Reviews

In Fall 2005, in the last year of the controversial San Francisco Opera general directorship of Pamela Rosenberg, a 43 year old Italian conductor, Nicola Luisotti, made his debut at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. It had been only three year’s prior that Luisotti’s international debut had taken place, at Germany’s Stuttgart Opera (Rosenberg’s … Read more

Having reported on the premiere of the Jun Kaneko production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” [see Perfect Game: Gunn, Shagimuratova Shine in New Kaneko-Designed “Magic Flute” – June 13, 2012], I attended the fifth of the nine scheduled performances. Each of the observations made in my first review were reconfirmed by the later performance. The cast, … Read more

South African soprano Amanda Echalaz, who has had a string of recent triumphs in the Italian dramatic soprano repertory in Great Britain, led a young cast in a new Stephen Barlow production of Puccini’s “Tosca” for opening night of 2012’s Santa Fe Opera Summer Festival. The evening was the occasion for a rousing role debut … Read more

The Further Thoughts of William on Michael Cavanagh’s production of “Nixon in China” Having reported on the San Francisco Opera premiere of Adams’ quarter-century old opera “Nixon in China” that occurred nine days earlier [see 25 Years Old, “Nixon in China” Arrives at San Francisco Opera – June 8, 2012], I attended the third performance in … Read more

The Thoughts of Tom Just 14 months after Nixon was in China, I was in China, but somehow neither Mao Tse Tung nor anyone else in China danced for me!! But, like Nixon and his wife Pat, ultimately I very much wanted and got to see The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Great Wall, and … Read more

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San Francisco Opera’s current General Director, David Gockley, who has been a champion of integrating new works into a repertory that balances operatic tradition with innovation, has long been associated with Adams’ “Nixon in China”. In fact, the premiere of this work occurred in 1987 at Houston Grand Opera, under Gockley’s leadership, in the season … Read more

On my most recent previous visit (2010) to the Kennedy Center for a Washington National Opera performance, I witnessed the revival of a Thaddeus Strassberger production of Thomas’ “Hamlet”, borrowed from another company and conducted by Placido Domingo. In that performance, South Korean baritone Leo An sang a comprimario role [see my review at  Michael … Read more

Two Italian artists – lyric tenor Francesco Meli and mezzo-soprano Sonia Ganassi – are respectively Werther and Charlotte in their Washington National Opera debut roles. The production of Massenet’s “Werther” in which they appeared was originally created for Opera Australia (1989) and is presently owned by Opera de Montreal with new costumes by Barila. “Werther” … Read more

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“Orphée et Eurydice”, the augmented French version of Gluck’s “Orfeo”, redesigned for Marie Antoinette’s Paris, has much to offer a 21st century audience, particularly the abundance of melody. It also is a practical offering for budget-challenged opera companies. Layna Chianakas’ Orphée and Marnie Breckenridge’s Eurydice Opera Santa Barbara was able to  mount the production, which requires … Read more

Houston Grand Opera, earlier this month premiered Verdi’s “Don Carlos”, based on German dramatist Friedrich Schiller’s late 18th century play about interpersonal conflicts within the Spanish royal family during the period of the 16th century Catholic Inquisition. The opera company’s next offering was Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda”  an opera from three decades earlier, itself based on … Read more

Only a few years ago, one could expect to see a marked difference in the quality of singing and production values between regional operas houses and the  big “international” companies, but the current abundance of excellent opera performers (combining first rate vocal ability with acting skills) and the investment of many regional opera companies in … Read more

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Torquato Tasso’s elegant poem Jerusalem Delivered ostensibly recounts historical events relating to the First Crusade at the turn of the 12th century, which attempted to forestall the Fall of the Byzantine  Empire and especially the fall of the holy city of Jerusalem to the Ottomon Turks. In some of the actual battles associated with this effort, … Read more

The Lyric Opera of Chicago, which owns Nicolas Joel’s classic 1983 production (created for Luciano Pavarotti) of Verdi’s “Aida” revived it for the first time in eight years for a “February” and a “March” cast. The latter was the occasion for the first Chicago performances by the Chinese soprano Hui He in the title role … Read more

Lyric Opera became the first stop of a new production of the venerable 1927 American musical “Show Boat”, whose music is by Jerome Kern and libretto by Roger Hammerstein. A co-production of four major American opera companies, the Show Boat sails next to Houston Grand Opera in January 2013, then Washington National Opera in May … Read more

One of the San Diego Opera’s most famous productions is David Gately’s much esteemed relocation of Donizetti’s great comic opera “Don Pasquale”,  into a tongue-in-cheek potrayal of the mid-19th century American West.  Pasquale is transformed into the owner of a hotel. Dr Malatesta dresses like Buffalo Bill. Ernesto is a Cowpoke who bathes at Miss … Read more

On Leap Day, 2012, Seattle Opera presented its second performance of Tenor William Burden’s extraordinary portrayal of Gluck’s “Orphée et Eurydice”. The augmented French version of the opera, created for the Paris of Gluck’s close friend and pupil, Marie Antoinette, is for a high tenor voice.  Thus, the pitch and sound of Orphée’s voice differs … Read more

Opera companies around the world have been preparing for the 2013 bicentennial celebrations of the births of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, the two mid-19th century giants of the operatic repertory. The year also marks the centennial of the birth of British composer Benjamin Britten. At least four of Britten’s 13 operas (“Billy Budd”, “Peter … Read more

San Diego Opera became the fourth of the five companies that sponsored the world premiere production of Jake Heggie’s “Moby Dick” to present it to their home town audiences. The opera’s actual world premiere took place in April, 2010 at the Dallas Opera. During the two intervening years the production traveled to Adelaide, Australia (August 2011) … Read more

The Los Angeles Opera’s first offering of calendar year 2012, the year before the bicentennial of Verdi’s birth, is Verdi’s masterpiece “Simon Boccanegra”. Placido Domingo, one of the greatest tenors in operatic history, sings the title role, which is written for the baritone voice. There is an inherent baritonal quality to the tenor voices that … Read more

A year ago, American soprano Lise Lindstrom opened San Diego Opera’s 2011 season in the title role of Puccini’s “Turandot”, at opera’s end evoking a vociferous, standing ovation. This year, Lindstrom opened San Diego Opera’s 2012 season in the title role of Richard Strauss’ “Salome”, at opera’s end evoking a vociferous standing ovation. Salome and … Read more

One year ago the Seattle Opera teamed Italian Conductor Carlo Montanaro with basso John Relyea in a new production of a relative rarity – Massenet’s “Don Quichotte” [See Masterful Massenet: John Relyea’s Don Quixote at Seattle Opera – February 26, 2011.] Montanaro has returned to Seattle as Relyea’s conductor as the young basso adds yet another … Read more