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77 responses to “SF Opera’s Future Seasons”

  1. KOSMIKA Avatar

    San Francisco Opera audiences have had topnotch productions, directors, music staff for so many decades that others who make the “Opera-LIVE” experience so worthwhile sometimes get ignored. I speak of backstage crew (carpenters, grips, electricians,etc.) AND the folks who make onstage artists look good: Wardrobe and Wig and Make-up staff. Starting in the Fall of 2009 the Chorus must do without the benefit of professional make-up artists who for decades have performed their task so well that the results are taken for granted. The folks who transform choristers into peasants, nobility, and everything in between have been let go by Opera management with the reasoning that other major Opera Companies have no Make-up staff for chorus. It is ironic that doing away with the professional make-up staff coincides with newer technologies of OPERAVISION and Hi-Def which bring the Opera-goer “up close and personal”. The “look” of ALL onstage artists was an important part of what made San Francisco Opera a step (or two) above other American Opera Companies. A fond “ADIEU” is in order for the Make-up artists who made the CHORUS and Supernumeraries feel and perform as if they were principal artists in their own right.

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  2. mj Avatar
    mj

    Hi Opera Tattler,
    I am wondering if you have any good gossip about upcoming SFO seasons? With this season winding down I need something to look forward to! There’s the Ring of course, but what comes before that?
    Mille grazie.

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  3. mj Avatar
    mj

    I am answering my own question here… just found this on Elina Garanca’s website:
    August 9 – October 9 – Charlotte in Massenet´s “Werther”,
    San Francisco Opera

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  4. mj Avatar
    mj

    And once again, in reply to myself, another tidbit. This one is cause for alarm. From tenor Carlo Ventre’s website:
    November/December 2010 San Francisco Lyric Opera Aida Radames
    I don’t suppose he is really singing with SF Lyric Opera. More likely SFO.
    Heard him sing this role in Berlin a couple of years ago… not pretty.

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  5. mj Avatar
    mj

    Oh, here is one that makes me happy. From IMG’s Luca Pisaroni biography:
    Future engagements include Figaro in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro for San Francisco Opera

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  6. J. Marcher Avatar

    Finally some Janacek, and with Matilla! Let’s hope that really happens.

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  7. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    Simon O’Neill’s web site says he is in Nixon in China, I hear.
    Carlo Ventre as Radames? WTF?

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  8. Sibyl Avatar
    Sibyl

    Werther with Vargas, and Makropoulis too! Yay!

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  9. mj Avatar
    mj

    I am kind of shocked that Gockley is allowing The Makropolous Case to be done. Seems out of character for him. And where’s he going to import a cheap production from for MC?
    I hope it’s really happening.
    Also, found one more cast member for the Rigoletto, Gilda will be Aleksandra Kurzak. It’s mentioned on her bio page @IMGArtists.com.
    The Aida cast looks dismal to me (WTF is right!). Aside from Eric Owens. And I haven’t heard Marco Vratogna yet, but he’s in Otello coming up. And who on earth can sing Aida? I can’t think of anybody I would want to hear except for Sondra Radvanovsky but I don’t think she sings it. Amneris is such a great part and based on her recent Ulrica here, I fear Tichina Vaughan is not up to it. Hopefully she will prove me wrong.

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  10. mj Avatar
    mj

    One more for the “other rumors” category is Lohengrin, conducted by Luisotti. He has mentioned it in interviews.

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  11. mj Avatar
    mj

    One more observation and then I will stop commenting here…. what’s up with all the Marcos?! Marco Berti, Marco Vinci, Marco Vratogna….

