Reviews

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

Chicago’s Lyric Opera mounted director Tim Albery’s absorbing “modern dress” production of Berlioz’ epic opera, “Les Troyens [The Trojans]” with a brilliant cast led (in alphabetical order of the artists’ surnames) by Christine Goerke (Cassandra), Susan Graham (Dido) and Brandon Jovanovich (Aeneas).  Notably, the major artists and almost the entire cast are American-trained singers. [Below: … Read more

The San Francisco Opera revived the Jun Kaneko production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” for Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian. [Below: Goro (Julius Ahn, front left, in silhouette) and Lieutenant Pinkerton (Vincenzo Costanzo, front, right in blue tunic) observe the bridal procession in Jun Kaneko’s production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, … Read more

The San Francisco Opera unveiled its new production of Verdi’s “Aida”, created by Director Francesca Zambello. The new production was the occasion for the role debuts of two respected artists, Michigan soprano Leah Crocetto and New York tenor Brian Jagde whose international careers were launched by the San Francisco Opera. [Below: the triumphal scene in the 2016 … Read more

The Dallas Opera imported veteran French director Jean-Claude Auvray’s production of Tchaikovsky’s most popular opera, “Eugene Onegin”. Auvray’s production was created for the Israeli Opera Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Although “Onegin” is usually presented as a straightforward story, the Auvray production is constructed of psychoanalytic symbols and surreal elements. Only the first part of the third act, set in the ballroom of a … Read more

The Houston Grand Opera, as its 2016-17 season opener, imported director’s Daniel Slater’s production of Donizetti’s romantic comedy “The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore)”. The production, whose sets were created by designer Robert Innes Hopkins for Britain’s Opera North, places the opera in the 1950s in a resort (the Hotel Adina) on Italy’s Amalfi Coast resort. … Read more

The Francesca Zambello production of Gounod’s “Faust” was created for the Houston Grand Opera (HGO) in 1985. Thirty years later, it has been revived with a stellar cast, whose performance was as theatrically arresting as it was vocally resplendent. [Below: the Earl Staley sets and costumes for the scene of parish church kermesse; edited image, based on a Lynn … Read more

For her long-awaited return to the War Memorial Opera House, German soprano Nadja Michael takes on the role of Emilia Marty, the mysterious lead character in Janacek’s “The Makropulos Case”. Effectively performed, the role of Emilia Marty can be a supreme achievement for a prima donna with a dramatic soprano voice and consummate acting skills. Michael’s performance was astonishing, projecting the emotions … Read more

Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale”, a timeless comic treatment of generational conflicts, returned to the War Memorial Opera House stage after a generation’s absence. For the opera’s re-emergence, the company presented French director Laurent Pelly’s zany production, created for the Santa Fe Opera in 2014 and seen last year in Barcelona. Maurizio Muraro’s Don Pasquale [Photo: Italian bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as … Read more

Earlier this month, I had anticipated [Six or so Reasons to Experience “Andrea Chénier” at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House] and then reviewed [Review: Yonghoon Lee is an Eloquent Andrea Chénier in McVicar’s Cinematic Staging – San Francisco Opera, September 9, 2016] Sir David McVicar’s production of “Andrea Chénier”. My review was of the … Read more

The San Francisco Opera opened its 2016-17 season with an elegant production of the verismo classic, Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier”, about the trajectory of three lives during the events of the French Revolution. The occasion was the North American unveiling of Sir David McVicar’s eye-catching staging, a co-production of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the San Francisco Opera and … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival revived a once popular, now rarely performed Rossini Opera, “La Gazza Ladra” or “The Thieving Magpie”. Meg Gillentine’s Magpie In Peter Kazaras’ new production for the Glimmerglass Festival, in which each character’s costume suggested a different species of birdlife, the non-singing role of the Magpie was danced by Meg Gillentine. [Below: Dancer Meg … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival presented a new E. Lorne Meeker production of Puccini’s perennial operatic favorite,  “La Boheme”, this season. Even though an impressive 13 performances were scheduled, a 14th had to be added in response to the demand for tickets. With the exception of casting of veteran Dale Travis (who was a young artist in San Francisco … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival presented a superb new production of Robert Ward’s 1961 opera, “The Crucible”, under the musical direction of French conductor Nicole Paiement, staged by New York director Francesca Zambello, with sets by Welsh designer Neil Patel and costumes by Washington state designer Jessica Jahn. The opera is based on Arthur Miller’s 1953 play. Miller … Read more

