The Opera Tattler

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Opening of Otello at SF Opera

SF Opera's Otello, photo by Cory Weaver * Notes * 
San Francisco Opera's last production of the year, Otello, opened this afternoon. Maestro Luisotti had the orchestra sounding richly fluent. The English horn, bassoon, and bass were particularly lovely. The brass instruments also had some good moments, though when they all played together there sometimes was a buzzing quality to the sound. The chorus sounded cohesive and forceful.

The production is perhaps deceptively simple, with a serviceable, three-tiered set designed by John Gunter. Various elements were employed to artfully transform the space as necessary, including Duane Schuler's lighting, not to mention the use of fire. It was a shame that much of the set was obscured if one happened to be too far back in the balcony.

Renée Tatum was a sympathetic Emilia, she was wonderful in the last act, her voice filled with anger and despair. Beau Gibson (Cassio) was plaintive, but his higher register was slightly quiet and strained. Marco Vratogna was brutish as Iago, at times growling. He could also be sickeningly sycophantic, in short, a fine villain. Vratogna was overwhelmed by the orchestra a few times, and was not as powerful as Eric Halfvarson (Lodovico). Zvetelina Vassileva's Desdemona was agreeable enough, though perhaps it would have been nicer had she not pulled at the back of her gown whilst her back was to the audience in Act III. She did sound very pretty in the last act, and tragic as well. Johan Botha proved to have the ability to sound sweet, especially in the duet with Vassileva that ends the first act. He has a couple of notes in the top of his tessitura that do not have the ease of the rest of his voice. However, he does have a great deal of volume that he is able to control quite beautifully.

* Tattling * 
The audience was middling, we had a rough start in which someone's watch alarm just kept going off in Acts I and II. There was the loud sound of velcro being unfastened. There was tittering when the supertitles read "Acts 3 & 4" rather than the translation of the text being sung. Worst of all was the light applause after Desdemona went to bed, the clapping muffled the sound of the bass.

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17 responses to “Opening of Otello at SF Opera”

  1. mj Avatar
    mj

    All through Desdemona’s Willow Song today I kept thinking, Emilia needs to give the soprano some tips on singing with expression (not to mention acting).
    Johan Botha and especially the orchestra impressed, but I never felt swept away by the performance…

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  2. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    I rather liked the willow song actually, though I thought Vassileva’s performance didn’t make too much of an impact after her lovely singing in the love duet.

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  3. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    She was fairly one-dimensional, but I did like her voice.
    I got swept away by the last few minutes, but mostly I kept thinking of Purcell and how he could say so much in such a brief span.

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  4. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Those are two of the best moments of the opera.

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  5. Hank Avatar
    Hank

    Finally saw Otello last night (11/17).
    I think Botha has a wonderful voice, but his weak and wobbly upper notes are a real problem for me as a listener.
    Vassileva I was not impressed by at all, either sonically or visually.
    She seemed to have to work at getting some of the upper register notes, an all-but-unnoticeable pause before a high pianissimo note or two that made me think she wasn’t sure she could get the note right.
    Cassius looked like a yoga teacher from Walnut Creek… not that that’s bad, but it didn’t fit the part or the setting, and his singing was lackluster.
    Vratogna was wonderful and almost made up for the other problems.
    This is frequently mentioned as one of Verdi’s all-time greatest operas, and I have little doubt that it is, but I have never seen a performance of it that really engaged me.
    Oh and one other picky thing: Botha sings great but doesn’t act, physically, at all.
    In act three when he finally sees the handkerchief and bursts out that he has to murder her ASAP, from his body language you might have thought he had just been told his favorite pasta was not on the menu tonight.

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  6. sfmike Avatar
    sfmike

    What Hank said. I finally saw it last night, and loved the orchestra and chorus, disliked the set and direction, and found the three principals essentially mediocre, with the Desdemona borderline ghastly. When the 700-pound Otello fell to the floor in Act Three, I’m afraid I burst into laughter. Iago and Otello call for seriously great singing actors, and these two simply didn’t make the grade.
    By the way, Hank, I agree with you that this “greatest” of Verdi operas is a tricky one to stage well. The only time I’ve seen it done right was in the old Ponnelle production at the San Francisco Opera with Placido Domingo and Margaret Price. It was an amazing performance.

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  7. E Gallardo Avatar
    E Gallardo

    Everything SF Mike is true. It is a tribute to Verdi that the setting of the virtuous Desdomonia, Otello’s dawning recognition of what he has torn asunder, and the introduction of the love motiff make even this, a moving piece of theater.
    SFDandy

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  8. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Agree with you on Botha’s acting, or lack there of, rather.

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  9. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m with you about the orchestra and the chorus, they were fantastic.

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  10. Alf Avatar
    Alf

    I saw it Saturday night, and while I adore the music, I agree that there were serious problems with the acting. Acting is so often a shortcoming in an age in which singers aim primarily to record, but even some rudimentary stage direction, some hand-waving for crying out loud, would have improved the declamatory style. I’m not asking for method acting here. Do these singers get any acting training or direction or do we have to just sit around waiting for “naturals” like Hampson, Racette and Netrebko to come along and wow us with some overt emoting? Fortunately, Botha, Vassileva and Vratogna all have expressive voices; I found myself often just wanting to close my eyes.

