The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: October 2002
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I have a hard time understanding why a person, or a group of people, would feel the need to vocalize or clap at a television set. But I don’t even understand the need to clap before the music is finished at the opera just because the singing is done, as in after an aria, and…
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Die Entführung aus dem Serail again on Sunday afternoon and Otello again with Tuesday evening. I was struck by how different the former opera’s set looks up close and how consistent and monolithic the latter one’s set was even when immediate. The delicate projections used on the palace in Die Entführung aus dem Serail were…
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Olivier Messiaen’s only opera, Saint François d’Assise, closed last night at San Francisco Opera after a run of six performances. This production was the first staged one in North America, and there was much to do about it. The house was quite full, as the production received some acclaim. I was curious what all the…
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Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail opened last night at San Francisco Opera, with Peter Schneider conducting, and a whole gaggle of singers, and one actor, from the Germanic realms. The production seemed to not have confidence in either Mozart’s music to enchant or the audience’s ability to attend to this music, and the beautiful…
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A production owned by the Washington Opera of Verdi’s Otello opened at San Francisco Opera last Wednesday. Tenor Ben Heppner was to sing the titular role, but withdrew earlier in the year. Consequently, the part is now being shared by Jon Fredric West and Timothy Mussard. West’s voice is not particularly stunning. West sounded cold…
The Opera Tattler 