Reviews

It has been 16 years since the Santa Fe Opera last presented Mozart’s final opera, “The Magic Flute”. This season the Santa Fe Opera premiered a new production of the opera, co-produced with England’s Garsington Opera Festival. A talented group of opera singers were recruited for the opera’s large cast. Josh Lovell’s Tamino [Photo: Josh … Read more

In October 2023, the Konzert und Theater St-Gallen, Switzerland, mounted the world premiere of American composer Tobias Picker’s “Lili Elbe”, whose librettist was Aryeh Lev Stollman. The world premiere starred transgender baritone Lucia Lucas as Lili and soprano Sylvia D’Eramo as Gerda Wegener. The premiere’s success led to the opera being awarded the “Best Opera … Read more

In its 2026 season, the Santa Fe Opera presented “Rodelinda”, the eighth opera by George Frideric Handel performed in the company’s history. Lucy Crowe’s Rodelinda [Photo: Rodelinda (Lucy Crowe, right) sits with her son, Flavio (Maximilian Moore left); edited image, based on a Bronwen Sharp photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.] British soprano Lucy Crowe … Read more

In 2021, the Santa Fe Opera presented Italian director Alessandro Talevi’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin”. Although the company had reopened following the darkened months of 2020 resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, many compromises had to be made to meet government-imposed limitations on the numbers of persons onstage at the same time. [Photo: … Read more

The late British director Lee Blakeley’s production of “Madama Butterfly” premiered at Santa Fe Opera in 2010. The company revived his production in 2018 and again this season. For both this season and the 2018 revival, Conductor John Fiore utilized the music and libretto of Puccini’s first revision of the score – the now seldom-heard … Read more

The San Francisco Opera revived Keith Warner’s visually absorbing production of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”, last seen here in 2017 [Review: San Francisco Opera’s “Elektra” – Goerke, Pieczonka in a Gory, Gloriously Sung Night at the Museum – September 9, 2017]. The opera is about a Greek family, consisting of a mother (Klytemnestra), her son Orest … Read more

This is the second review of two consecutive performances of Gioacchino Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. taking place at the San Francisco Opera in June, 2026. My first review is posted at: Review: Joshua Hopkins, Levy Sekgapane, Maria Kataeva Lead “Barber of Seville” Cast One – San Francisco Opera, June 5, 2026. That review includes … Read more

San Francisco Opera dedicated much of the month of June 2026 to a celebration of Gioacchino Rossini’s most famous opera, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” which it presented with two alternating casts of principal artists. I attended performances by each cast and am reporting on each separately. Joshua Hopkins’ Figaro [Photo: Figaro (Joshua Hopkins) stands besides … Read more

I attended the second of eight San Francisco Opera performances in the world premiere run of Huang Ruo’s and David Henry Hwang’s opera “The Monkey King”. With this new work, San Francisco Opera continued its production of operas based on great Chinese classical literature. Nine years ago the first of these extraordinary operas, Bright Sheng’s … Read more

I attended the third of five scheduled San Francisco Opera performances of Matthew Ozawa’s handsome new produciton of Wagner’s “Parsifal”. The opera was beautifully sung, the singers accompanied by the brilliant sound of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, led by the company’s Music Director, Maestra Eun Sun Kim. Brandon Jovanovich’s Parsifal [Photo: The naive, youthful … Read more

The San Francisco Opera’s music director, South Korean Maestra Eun Sun Kim, has committed to conducting one Verdi and one Wagner opera each San Francisco Opera season. This provides the company with an opportunity to give special attention to works of the two 19th century operatic geniuses. Verdi’s mid-19th century opera “Rigoletto” is the third … Read more

This review is of the third of four scheduled Santa Fe Opera performances of a Garsington Opera production of Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” (now owned by the Canadian Opera Company). Jacquelyn Stucker’s Governess [Photo: Jacquelyn Stucker as the Governess; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.] … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera revived Laurent Pelly’s 2021 production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”. This review is of the fourth of nine performances of Mozart’s opera scheduled for the 2025 season. Ailyn Pérez’ Countess Almaviva [Photo:: Ailyn Pérez as the Countess Almaviva; edited image of a Ken Howard photograph for the Metropolitan Opera, courtesy … Read more

The first performance of “Die “Walküre” in Santa Fe Opera history took place on July 26, 2025. This is a review of the second of five scheduled performances of Santa Fe Opera’s 2025 season. Tamara Wilson’s Brünnhilde [Photo: Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde; edited image, based on a Curtis Brown photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe … Read more

The opening performance of the Santa Fe Opera’s 2025 season was a James Robinson’s co-production (with Seattle Opera, of which Robinson is General and Artistic Director) of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. This performance review is of the fifth of ten scheduled performances. Sylvia d’Eramo’s Mimi [Photo: Sylvia d’Eramo as Mimi; edited image, based on a Curtis … Read more

This review continues my discussion of the San Francisco Opera’s 2025 revival of John Caird’s production of Puccini’s “La Boheme” posted at Review: A Superbly Performed “Boheme”, Starring Pene Pati, Karen Chia-Ling Ho, Andrea Carroll and Lucas Meachem – San Francisco Opera, June 15, 2025.. This review discusses the performances of three alternate cast members … Read more

The last production of San Francisco Opera’s 2024-25 season to open was Mozart’s “Idomeneo” The earliest of Mozart’s seven most important operas, it dates from 1781 when Mozart was not quite 25 years old. Matthew Polenzani’s Idomeneo The opera takes place in the aftermath of the Trojan War on the Island of Crete. The Kingdom … Read more

For the Spring 2025 weeks of its 2024-25 season, the San Francisco Opera scheduled nine performances of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. For six of those performances the lead roles of Mimi, Rodolfo, Musetta and Marcello were to be sung by four artists designated as the “first cast”. Four other artists were scheduled to alternate those four … Read more

The opera “Carmen” is the world’s most popular French opera. Tchaikovsky called it “the perfect opera”. For San Francisco Opera, the eight performances it scheduled in the 3000+ seat War Memorial Opera House have been sold out for virtually every performance. The San Francisco Opera’s “Carmen” run, using New York director Francesca Zambello’s well-traveled production, … Read more

In an unprecedented evening in San Francisco Opera history, instead of an operatic performance, the San Francisco Opera scheduled a performance of Ludwig von Beethoven’s Symphony Number Nine. The sold-out performance celebrated the 200th anniversary year of the Ninth Symphony’s first performance in May, 1824. “The Ninth” is an epochal contribution to the format of … Read more

I was present at the third of five performances of San Francisco Opera’s presentation of Paul Curran’s production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”. The production, created in 2012 for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, incorporated some minor modifications for its presentation in San Francisco. The opera was presented without cuts. Simon O’Neill’s Tristan and … Read more

In a three and a half month period in mid-2024, the San Francisco Opera presented two contemporary operas from two Nordic countries – Finland and Denmark. One performance was the late composer Kiaja Saariaho’s 2019 opera “Innocence [American Premiere Review: Saariaho’s and Oksanen’s “Innocence”- a Milestone in the Dramatic Possibilities of Operatic Performance – San … Read more

This performance review discusses the third of seven performances of San Francisco Opera’s mounting of Giuseppe Verdi’s middle-period opera of 1859, “Un Ballo in Maschera”. The opera, which opened the company’s 2024-25 season, its 102nd, was staged by Italian director Leo Muscato, in an insightful production. Director Leo Muscato’s Staging of Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera” … Read more