Reviews

The San Francisco Opera mounted a magnificently sung performance of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”, with an augmented 95-member San Francisco Opera Orchestra, led by Hungarian Maestro Henrik Nánási. British Director Keith Warner’s accessible and eye-catching production – a San Francisco Opera co-production with the Prague National Opera (where it debuted last year) – set the opera … Read more

San Francisco Opera has presented David Hockney’s enchanting realization of Puccini’s “Turandot” for five of its seasons since it debuted at the War Memorial Opera House, under Hockney’s direct supervision, in 1993. The vibrant colors of Hockney’s sets and of Ian Falconer’s exotic costumes exude splendor. A co-production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera mounted a revised edition of New York director David Alden’s celebrated Opéra National de Bordeaux production of Handel’s “Alcina”, with three members of the Bordeaux cast – Elza van den Heever, Anna Christy and Alek Shrader – repeating their roles in Santa Fe. It was the first time Handel’s opera about the … Read more

Santa Fe Opera mounted Rimsky-Korsakov’s exotic opera “The Golden Cockerel [Le Coq d’Or]” British Director Paul Curran partnered with Irish Set and Costume Designer Gary McCann and New York Projections Designer Driscoll Otto to create an eye-pleasing, humor-filled production, but one whose dark symbolism foretells the destruction of an autocratic monarchy. Venera Gimadieva’s Queen of … Read more

Composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell were commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera to write an opera about Apple, Inc’s  Steve Jobs. This was Bates’ first opera. [For my review of an opera with a Campbell libretto, see Pictures at an Exhibition: John Musto’s Opera “Later the Same Evening” Brings Edward Hopper’s Art to Life: … Read more

The 2017 Glimmerglass Festival has taken on a challenging project, breathing life into a 181-year old Donizetti opera that had virtually disappeared from performance in Europe and had never been performed in the United States. A young cast proves their skills in singing Donizetti’s well-crafted score. Francesca Zambello, the Festival’s artistic and general director, demonstrates … Read more

Under the leadership of Conductor Nicole Paiement, an elegantly performed, beautifully sung performance of Handel’s late career masterpiece, “Xerxes” was presented by seven young Glimmerglass Festival artists. Handel’s charming work provided opportunities for the seven young American artists to demonstrate their mastery of Handel’s story-telling recitative, soulful legato passages and florid vocal ornamentation in Handel’s succession … Read more

The 2017 Glimmerglass Festival has mounted a rousing Molly Smith production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” with a highly entertaining cast. It represents the seventh consecutive year that the Glimmerglass Festival has celebrated the American musical, fulfilling the vision of the festival’s artistic and general director, Francesca Zambello. Jarrett Ott’s Curly In his Glimmerglass Festival … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival presented a brilliantly sung production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”. The musical performance was presided over by the eminent Maestro John DeMain, a leading authority on the American musical and American opera. Director Francesca Zambello, Glimmerglass Festival’s Artistic and General Director, a tireless advocate for the work, who created its most significant … Read more

Wisconsin coloratura soprano Brenda Rae and composer Gaetano Donizetti were two of the winners in Santa Fe Opera’s production of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”. The opera was impressively led by Maestro Corrado Rovaris, who himself is from Donizetti’s home town of Bergamo, Italy. Brenda Rae’s Lucia di Lammermoor Lucia di Lammermoor is an operatic role … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera opened its 2017 season with a new production of Johann Strauss’ operetta “Die Fledermaus”. The iconic Viennese operetta returned to the Santa Fe Opera after a 25 year absence in a well-sung, at times frantic new production directed by Ned Canty. Kurt Streit’s Gabriel and Devon Guthrie’s Rosalinda In the leading role … Read more

As the third offering of  its 2017 summer season, the San Francisco Opera mounted English director John Caird’s imaginative production of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. First performed in San Francisco in 2014, the production was revived with an attractive young cast, whose realization of Caird’s detailed staging, proved once again that opera singers can be good actors. [Below: Act II (French … Read more

Ildebrando d’Arcangelo was Giovanni and  Erwin Schrott was Leporello in a revised production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the San Francisco Opera. They were joined by a world-class cast under the direction of French Maestro Marc Minkowski. Ildebrando d’Arcangelo’s “Don Giovanni” Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, in his San Francisco Opera debut, was an energetic and stylish Giovanni. D’Arcangelo sang Giovanni’s … Read more