For six seasons the Glimmerglass Festival has devoted one of its four component operas to musical theater. The selection for 2016 was arguably the most ambitious, Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. Greer Grimsley’s Sweeney Todd Louisiana bass-baritone Greer Grimsley’s dramatic skills and power voice make him one of the most sought after of … Read more

Santa Fe Opera’s General Director Charles MacKay commissioned a new production of one of his favorite operas, Barber’s “Vanessa”, which originally premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958. West Virginia Director James Robinson created the production and his frequent collaborator Pennsylvania designer Allan Moyer created the sets and Wisconsin designer James Schuette the costumes. [Photo:  Allan Moyer’s basic set … Read more

For the 2016 Santa Fe Opera season, the company presented its first production of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” in its history, in a new production by British director Stephen Lawless. The production set the action in the 1860s, in an homage to the decade in which Gounod’s two most famous operas – “Faust” and  “Roméo” were created and … Read more

Richard Strauss’ 74-year old opera’ “Capriccio”, composed under the skeptical eye of a totalitarian Nazi regime, is a delicate piece that requires an extraordinary cast of singing actors, a stylish production, and a conductor and orchestra that can do justice to Strauss’ highly dramatic, lushly romantic score. The Santa Fe Opera, whose early reputation was built on … Read more

Lively performances by British Columbian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and Iowa bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as Don Giovanni and Leporello – buttressed by the solid vocal support from the artists who play Giovanni’s fellow aristocrats –  are the main attractions of Santa Fe Opera’s new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”. The new production, directed by Brazilian stage director Ron Daniels, was quirky without … Read more

The Santa Fe Opera opened its 60th season with Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West)” in a new co-production with the English National Opera. The melodramatic work, that contains some of Puccini’s finest music, demands power singers with well-honed dramatic skills. The first night performance was a triumph. Patricia Racette’s Minnie New Hampshire soprano Patricia … Read more

In my review of the opening performance of San Francisco Opera’s 2016 mounting of Verdi’s “Don Carlo” [see Review: A Legendary Performance of “Don Carlo” at the San Francisco Opera, June 12, 2016], I had praised the cast, conductor and orchestra, suggesting it was one of the most deeply cast and moving performances of the work … Read more

As the last production overseen by the San Francisco Opera’s retiring General Director David Gockley, the company mounted Czech composer Leoš Janácek’s lushly melodic, highly dramatic, masterpiece “Jenufa”. Malin Byström’s Jenufa Swedish soprano Malin Byström, in her San Francisco Opera debut role, was a moving Jenufa. She gave an affecting vocal performance, displaying mastery of the high tessitura of … Read more

Experienced San Francisco Opera subscribers know when they’ve seen a performance so superb that it will be long-remembered. Such a performance was the lavishly cast production of Verdi’s “Don Carlo”, in which every member of a stellar ensemble contributed to an opera that deserved to be called “grand”. Michael Fabiano’s Don Carlo The opera’s title role was assumed by tenor … Read more

Tchaikovsky’s final opera, the luxuriously melodic “Iolanta”, was presented at the Opéra de Lyon as the first half of a Peter Sellars-directed double bill, that was followed by Stravinsky’s “Perséphone” Ekaterina Scherbachenko as Iolanta The “Iolanta” title role was assumed by the Russian lyric soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko, whose soft, pleasant vibrato was enlisted for a beautifully conceived portrayal of … Read more