The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: September 2008
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Opera Australia's music director Richard Hickox denies that nepotism has anything to do with his wife, mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen, being cast in lead roles for the opera company. Article in The Australian | Official Site
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Joaquín Nin-Culmell's La Celestina, a tragicomedy in music in three acts, will premiere this Friday at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. La Celestina's Official Site | Teatro de la Zarzuela's Official Site
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Production Web Site | Press Photographs Reviews of San Francisco Opera's 2008 Performances: The Opera Tattler | Civic Center | The Reverberate Hills | Out West Arts | SFist | San Francisco Chronicle | San Francisco Classical Voice | San Jose Mercury News | Los Angeles Times | New York Times | Financial Times | Wiener Zeitung (Auf Deutsch) Thoughts on the Final Dress: The Opera Tattler | The Standing Room
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* Notes *The opening performance of The Bonesetter's Daughter proved to be a rather maudlin and self-indulgent affair. The beginning was promising, the call of the suona players from the Grand Tier was regal and imposing, and the aerial acrobatics combined with projections of water and fire during the overture were impressive. The first trio of Ruth (Zheng Cao),…
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* Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Knussen's Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 last night at San Francisco Symphony. Though Tilson Thomas gave a helpful exposition of the former piece before he began, the work did not improve for me after a second hearing. I still found it rather metallic in sound,…
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John and Cynthia Gunn are giving San Francisco Opera 40 million dollars, outdoing Jeannik Mequet Littlefield's gift of 35 million two years ago. John Gunn is presently the chairman of San Francisco Opera's Board of Directors. Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
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* Notes * Yesterday Steven Pinker gave a talk on the topics covered in his latest book, The Stuff of Thought as a part of the Arts & Ideas lecture series at JCCSF. Essentially, Pinker's argument seems to be that language reflects how humans think about time, matter, and space. Personally, I think it would be pretty strange if…
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I'm afraid that final dress rehearsal of San Francisco Opera's The Bonesetter's Daughter has left me nearly speechless, and considered summing up my reaction in exactly two words. But I certainly don't want to ruin it for you, gentle readers. Instead, I offer some images that came to mind whilst watching the production. …
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* Notes * The second performance of Simon Boccanegra featured a different soprano as Amelia, one Ana María Martínez. She last appeared at San Francisco Opera when she shared the role of Micaëla in the 2006 performances of Carmen. Martínez gave a more even performance than Barbara Frittoli, the former’s voice is bird-like and metallic, she reminded me…
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Kip Cranna moderated a panel discussion on the new opera The Bonesetter's Daughter yesterday evening at Herbst Theatre. The panelists included composer Stewart Wallace, bass Hao Jiang Tian (Chang the Coffin Maker), and suona-player/rock star Wu Tong (Chef, Taoist Priest). There is much excitement surrounding the impending world premiere of the work at San Francisco Opera,…
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