San Francisco Opera began its summer season with a beautifully sung performance of Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, starring Hawai’ian baritone Quinn Kelsey in the opera’s title role. Quinn Kelsey’s Rigoletto Kelsey’s Rigoletto perfomance demonstrated a mastery of both the vocal and dramatic requirements of one of the great (if not the greatest) baritone roles of the Italian repertory. Much of the role … Read more

The Korea National Opera revived its 2016 hit production of Vivaldi’s rarely performed early opera, “Orlando Finto Pazzo [Orlando Fakes Insanity]” at Seoul’s LG Arts Theater. The cast consisted of seven principal singers with mastery of Vivaldi’s coloratura fireworks, a brilliantly conceived staging by Italian wunderkind director Fabio Ceresa, attractive sets by South Korean designer Pilyoung Oh and masterful conducting by … Read more

Houston Grand Opera presented “Götterdämmerung” with an illustrious cast, led by Christine Goerke’s Brünnhilde and Simon O’Neill’s Siegmund, magnificently conducted by Houston Grand Opera’s artistic director, Maestro Patrick Summers.  It completed Houston Grand Opera [HGO]’s four-season presentation of the Fura dels Baus production of the “Ring of the Nibelungs”. Christine Goerke’s Brünnhilde New York dramatic soprano Christine Goerke has achieved international superstar … Read more

The Dallas Opera presented a theatrically valid production of Bellini’s “Norma”, passionately conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume. Elza van den Heever’s Norma South African soprano Elza van den Heever returned to Dallas, where she had previously excelled in Mozart, as an international star of the highest rank. Van den Heever brought her star qualities to the role of the … Read more

Los Angeles Opera audiences witnessed an extraordinary performance of Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann”, in which Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo was the most lustrous of several on-stage stars, while an all-star Hoffmann of the preceding generation, Plácido Domingo, presided as conductor. [Below: the poet Hoffmann (Vittorio Grigolo, left) is revived by his muse (Kate Lindsey, right); edited image, … Read more

The Sarasota Opera, as part of its 2017 four production Winter Opera Festival, has created a new production of Montemezzi’s lyrical opera “L’Amore dei Tre Re (The Love of Three Kings)”. The  opera was a staple of the repertory of European and North American opera houses in the 50 years after its 1913 premiere. Yet, despite its … Read more

The Seattle Opera’s new production of Janacek’s “Katya Kabanova” premiered the evening of February 25 [Review: Seattle Opera Psychodrama – Melody Moore’s Magnificent Katya Kabanova, February 25, 2017]. Janacek’s lush melodic score was performed in a theatrically attractive production. The production’s second performance was presented the next afternoon with two major cast changes. (My previous review covers the performances of … Read more

Australian director Patrick Nolan has created a revelatory new production of Janacek’s “Katya Kabanova” – an opera about the toxic relationship between a widow and her daughter-in-law that ends in the latter’s suicide. [Below: Melody Moore as Katya in Patrick Nolan’s Seattle Opera production of Janacek’s “Katya Kabanova”; edited image, based on a Philip Newton photograph, … Read more

The San Diego Opera opened a four performance run of “Falstaff”, Verdi’s operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. One of opera’s great masterpieces, “Falstaff” abounds in complex vocal ensembles, that require ten principal singers of great skill. Roberto de Candia’s Falstaff The production’s strong cast was led by the Falstaff of Italian baritone Roberto de Candia. Falstaff, deluding himself that … Read more

The Virginia Opera has taken on the project of introducing contemporary American audiences to one of the most influential masterpieces of opera, Carl Maria von Weber’s “Der Freischütz”. The opera’s infectious melodies enrich a succession of serene arias and engaging ensembles, yet it is a work that has rarely been performed in the Western Hemisphere. The … Read more

California composer Jake Heggie’s new opera “It’s a Wonderful Life” was launched at the Houston Grand Opera. Heggie collaborated with librettist Gene Scheer, with whom he created “Moby Dick”, his most ambitious opera to date [See World Premiere: Heggie’s Theatrically Brilliant, Melodic “Moby Dick” at Dallas Opera – April 30, 2010], Heggie and Scheer incorporated ideas from both the 1943 Philip van Doren Stern … Read more

The Washington National Opera mounted Donizetti’s witty “La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment)”.  Staged by Robert Longbottom, with sets by James Noone and costumes by Zack Brown, the production married the talents of members of Broadway musical theater’s elite with the comic virtuosity of American opera stars. Lisette Oropesa’s Marie The title role … Read more