Quests and Anticipations

The Quests and Anticipations operas listed below each are of more than routine interest because of the rarity of performances, the excellence of the casts, the new productions being created, or some combination of all these factors. Faust (Gounod), Houston Grand Opera, October 28, 30(m), November 5, 8 and 11. 2016 The vintage Francesca Zambello production of … Read more

The following four operas are comedies that I am scheduled to review between now and Summer 2017:   The Thieving Magpie – La Gazza Ladra (Rossini) Glimmerglass Festival, July 16, 25(m), 29, August 7(m), 12, 16(m), 20 and 25, 2016 Rachele Gilmore is Ninetta and Michele Angelini is Giannetto in the Glimmerglass Festival production of … 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 San Francisco and Santa Fe.   Don Carlo (Verdi), San Francisco Opera, June 12(m), 15, 18, 21, 24 and 29, 2016. An illustrious cast has been … Read more

The most popular operas have been nicknamed the opera “warhorses”. They include the ABCD operas of “Aida”, “Boheme”, “Carmen” and “Don Giovanni”.  (There is currently no “E” opera in this list and little prospect that, say, Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” or Verdi’s “Ernani” will challenge the other four). As it turns out, I am scheduled to review live … Read more

Later this Spring, I begin another Self-Directed Opera Live Performance Tour (this trip with eight performances in 16 days). The last four performances are described below:   Carmen (Bizet), Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Germany, May 13, 17 and 20, 2016. The fifth stop on my Self-Directed Live Opera Performance Tour will be the famous Lina Wertmüller production of … Read more

Later this Spring, I begin another Self-Directed Opera Live Performance Tour (this trip with eight performances in 16 days). The first four of these are described below: Rigoletto (Verdi),  L’Opéra National de Paris, April 9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 27, 30, May 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 16, 20, 21, 24, 27 and … Read more

Over the next several months, I will reviewing two world premieres and two opera company productions of Broadway smash hits. Each of the four musical works has ties to centers of American cultural creativity – “Broadway” or “Hollywood”. Each of the works has promise to expand and enliven the standard operatic repertory.   Carousel (Rodgers and Hammerstein), Houston … Read more

During 2015-16 I will be reviewing American operas by Adamo, Barber, Floyd, Getty, Heggie, Little, Sondheim and Ward in California, Texas and New York State.   Moby Dick (Heggie), Los Angeles Opera, October 31, November 7, 15(m), 19, 22(m) and 28, 2015. Jay Hunter Morris is Captain Ahab and Morgan Smith is his first mate … Read more

“Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly” are two of the most performed operas in the United States. Below are four productions I am scheduled to review between the months of October 2015 and December 2016.    Tosca (Puccini), Houston Grand Opera, October 23, 24, 31, November 3, 6 and 14, 2015. British director John Caird created his imposing production of Puccini’s “Tosca” … Read more

There is much of interest for opera-goers in the 2015-16 seasons of the Houston Grand Opera and The Dallas Opera. Below are four productions I am scheduled to review between the months of October 2015 through March 2016. One is a world premiere, three are significant productions of major operas that tend to be mounted less often than they should … Read more

Following up on last year’s feature on unusual “double bills” of operas, this feature highlights selected operatic double bills  that I am scheduled to review that are to be performed by the Los Angeles and San Francisco  Opera companies.   This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from … Read more

Often, the early 19th century operas of Verdi are dismissed as merely vehicles to display the technical vocal skills of artists, with little attention to the operatic “plots”. However, modern directors, many with long experience with the theater, have found that the early operas of Verdi and his predecessors Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini have much to … Read more

Below is a list of performances of Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and “The Magic Flute” that I am scheduled to review: This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from April 2015 through February 2016: Tutino’s “Two Women (La Ciociara)” at the San Francisco Opera, Higdon’s “Cold Mountain” … Read more

Below is a list of world premieres of new operas, which I will be reviewing between June and December, 2015.    This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from April 2015 through February 2016: Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” at the Houston Grand Opera and the San Francisco Opera and … Read more

Below is a list of American musical works that have entered or are scheduled to enter the performance repertory of major opera companies, which I will be reviewing between March and September, 2015.  Although each work is quite different from operas of the traditional repertory, each work benefits from operatic voices and the orchestral and production resources of major … Read more

As noted in other postings in this “Quests and Anticipations” series, I prefer to segment the operas of the most famous early and mid-19th century Italian composers in a non-traditional way: (1) those of Rossini and Bellini, (2) those of Donizetti and early Verdi (i.e, those of the tw0 decades between Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena” and Verdi’s … Read more

Below is a list of performances of operas by German composer Richard Wagner and Austrian composer Richard Strauss that I am scheduled to attend and review between March and November 2015.   This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from February 2015 through March 2016: … Read more

The Los Angeles Opera’s current Figaro festival celebrates the most famous opera based on each of French dramatist Beaumarchais’ trilogy of revolutionary plays – Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”, Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” and John Corigliano’s “Ghosts of Versailles” (the latter that incorporates the plot of the final drama in the trilogy, “The Guilty Mother”). Although I am not … Read more

For those who might worry that fhe operatic companies of the future will  limit themselves to a “safe” nine-opera repertory, consisting of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni” and “Magic Flute”, Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”, Verdi’s “La Traviata”, Bizet’s “Carmen”, and Puccini’s “La Boheme”, “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly”, one can find exotic fare offered by American companies, … Read more

This feature highlights selected performances of operas in Chicago, Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles that I am scheduled to review.   This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from September, 2014 through Summer, 2015. The operas noted in the previous lists are Verdi’s “La Traviata” … Read more

This feature highlights selected performances of operas in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and Santa Fe that I am scheduled to review.   This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from September, 2014 through Summer, 2015. The operas noted in the previous lists are Verdi’s “La Traviata” … Read more

For the first time in the history of the San Francisco Opera, Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” is being presented as part of the Opera’s “main season”. [For the subsequent performance review, see: REVIEW: RACETTE, ACETO, JOVANOVICH IN BRILLIANT NEW PRODUCTION OF “SUSANNAH” – SAN FRANCISCO OPERA, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014.] Three of the four main characters will be … Read more

This feature highlights selected performances of operas at the 2014 Santa Fe Opera Summer Festival and in San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles that I am scheduled to review. : Doctor Sun Yat-Sen (Huang Ruo), Santa Fe Opera, July 26, 30, August 8 and 14, 2014. Santa Fe Opera mounts the American premiere of Huang Ruo’s … Read more

This feature highlights selected performances of operas at the 2014 Santa Fe Opera Summer Festival and in Los Angeles that I am scheduled to review. This list is supplementary to previous lists in this “Quests and Anticipations” series of selected operas being performed from July, 2014 through February, 2015. These are Bizet’s “Carmen” in Santa Fe and … Read more