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  12. mj Avatar
    mj

    I guess I lied up above because I have two more things I forgot to mention. One is that I overheard Paolo Gavanelli telling someone at a coffee place near the opera house that he would be back in 2011.
    The other is that Natalie Dessay said in a New Yorker Magazine profile last year that she will sing the three heroines of The Tales of Hoffmann in San Francisco. I can’t remember if it specified the year it is to be performed. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/02/090302fa_fact_mead

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  13. ned Avatar
    ned

    Wasn’t Berti the extermely weak link in the recent Trovatore? I like Vargas, but he does not excel in French music – he should stick to Donizetti and early Verdi. I have read that Radvanovsky is learning Aida – but not even she could tempt me with the rest of that cast – perhaps especially Owens, who has never sung a note on pitch in his career. The Ring cast is bottom-of-the-barrel for the most part. And another Nozze, done far too recently given all the repertory SF ignores. If that is the season, The Makropoulos Case is all I will see. Was Peter Grimes scrapped altogether then, not just postponed.

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  14. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    Berti was terrible in Trovatore, but I wasn’t fond of Hvorostovsky either.
    Ring cast bottom of the barrel? Really? The Rheingold cast was excellent. Which roles would you change?

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  15. Sacto OperaFan Avatar
    Sacto OperaFan

    Hi OT,
    I was snooping around the internet and came across article that mentioned Kate Aldrich will be singing Carmen in SF in the Fall of 2011. Her website confirms, so it looks like Carmen will be in the lineup.

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  16. Immanuel Gilen Avatar

    I have the last piece of the puzzle for Aida! Micaela Carosi, who’s big in Europe but may be making her US debut with these performances, is singing Aida.
    Seems like Aida won’t be on till November either.
    http://www.micaelacarosi.it/appuntamenti.htm

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  17. Immanuel Gilen Avatar

    I can’t read properly, indeed Aida will be mostly in September. My mistake!

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  18. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    I’ve heard substantial rumors that we’ll be getting none other that Placido Domingo, very shortly…

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  19. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    So what would Domingo be singing? We just did Simon Boccanegra; Siegmund is spoken for, etc.

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  20. Sacto OperaFan Avatar
    Sacto OperaFan

    Hi all…
    Hope you all had a great holiday season! I await the official announcement from Gockley on Jan 19 of the 2010/11 season. Until then, we can guess and guess.
    I think there will be six operas in the Fall Season. Five have, more or less, been identified (see above). I think the last one will be Elektra by R Strauss. I have no verifiable evidence — just a feeling.
    Best Wishes to OT and all blog readers!

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  21. graustark Avatar
    graustark

    Ellie Dehn will be the Contessa in Le Nozze. I discovered this in her bio info at the San Diego Opera website. She is replacing an indisposed Anja Harteros in SDO’s La Boheme.

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  22. mj Avatar
    mj

    I think it might be Cyrano de Bergerac…
    Also, the Puccini opera this fall will be not be Turandot, but Madama Butterfly. Again.

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  23. ned Avatar
    ned

    hey opera tattler – the sfo 2010-2011 is up on their site until 9am, apparently – apart from your accurate predictions – we’re getting Cyrano – could it be that Placido and Radvanovsky will reprise their Met roles here?

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  24. ned Avatar
    ned

    it looks like Turandot will be in fall of 2011 – from her management’s website (http://www.belcantoglobalarts.com/fosterbio.php):
    Susan Foster will cover/sing the title role in Turandot:
    San Francisco Opera, Aug 15 – Oct 4, 2011 (cover); Nov 1 – 21, 2011 (3 performances)

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  25. Immanuel Gilen Avatar

    More bel canto!
    I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Bayerische Staatsoper next season is a co-production with SFO.

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  26. PLM Avatar
    PLM

    I was told by David Gockley himself that Peter Grimes is scheduled–I don’t remember which season, but 2012-13 plus or minus one.

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  27. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    Gockley mentioned at Opera in the Park that they’d be doing Andrea Chenier soon. That could mean next season (2011-12).

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  28. Julie C Avatar

    Hello!
    I wondered if you had any information about Il Trittico and if it might be playing at SF Opera in the future?
    Have a great day!

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  29. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    I know Lucas Meacham is coming back for the next few seasons. Maybe as Don G.?

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  30. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    Oh, and the composer’s website informs us that “HEART OF A SOLDIER” will star Thomas Hampson and William Burden, and be conducted by Patrick Summers.

