William’s Essays and Program Notes

Note from William: In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the San Diego Opera, I will be re-printing program notes that the opera company commissioned me to write. The third of these, re-printed with the kind permission of the copyright holder, the San Diego Opera, will be the program notes for the February 2014 performances of … Read more

Note from William: In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the San Diego Opera, I will be re-printing program notes that the opera company commissioned me to write. The third of these, re-printed with the kind permission of the copyright holder, the San Diego Opera, will be the program notes for their January 2013 performances of … Read more

Note from William: In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the San Diego Opera, I will be re-printing program notes that the opera company commissioned me to write. The second of these, re-printed with the kind permission of the copyright holder, the San Diego Opera, contains the program notes for their April and May 2011 … Read more

Note from William: In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the San Diego Opera, I will be re-printing program notes that the opera company commissioned me to write. The first of these, re-printed with the kind permission of the copyright holder, the San Diego Opera, will be the program notes for their March 2010 performances … Read more

Italian Opera Composer Gaetano Donizetti is usually identified – along with Rossini and Bellini – as one of the principal exponents of the bel canto school of the early 19th century, which, in the legends about the history of opera that gained currency in the late 19th and 20th centuries, was in decline by the … Read more