The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Month: January 2011

  • LA Opera’s 2011-2012 Season

    September 17- October 9 2011: Eugene OneginSeptember 18- October 8 2011: Così fan tutteNovember 6-26 2011: Roméo et JulietteFebruary 11- March 4 2012: Simon BoccanegraFebruary 25- March 14 2012: Albert HerringFebruary 25- March 14 2012: La Bohème Vittorio Grigolo has his LA Opera premiere in Roméo et Juliette opposite Nino Machaidze. Alek Shrader and Daniela…

  • Houston Grand Opera’s 2011-2012 Season

    October 21 – November 6 2011: Il barbiere di Siviglia October 28- November 13 2011: Fidelio January 27- February 12 2012: La Traviata February 3-11 2012 : The Rape of Lucretia April 13- 28 2012: Don Carlos April 21- May 4 2012: Maria Stuarda Nathan Gunn sings the title role in Barbiere with Ana María Martínez as Rosina and Lawrence Brownlee…

  • La Traviata at the Met

    German Regietheater made another inroad (after Luc Bondy's poorly-received Tosca) into the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera's with its new production of La Traviata. Here is the Unbiased Opinionator's account. * Notes *  Few Met opera-goers will mourn the passing of Franco Zeffirelli's visually overloaded production of Traviata, in which it was almost impossible to…

  • Canadian Opera Company’s 2011-2012 Season

    September 22- October 15 2011: Iphigenia in TaurisSeptember 29- October 22 2011: RigolettoJanuary 21- February 25 2012: ToscaFebruary 2-22 2012: Love From AfarApril 10- May 14 2012: Tales of HoffmannApril 30- May 29 2012: A Florentine Tragedy and Gianni SchicchiMay 9-26 2012: Semele Today the new season of the Canadian Opera Company was unveiled. Susan Graham…

  • San Francisco Opera’s 2011- 2012 Season

    September 9- November 25 2011: Turandot September 10-30 2011: Heart of a SoldierSeptember 23- October 11 2011: Lucrezia BorgiaOctober 15- November 10 2011: Don GiovanniOctober 30- November 19 2011: SerseNovember 6- December 4 2011 CarmenJune 8- July 3 2012: Nixon in China June 12- July 1 2012: Attila June 13 – July 8 2012: The…

  • Il Barbiere at Seattle Opera

    * Notes *Il Barbiere di Siviglia returned to Seattle Opera this weekend. The set, from the Canadian Opera Company and designed by John Stoddart, is traditional, and turns for the various scenes. Particularly amusing were the projections used for the storm scene, we saw all manner of objects fly by. Peter Kazaras' stage direction was pleasingly campy,…

  • David Daniels at PBO

    * Notes * Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra opened a run of performances featuring countertenor David Daniels last night in Berkeley. Nicholas McGegan first conducted Telemann's Concerto for Three Horns and Violin in D major. The orchestra bounced delightfully but despite their efforts, the horns had more than one painful moment. One imagines this instrument must be devilishly…

  • Yan Pascal Tortelier & Vadim Gluzman at SFS

    * Notes * Yan Pascal Tortelier is conducting San Francisco Symphony this week in a program of Mussorgsky, Khachaturian, and Prokofiev. Last night's performance began with Mussorgsky's Prelude to Khovanshchina, orchestrated by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The playing was clear and lively. The Khachaturian Violin Concerto that followed was likewise sprightly, the soloist, Vadim Gluzman, sounded bright and…

  • Opera San José’s 2011-2012 Season

    September 10-25 2011: IdomeneoNovember 12-27 2011: Pagliacci and La voix humaine February 11-26 2012: La traviataApril 21- May 6 2012: Faust There are five operas scheduled for next season at Opera San José. One is sure further details are forthcoming.

  • Kirill Karabits & Helene Grimaud at SFS

    * Notes * Kirill Karabits made a promising conducting debut at San Francisco Symphony this week in a program of Silvestrov's Elegie, Schumann's Piano Concerto, and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. Last night's performance began with the piece by Silvestrov, scored for string orchestra. The small ensemble played with grace and the work was rather pretty. Next came…