Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
Wm: Last year, you were in Santa Fe for the new production of Britten’s “Billy Budd”? What was it like working with Paul Curran the production designer-director and that cast? LM: It was a truly great experience. Curran is an awesome director. Not only did I play the role of Donald, but I covered Teddy … Read more
Wm: What life experiences did you have before you became an opera singer? LM: My first job was at age 15, in swimming pool construction, but I always sang in church and in the house. I grew up in the tiny town of Carthage in South Central North Carolina, where there are no inter-urban freeways. … Read more
Seattle Opera concluded its first cycle of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs” with “Götterdämmerung”, the longest and most ambitious opera in opera’s standard repertory. The daunting requirements of this piece tax any opera company producing it. Not only did Seattle Opera succeed admirably, it seems certain that no opera company has ever achieved the razzle … Read more
The Seattle Opera’s Stephen Wadsworth – Thomas Lynch “Ring of the Nibelungs” moved into “Siegfried”, the third opera of Wagner’s expansive tetralogy. With a fairy tale storyline (which has always seemed to me to be the exposition of Prince Charming’s adventures on the way to awaken Sleeping Beauty), Siegfried overcomes the intrigues of evil dwarves, … Read more
“Die Walküre”, the second opera in the Seattle production of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs” by Stephen Wadsworth and Thomas Lynch, returns with a cast that combines veterans of the work’s 2005 Seattle performances with newcomers in key roles. Returning are Greer Grimsley as Wotan and Stephanie Blythe as his Wotan’s wife, Fricka, in towering … Read more
Stage director Stephen Wadsworth returns to Seattle for the second revival of his now world famous Seattle Opera production of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. Wadsworth’s conception of the work closely follows Wagner’s intentions and stage directions in an era in which the “Ring” is presented in ways its author-composer could not possibly have imagined. … Read more
Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” for 0ver 22 decades has provided opportunities for many different interpretations of how to portray the famous Spanish nobleman of uncommon appetites and his impact on the lives of seven people on the final day of his life on earth. Lucas Meachem, Santa Fe Opera’s latest Don, has developed his own take … Read more
Santa Fe Opera is famously committed to sponsoring contemporary works, allocating one of its five operas each season to a recently composed opera. For 2009, the new work selected by now retired General Manager Richard Gaddis was one the Santa Fe Opera commissioned. Composer Paul Morevac, whose vibrant incidental music inspired by the Bard’s “The … Read more
ALCESTE REVIEW Santa Fe Opera mounted Gluck’s “Alceste” as the occasion for the Santa Fe Opera debuts of Wagnerian soprano Christine Brewer and of lyric tenor Paul Groves. Conducted by Irish conductor Kenneth Montgomery, a familiar face on the Santa Fe podium, the opera, that Gluck had revised for Paris in 1776, was presented in … Read more
This post is the second in a four part series on West Coast performances of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs”, scheduled for Seattle in August 2009, Los Angeles in May and June 2010, and San Francisco in June 2011. (For the earlier article, see: Gods and Nibelungs on the Pacific Coast: the Three Ring “Rheingolds”.) … Read more
Over a year ago this website chronicled the performances of Puccini operas planned by California’s three major opera companies during the 150th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini’s birth (December 1858). (See: The “Golden West” Does Puccini 2008-2010. For a report of another Puccini sesquicentennial celebration in the Golden State, see: Puccini’s 150th Birthday Party Takes Place as Santa … Read more
The Santa Fe Opera chose the Fourth of July to unveil its new Stephen Lawless production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore”. Lawless established the opera’s time and place as several years into World War II, in a small Italian Village, that is in the process of being liberated by the American army. (Ashley Martin-Davis was Scenic … Read more
French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay, who had enjoyed previous engagements at the Santa Fe Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s “Magic Flute” (2006) and Amina in Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” (2004) chose the 2009 festival’s opening night for her role debut as Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata”, the first of 11 scheduled performances spanning the entire season, … Read more
The final assignment as Musical Director for the San Francisco Opera for Conductor Donald Runnicles, whose tenure ends with the company’s 2008-09 season, was Verdi’s “La Traviata”. Runnicles conducted six performances, five for the Violetta of Anna Netrebko, with a final one scheduled with Allyn Perez. I attended the last of Netrebko’s five performances. Although Runnicles is particularly … Read more
The Summer of 2009 The Santa Fe Opera thus far has presented 143 different operas, including 44 American premieres and ten world premieres. The summer of 2009 presents a new Laurent Pelly production of Verdi’s “La Traviata” starring Natalie Dessay in her role debut. Also scheduled is a new Stephen Lawless production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir … Read more
For the second time in seven months, this website is reviewing a performance of the Zambello production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”. The production, which generates enthusiasm and sold out performances in every city in which it has shown, was reviewed in its Lyric Opera performances in Chicago last November, less than two weeks after … Read more
This website has described the San Francisco Opera as the “House of Puccini”, both because of its long association with the operas of the Tuscan composer and the recent excellence of its Puccini productions, since David Gockley assumed the general directorship of the company in 2006. The 2006 production of “Manon Lescaut” with Karita Mattila … Read more
Wagner’s four opera “Ring of the Nibelungs” is, under the most favorable of circumstances, a complex undertaking for an opera company, yet three of the four largest opera companies on America’s Pacific Coast are mounting their own versions of the “Ring” in productions as unalike from each other as one can imagine. One set of … Read more
In September 2007, this website launched an examination of the current state of the “Donizetti Revival”. (That month was the fiftieth anniversary of Leyla Gencer’s first bel canto role, the title role of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” at San Francisco Opera, and it was Gencer whose career was most closely associated with the “Donizetti Revival” … Read more
Over the past three years, I have reviewed productions of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” – San Francisco Opera’s reconceptualization of Ron Daniels/Michael Yeargan’s production (2006 and 2007), Moffat Oxenbould’s Opera Australia production presented by the Pittsburgh Opera (2007) and the revival of Robert Wilson’s production (based on his original work at Opera National de Paris) for … Read more
This reviewer in recent weeks has expressed a high degree of optimism about the state of contemporary Verdi singing both in the United States and Europe. (The fact that most of the best singers are engaged by the major companies of both Europe and the United States means that if one observes excellent performances in … Read more
During a 12 month period in 2007 and 2008, California’s three major opera companies each created a production of Wagner’s “Tannhauser”. In the period between Summer 2008 and Summer 2011, the companies of San Francisco and Los Angeles are absorbed in producing the four operas of Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen”. San Francisco’s effort was planned to … Read more
San Diego Opera had only presented Benjamin Britten’s ultimate masterpiece “Peter Grimes” in one previous season, 25 years ago. Its revival, again utilizing Carl Toms’ sets, returned for the 2009 Season, hugely enriched with American lyric tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. More than “starring” as Peter Grimes, Griffey dynamically personalized this gritty role, living it and … Read more
On this Spring’s trip to Northern Germany, I was able to sample the fare at three opera houses. My comments on the performances attended at Hamburg Staatsoper and Berlin Staatsoper have been posted previously. The third company visitied was the venerable Deutsche Oper Berlin, which I found of particular interest. I attended just one performance … Read more
I am reporting on opera in Berlin, a city celebrating and reflecting on the 20 years since the Wall between East and West Berlin was torn down. The subsequent reunfication of Germany had many consequences, including massive pressures on governments and taxpayers to shoulder the costs of integrating East Germany, that had lagged behind the … Read more