Handel. Orlando (Handel), San Francisco Opera, June 9(m), 15, 18, 21 and 27, 2019 Handel’s “Orlando”, based on Ariosto’s fanciful 16th century tale inspired by of the characters of the medieval epic “The Song of Roland” has been time-shifted … Read more

Over the next six months, I will be reviewing performances at the San Diego Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival and the Central City Opera, each of which represents a quite distinct style of musical works. Rigoletto (Verdi), San Diego Opera, February 2, 5, 8 and 10(m), 2019. The San Diego Opera presents the Michael Cavanagh production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, conducted by Maestro Steven … Read more

I am scheduled to review the following operas, which include two world premieres and the revival of a work on whose world premiere I reported previously. These operas are to be presented by the San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera or the Glimmerglass Festival between November 2018 and August 2019: It’s a Wonderful Life (Heggie), … Read more

I am scheduled to review the following operas, to be presented by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, the San Francisco Opera or the Santa Fe Opera between November 2018 and August 2019: Siegfried (Wagner), Lyric Opera of Chicago, November 3, 7, 11(m) and 16, 2018. Buckhard Fritz and Matthias Klink make … Read more

All four of the operas below are part of the core opera repertory, but are performed much less often than the most popular operas. Arabella (Richard Strauss), San Francisco Opera, October 16, 19, 24, 28(m) and November 3, 2018. Ellie Dehn is Arabella, Brian Mulligan is Mandryka, Daniel Johansson is Matteo and Heidi Stober is … Read more

Three of the world’s most popular operas were written by Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi (“La Traviata”) and Puccini (“La Boheme” and “Tosca”), all three of which I am scheduled to review over the next year. Tosca (Puccini), San Francisco Opera, October 3, 7(m), 11, 14(m), 17, 20, 23, 26 and 30, 2018. Robert Innes Hopkins … Read more

One of this website’s ongoing features is the identification of relationships between sets of operas that we are scheduled to review. Often the relationship is that the operas’ music is composed by the same person. The four listed below are all compositions of Mozart, all to be presented in productions created by respected directors. Idomeneo … Read more

The following is a list of the operas that will be presented at the Spoleto USA Festival 2018 (Charleston, South Carolina) or the Glimmerglass Festival (Cooperstown, New York) that I will be reviewing for operawarhorses.com in June and July, 2018. Tree of Codes (Lim), Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, South Carolina), May 26, 29, June 1, … Read more

The following is a list of the operas by Richard Wagner that comprise “Ring of the Nibelung”, whose production by director Francesca Zambello I will be reviewing for operawarhorses.com in June, 2018.   Das Rheingold (Wagner), San Francisco Opera, June 12, 18 and 26, 2018 Francesca Zambello has created evocative American-themed images for each of … Read more

The following is a list of operas by Gioacchino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti that I will be reviewing for operawarhorses.com between May and September, 2018.   Pia de’ Tolomei (Donizetti), Spoleto Festival, USA (Charleston South Carolina), May 27, 31, 3(m), 6 and 8, 2018. Italian director Andrea Cigni, who staged Minnesota Opera’s May 2018’s rewarding … Read more

Below are four opera/musical theater works in new productions that I am scheduled to review in Chicago, Houston and Santa Fe.   Faust (Gounod), Lyric Opera of Chicago, March 3, 9, 12, 15, 18(m) and 21, 2018. The Lyric Opera of Chicago unveils its new Kevin Newbury production of Gounod’s “Faust”. This will be the American … Read more

I will be reviewing – at the Sarasota Opera, Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Opera – four iconic operas written in the Italian “verismo” style exemplified by such composers as Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Leoncavallo and Cilea. Three of the operas are from the first four years of the 1890s that defined and popularized the … Read more

Over the next year, I will be attending performances in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Seattle of works by Giuseppe Verdi. Interestingly, Verdi operas are not represented in the 2018-19 repertories of the companies each of whose performances I regularly review. Don Carlo (Verdi), Washington National Opera, March 3, 5, 8, 14, 16 and 17, … Read more

In the first four months of 2018, I will be attending performances in Seattle, Sarasota, Dallas and Houston of works by two composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Vincenzo Bellini, neither of whom lived to age 36. In contrast to Mozart’s and Bellini’s brief lifespans, consider American composer Carlisle Floyd, whose first operatic success “Susannah” dates … Read more

I will be reporting on four operas by 19th century Parisian composers Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet and Jules Masssenet:   Manon (Massenet), San Francisco Opera, November 4, 7, 10, 16, 19(m) and 22, 2017. Ellie Dehn is Manon and Michael Fabiano is the Chevalier des Grieux in a Vincent Broussard staging of Massenet’s “Manon”, conducted … Read more

The following is a list of operas performed in German, that I am scheduled to review in San Francisco, Chicago, Sarasota and Santa Fe:   Elektra (Richard Strauss), San Francisco Opera, September 9, 13, 17(m), 19, 22 and 27, 2017.  British director Keith Warner’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”, whose sets by Boris Kudlicka,  is revived by … Read more

The following operatic masterpieces by Verdi and Puccini are being performed by the San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera and/or Houston Grand Opera between September and November, 2017: Turandot (Puccini), San Francisco Opera, September 8, 12, 15, 21, 24, November 18, 25, 28, December 3, 6 and 9, 2017. The San Francisco Opera offers two “Turandot” … Read more

The following operas by the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov and French composers Bizet, Saint-Saëns and Massenet all employ exotic harmonies to suggest Biblical Gaza, Byzantine Egypt, ancient Ceylon or an imaginary “Oriental” world:   The Golden Cockerel [Le Coq d’Or], Santa Fe Opera, July 15, 19, 28, August 3 and 9, 2017. British director Paul Curran creates … Read more

I am scheduled to review the following American musical works between now and December, 2017 – an opera and a classic Broadway musical from the first half of the 20th century and two new American operas: Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin), Glimmerglass Festival, July 7, 13, 18(m), 22(m), 27, 29(m), 31(m), August 5, 7(m), 13(m), 17, 19 and … Read more

The baroque revival by “mainstream” opera companies of early 18th century operas by the composers Vivaldi and Handel is a phenomenon that has grown in popularity since the 1970s. I will be reporting on a Vivaldi production at the Korea National Opera, and Handel productions at the Glimmerglass Festival, the Santa Fe Opera and the Houston Grand Opera.  … Read more

Early in 2017, I will be reporting on productions in San Diego and San Francisco of Italian operas by Mozart, Verdi and Puccini: Falstaff (Verdi), San Diego Opera, February 18, 21, 24 and 26(m), 2017. Italian baritone Roberto de Candia makes his San Diego Opera debut in the title role of Verdi’s “Falstaff”, in the famous production … Read more

The popularity of the operas of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, both of whom tragically died young, continue to increase, and the dramatic possibilities of their operas from the early 19th century continue to be explored. I will be reporting on productions at the Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, the Santa Fe Opera and the … Read more

In recent years, live performances of some important operas of the “standard repertory” have become rarer. I am scheduled to review four such operas, each with major international casts, in Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and Houston.   Berlioz, The Trojans (Les Troyens), Lyric Opera of Chicago, November 13(m), 17(m), 21(m), 26(m) and December 3(m), 2016 British director Tim Albery … Read more

The 18th century Chinese classic “The Dream of the Red Chamber” qualifies as one of the significant contributions to the literature of the human experience. That does not necessarily mean that one can extract a successful opera out of the sprawling epic. Chinese composer and co-librettist Bright Sheng and his California co-librettist David Henry Hwang have … Read more