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  31. Joggerboy Avatar
    Joggerboy

    Any ideas on when the new season is going to be announced?? I cab hardly wait!

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  32. Joggerboy Avatar
    Joggerboy

    never mind

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  33. Henry Holland Avatar

    You can remove the Jennifer Higdon commission. It didn’t work out between her and SFO and she’s doing an opera based on the book/movie “Cold Mountain” for Santa Fe, due in 2015.

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  34. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    I am planning to purchase tickets for SF Opera’s Carmen. Is there any difference in performance quality based on time of day (matinee versus evening)or day of the week? Thanks in advance for any guidance with this.

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  35. The Opera Tattler Avatar

    Hi Gina,
    The audience tends to be more well-behaved on Wednesday and Thursday. Matinees are preferred by the elderly, which can mean a lot of hearing aids and mobile phones and watch alarms. As far as the quality of the performances themselves, no, there isn’t usually huge difference from day to day. The earlier performances in the run tend to be slightly rawer, but it really depends on the dynamic of the cast/orchestra and conductor. For Carmen you might try hearing the ones conducted by SF Opera’s music director rather than the ones by the assistant music director (though he is completely competent too).

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  36. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    Couple of Updates:
    Lohengrin will star Brandon Jovanovich and Gerd Grochowski, with Luisotti in the pit.
    Luisotti will also conduct Rigoletto, which will feature Andrea Silvestrelli.
    Moby Dick will feature Ben Heppner in the role of Ahab with Jay Hunter Morris as a cover/alternate.

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  37. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    Oh, And David Lomeli is also returning for Rigoletto.

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  38. Anon. Avatar
    Anon.

    Floyd’s Susannah in 2014, but you didn’t hear it from me.

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  39. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    Confirmed by SFO, not a rumor: Les Troyens, though I do not remember when. David McVicar directs, I believe; the production that’ll be seen at the ROH next year.

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  40. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    Hey! I was poking around ROHs website and I noticed that Adriana Lecouvreur was a coproduction w/ San Francisco Opera. I guess that means we’ll be seeing and Adriana sometime in the future (though hopefully w/o Morticia)

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  41. Shaun Avatar
    Shaun

    fall ’13 for Nat

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  42. Shaun Avatar
    Shaun

    ’12 season …tag-teaming with another sop who’s been here of late.

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  43. Rickard Roudebush Avatar
    Rickard Roudebush

    In re: 2012-2013 SFO seasons, Camilla Nylund says on her website she is scheduled for Elsa in Lohengrin Oct-Nov 2012.

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  44. Sacto OperaFan Avatar
    Sacto OperaFan

    Seasons Greetings!
    Well what a season the Fall has been. I’m glad I went to Xerses. Won’t say too much else.
    Does anyone know the casting beyond Rigoletto? I heard Brandon Jovanovich will be singing Lohengrin. Not much else. I’m guessing we’ll get Ben Heppner in Moby Dick.
    Anyone care to speculate or share knowledge??
    Wishing OT and all Blog Readers the best in 2012.

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  45. Lilacrobin Avatar
    Lilacrobin

    Hi Charliese…. your list of 2012 looks almost-perfect to me…(a few additions needed for the “Rigoletto” cast)…a-ha-ha! And….really looking forward to 2013’s Tales of Hoffmann…. with Natalie…
    Happy Christmas! See you in May for rehearsals – if not before!
    Hugs,
    ♥ Robin ♥

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  46. Leslie-Wayne Lee Avatar

    Now may retire Cosi from list since it is for sure thing for Summer 2013.

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  47. Lhirsch Avatar

    I guess you can put Show Boat up there now….

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  48. Lisa Hirsch Avatar

    Les Troyens, 2015, Susan Graham (Didon), Anna Caterina Antonacci (Cassandre).

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  49. Richard Avatar
    Richard

    Hi Opera Tattler, do you have anyother tidbits about productions for SFO’s 2013/14 season?! If you do, please let us know what you know!!

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