The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: March 2010
-
* Notes * Pianist Allen Perriello gave his Schwabacher Debut Recital last Sunday evening. The rather daunting program consisted of all 44 songs from Hugo Wolf's Spanisches Liederbuch. The lieder were performed in five groups by soprano Susannah Biller and baritone Austin Kness, who, for the most part, switched off each song one after another. Perriello…
-
September 9-21 2010: Yvonne, Princess de Bourgogne September 21 2010: Così fan tutte (Concert Version) October 26- November 11 2010: Kát'a Kabanová December 10-31 2010: La BohèmeJanuary 27- February 20 2011: Parsifal March 13-30 2011: La Finta Giardiniera April 10-16 2011: Hanjo April 26-30 2011: Nabucco April 27-29 2011: Intolleranza 1960 May 3-11 2011: MatsukazeJune 11-30…
-
* Notes * This new production of Thomas' Hamlet had a third performance at the Metropolitan Opera last night. The set, designed by Christian Fenouillat, was pretty much just two large curved walls arranged in different orientations to suggest the changes of scene. For the most part this worked splendidly, and though the set creaked a…
-
* Notes * The fifth performance of Shostakovich's The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera was last night. Wiliam Kentridge's production is utter spectacle, the absurdist whimsy suits the music and the plot. At times, the animated projections were a bit dizzying, but overall they came off very well. There were times when the singers were placed…
-
* Notes * Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra performed two concerts as part of San Francisco Symphony's Great Performers Series last Sunday and Monday. The second performance began with the Royal Hunt and Storm from Act IV of Berlioz's Les Troyens. The first horn was particularly lovely, producing a smooth, milky sound, though the second…
-
* Notes * Tenor Ian Bostridge is currently finishing a US recital tour with pianist Julius Drake. As part of this, Bostridge sang Schubert's Winterreise in Berkeley last Sunday, and it was clear he has a fine rapport with his accompanist. Both Bostridge and Drake were quite intent on the work at hand, rapt even, and…
-
* Notes * Last night pianist Emanuel Ax and soprano Dawn Upshaw performed a recital as part of San Francisco Symphony's Great Performers Series. The evening started with a selection of Chopin's Polish Songs, Opus 74. Upshaw sounded warm and clear, she was never upstaged by Ax, who stayed with Chopin in the following Four Marzurkas,…
-
* Notes * San Francisco Opera's Annual Meeting for 2010 was held yesterday afternoon, over in Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall A at the Symphony. Board of Directors President George H. Hume, General Director David Gockley, and CFO Michael Simpson gave reports as usual. Again, this year the outlook was on the gloomy side, though the endowment has…
-
* Notes * Jordi Savall’s Hespèrion XXI performed a sold-out concert in Berkeley last Tuesday. The program, entitled Lux Feminae (900-1600): Seven Portraits of the Woman in Ancient Hesperia, featured soprano Montserrat Figueras (she also accompanied herself with the cithara); Pierre Hamon on woodwind instruments including the ney, gaita, and flutes; Dimitri Psonis playing the stringed…
-
Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča has canceled her scheduled performances of Werther at San Francisco Opera during the 2010-2011 season. Alice Coote will sing in Garanča's stead. Press Release | Official Site
The Opera Tattler 