The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

Month: May 2011

  • General Director of SF Opera

    San Francisco Opera's General Director David Gockley has renewed his contract for 5 more years, and will leave the position in 2016. Nicola Luisotti will remain as Music Director until at least that time as well. SF Chronicle | SF Opera's Official Site

  • The Eifman Ballet’s Don Quixote

    * Notes * The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg is touring a production of Don Quixote, or Fantasies of the Madman. The main conceit of Boris Eifman’s busy production is that the protagonist is not Don Quixote himself, but a madman imagining himself to be the knight errant. While an attempt to make to Don…

  • Anthony Dean Griffey at SF Performances

    * Notes * San Francisco Performances presented tenor Anthony Dean Griffey (pictured left, photo by Harry Heleotis) in a recital of songs in English last Wednesday. The evening began with fiddler Paul Brown playing Fisher's Hornpipe. Brown started out of view, playing Griffey and himself onto the stage, where there were two chairs, three banjos, and…

  • Les Violons du Roy featuring Alexander Weimann

      * Notes * Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie (pictured left, photo by Luc Delisle) had a second performance at Berkeley’s Cal Performances yesterday. This one featured the ensemble’s harpsichordist, Alexander Weimann. The entire program consisted of pieces by J.S. Bach. Again, Labadie got a lot of airiness out of the players, the playing was…

  • Les Violons du Roy with Ian Bostridge

     * Notes * Tenor Ian Bostridge (pictured left, photo by Simon Fowler) performed with Les Violons du Roy at Cal Performances yesterday in Berkeley. The performance was odd but certainly of interest. For one thing, the string players of Les Violons du Roy use Baroque bows on modern instruments. The effect was bizarre, given that the…

  • Rigoletto at the Met

      * Notes * Saturday evening's Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera was a study in extremes. On one hand, Diana Damrau gave a revelatory performance, her Gilda ranged from giddily sweet to utterly devastating. She inhabited the character with complete conviction. Her "Caro nome" was incredible. On the other hand, our Duke, Giuseppe Filianoti, left much…