The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: November 2007
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* Notes * The last performance of La Rondine was sold-out, but as it is part of my subscription, I attended in my regular spot in Box X. The set looks quite nice up close as well as from afar, though I noticed that the mirror ball in Act II was audible. I suspect it…
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Jessica Koplos was appointed Director of Electronic Media at San Francisco Opera. Press Release [PDF] | San Francisco Opera | Biography | Filmography
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* Notes * Last night I was invited at the last minute to hear Macbeth again, from box seats, so I gave the opera another try. Of course there was no booing this time, so I did laugh a good deal less. From Box O, I was able to see the green slime on Duncan…
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Tenor James Valenti will replace Alfredo Portilla as Pinkerton in two performances of Madama Butterfly, on December 6 and 8 (evening). Valenti will share the role with Brandon Jovanovich. Portilla is currently singing Macduff in the current production of Macbeth. Press Release [PDF] | Production Web Site
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As you might remember, Angela Gheorghiu (Magda in La Rondine) was fired by Lyric this season. A little bird told me that Ms. Gheorghiu is very nice and not a diva at all. I heard from someone else that she might have been a little testy about her lodging. It was also suggested that she…
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* Notes * I have this particular friend who has attended every performance with me at Seattle Opera. She is from the Bay Area, so we occasionally go to the opera in San Francisco when she is in town. Last year during the Thanksgiving holiday we spent 7 hours and 25 minutes listening to 3…
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* Notes * Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress opened yesterday in a co-production with Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Opéra de Lyon, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Teatro Real Madrid. The opera was taken from the 16th century into the 1950s, so taken from when Hogarth's paintings are set to when the opera was premiered. The…
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* Notes * Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal returned to Cal Performances for the first time in 8 years, with a three day run of the piece Ten Chi. The work has quite a lot more dancing in it than Nelken, the only other work of Bausch's I know. It was a couple of strange Japanese/German dream-like…
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* Notes * I haven’t been to hear UC Berkeley’s University Chorus since a 2004 performance of Rachmaninoff’s Vsenoshchnoye bdenie at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in Oakland. Imagine my surprise at not seeing Marika Kuzma, as she is on leave this school year, and Aya Ueda is the Guest Director. The evening…
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* Notes * I gave La Rondine a second chance, and listened to it in the balcony standing room area last night. The sets and costumes were beautiful from afar as well, and the disco ball in Act II was not visible, so not blinding. Even still, I could see why this opera has only…
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