The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: September 2009
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* Notes * Yesterday evening mezzo-soprano Susan Graham opened San Francisco Symphony's latest Mahler Festival with the Rückert Lieder. Graham sang with a gorgeous ease, her voice sounds both pure and lush. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the orchestra in a straightforward manner. Some of the brass entrances were harsh, but the playing was fairly clear. The…
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Production Web Site | Press Photographs Performance Reviews: The Opera Tattler | Not For Fun Only | Civic Center | SFist | SFCV | San Jose Mercury | San Francisco Chronicle
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* Notes * Il Trittico opened at San Francisco Opera last night with Patricia Racette singing all three of the major soprano roles. The production, directed by James Robinson, is clean and simple. Allen Moyer's sets are unostentatious, the three are not tied together in an obvious way, yet still look like they match each other. Patrick…
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Production Web Site | Press Photographs Performance Reviews: The Opera Tattler | Iron Tongue of Midnight | Civic Center | SFist | SF Examiner | EBAR | San Jose Mercury | San Francisco Classical Voice | San Francisco Chronicle | New York Times
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* Notes * San Francisco Opera's Opera in the Park performance this year was rather charming. Incoming Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducted with great enthusiasm, and to begin he faced the audience for the National Anthem and conducted us. Both the overture to La Forza del Destino and the intermezzo to Manon Lescaut sounded grand and…
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* Notes * Opera San José's new season opened with Manon last night. The orchestra sounded clean under the baton of Joseph Marcheso. On the whole, the intonation was spotless and the soli from the woodwinds and strings were particularly nice. The organ did have a rough entrance at the beginning of Act II. Dianna Shuster's…
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* Notes * The 2009-2010 season at San Francisco Opera opened with Il Trovatore last night. David McVicar's production is elegant, and Charles Edwards' rotating set made the scene changes straightforward. Maestro Luisotti's debut as music director was effervescent, and the orchestra sounded fine. The chorus was clear and together. Renée Tatum and Andrew Bidlack, the…
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* Notes * Last night the new season at De Munt opened with a rather bizarre production of Semele. Zhang Huan's production featured a 450 year old Ming temple, which was very lovely and worked perfectly well as a stage device. However, other elements did not integrate as gracefully, such as the Mongolian song that followed…
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The 2009-2010 participants of the Young Artists Program at Seattle Opera are sopranos Megan Hart, Vira Slywotzky, Marcy Stonikas; mezzo-sopranos Jenni Blank and Maya Layhani; tenors Alex Mansoori and Bray Wilkins; baritones Michael Krzankowski and Eric Neuville; and bass Erik Anstine. Layhani and Mansoori were both recently in San Francisco Opera's Merola Program. Young Artists…
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From Prague we headed back to Franconia, to see the early Rembrandts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. Before heading to the museum, we took a brief tour of the Altstadt, walking past St. Lorenz, across the Fleischbrücke to the Hauptmarkt, where we admired the Frauenkirche and the Schöner Brunnen. We made our way to the…
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