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  11. oconnoradrservices@sbcglobal.net Avatar
    oconnoradrservices@sbcglobal.net

    Bill in SF
    Just got home from Otello..night before Thanksgiving..and got home early since I left after the first half…
    I have never done that at a SF Opera, but I was so disappointed in the perfomance that I simply got bored and gave my ticket to a standee who was right behind me. The orchestra was excellent, letter perfect, and the chorus was also very good but the rest was very poor by SF Opera standards. The voices of the three main characters were technicaly good but not great…the real problem was they had no emotion in the delivery of the music and their acting was terrible . There was no feeling of chemistry or emotionality and none at all in their interaction.
    The production values were distracting…too busy and too many people on stage for the chorus’ scenes…The bit with the fire was distracting and I found myself forgetting about the opera for 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how they pulled off the burning of the effigy of the Turk…all in all a very disappointng perfomance..I had never seen Otello but had seen all other Verdi operas and I am afraid Verdi was called out of retirement too late and he laid an egg…There are really no memorable arias duets quartets or genuinely moving emotional pieces that I experienced…I would not recommend anyone to go and see it ….at least not this production….

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  12. R. Keenan Avatar
    R. Keenan

    My partner and I were very disappointed with this production of Otello. After some thrilling performances this fall (e.g., Il Trovatore and Il Trittico), the SF Opera orchestra overwhelmed the singers. This season, we moved our seats to the second row of the Balcony Circle, and have been rewarded with much improved sound and sight lines over the Dress Circle. Thus it was particularly disappointing to hear oppressive sonic quality piled upon Verdi’s already thick orchestration, masking the strong and beautiful voices of the singers for virtually the entire performance. The SF Opera orchestra is much better than that. Perhaps the new music director, Maestro Luisotti, is still learning his orchestra and hall. Let’s hope he’s a fast learner.

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  13. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Bill in SF,
    Thank you! Upon reading your comments, I thought I had written them! I too was at the performance Wednesday night.
    I have never been to an opera – this was the first for both my wife and myself – and I am sorry to say that we chose to leave at intermission. I am an avid theatre buff and love performance, and my comment walking out of Otello was, “This was not a performance.” Rather, it felt as if it was a series of “singing heads.” There was no acting, no emotion, not a moment where I believed anything that was being sung on stage. The lack luster of the acting was profound, and not just the principles, but the chorus as well. So many times scanning the chorus, I saw characters just standing around, not really doing much of anything. This production would have closed the day it opened if it were a theatrical adaptation of Othello.
    As this was our first “full” opera, we both left so disheartened that we are not sure when we will be back. And until I read your review Bill, it seemed like everyone out there but us liked the performance – or at least was willing to tolerate it.
    My question is: how representative of SF Opera is this production? If it’s close to the “norm,” I may continue to only listen to my recordings and not go back.
    Please tell me there are better options!
    Disheartened Dan in SF

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  14. Roberto Avatar
    Roberto

    I just came from the last performance on 12/2.
    It is always a pleasure to see Otello, one of my favorite Verdi’s operas. For me, who carries this opera is Iago. He is the one who sets the tone, connects the scenes and is in the center of the plot. Not only Iago needs to have the tessitura of a typical Verdi baritone, but his acting needs to be convincing.
    The problem of this production is that the Iago wasn’t up to the standard. Vratogna’s voice was small and his acting was nowhere to be seen. He rarely faced the audience. He spent almost the whole time looking down or to either side. He also didn’t acted sinister or machiavelique. He should have invited us to witness his plan. He should have sang to the audience, face the public and admit his villainy. He never did that. He reminded me Mussolini of Chaplin’s “Great Dictator”
    Vassileva is a typical Eastern European soprano. Her voice fills the house, but lacks sweetness and color. Although the “Willow Song” was better than I was expecting, but not mesmerizing.
    Botha had a strong performance.
    Luisotti, the orchestra and specially the chorus were the best things of the night.
    I like Peter Hall a lot, but this production was poor.
    For Hank, who is still looking for a great Otello, I’d suggest the DVD with Domingo/Te Kanawa/Leiferkus/Solti. The SF Library used to have a copy of this DVD.

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  15. J. Marcher Avatar
    J. Marcher

    Dear Dan,
    Unfortunately you saw what turned out to be the one true disappointment of the fall offerings. It’s a shame you and your wife didn’t see Il Trovatore or The Daughter of the Regiment, either of which would have probably “hooked” both of you.
    There are better options, many of them, and you two may consider jaunting down to LA to see The Barber of Seville in a production everyone is saying positive things about. Or wait until next fall and hopefully give it another shot.

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  16. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Whilst reading the score, I did notice that our Desdemona did not sound dolce where it was marked!

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  17. Alice Zhang Avatar
    Alice Zhang

    I found Vassileva terribly unappealing. She sounded heavy and austere. And it’s not just sweetness that was missing from her voice – there was not a hint of vulnerability, fragility, or innocence. Her performance was bland and failed to elicit empathy from the audience.
    Last Feb I saw Renee Fleming & Botha in Otello at the Met – now THAT was an amazing production and Fleming sang the role beautifully. Also check out the DVD with her and Domingo!

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