The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen at SF Opera

November 17, 2011

* Notes *
Anita Rachvelishvili (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) is singing five performances as the leading lady in Carmen at San Francisco Opera this month. Rachvelishvili has an arresting voice, resonant and earthy. Her pronunciation of French may have been imperfect, but she seemed fully committed to her role. Rachvelishvili never looked like she was doing something simply because the director asked her to. Though not a graceful dancer, she moved with confidence.

The orchestra, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, was a bit more restrained on last Tuesday's performance than the opening matinée. The chorus sounded fine and together. Paulo Szot was still difficult to hear as Escamillo in Act II, perhaps because of his location upstage. Szot did sound rather pretty later in Act III. Susannah Biller's bell-like tone as Frasquita was pleasing. Thiago Arancam's Don José was a bit wooden, but his voice is not without appeal.

* Tattling *
The audience was relatively quiet, no one around me talked, and I heard no watch alarms from my favorite standing room spot at the back of the balcony.

Posted in Carmen, Nicola Luisotti, Opera Review, San Francisco Opera

14 responses to “Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen at SF Opera”

Lilacrobin

November 18, 2011

Ms. Rachvelishvili was a significant improvement as Carmen! Though not the most graceful dancer…she was earthy, she could move, her face resonated passion and she made a believeable seductress… what a relief! I felt her perfomance helped Arancam and Szot too. Maestro Nikki, the Chorus and Orchestra are still the Stars of the Show!
♥ Robin ♥

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The Opera Tattler

November 18, 2011

I was pleasantly surprised by Rachvelishvili, though I did think Gladen did sound nice. Yes, both Arancam and Szot were better.

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Roberto

November 18, 2011

I went to the performance yesterday (11/17).
When I started to listen to opera, Carmen was one of my favorites. It is ones of these operas that we leave the opera house singing. I don’t think there is any opera in the repertoire with so many catchy melodies. I don’t listen to Carmen as I used to, but I still enjoy it. I don’t think that there is any opera lover that doesn’t.
It seems like yesterday when Anita Rachvelishvili sang Carmen for the first time at a season premiere at La Scala. I remember that it was a big furor. She has been singing this role over the word since then and I glad she came here. She is a hurricane with a very powerful voice. Really incredible. She is not as sassy or bitchy as Elina Garanca on last year’s Met production (but who is?) However, she fits well on this 30 years old Ponnelle production.
Thiago Arancam (Don Jose) was uneventful. His voice is just too small for Don Jose. Unless if he improves substantially, I hope he is not hired to sing for this company anymore.
Micaela is a 17 years old woman. Unfortunately they took that literally when they selected Sara Gartland to sing this role. She may be young and pretty, but her voice is too thin and clearly still in development. I think that the decision to select her to sing the role it is a disrespect that Bizet and to Micaela.
Paulo Szot was simple the worst Escamillo that I’ve ever heard. I am pretty sure that he is a wonderful and nice man, but he should never sing Escamillo. His voice is not even close to the nobility required for the role. Besides that, someone had the wonderful idea that the Toreador aria should start at the balcony of the tavern, where the acoustic is dreadful. Nobody could hear him. When he came down the stairs, his voice improved, but way short of a great toreador.
The chemistry and balance of these 4 singers was also not there. The only scene that worked a little bit was the fight between Escamillo and Don Jose. Maybe because these two singers are Brazilians they have some affinity.
Another big problem for me is the fact that Thiago Arancam and Sara Gartland never sang to the audience. Even when facing the audience, their chins were always low. I can only speculate why. Maybe lack of confidence? For me it is a basic thing that the singer should establish eye contact with everybody in the audience – from the people in the first row of the orchestra seats to the ones standing behind the last row in the balcony. For me this is the most essential rule that every singer should follow. If a director doesn’t tell this to a singer, he/she doesn’t deserve his/her paycheck.
Luisotti and the orchestra were wonderful. If was the best beginning of the second act that I’ve ever heard. It was a little slower than usual, but the transition to the rapid tempo was perfect. I just wanted more sweetness from the strings after the Carmen-Manuelita fight in the first act.
Was it worth? Is a Carmen like this better than nothing? That’s a hard question. If I have paid $100 for a ticket, I would be mad. I paid my season subscription with some discount back in February, so I can’t complain much. David Gockley always says that even if the revenues are down, he will not compromise the artistic integrity and so on. He obviously did on this one. 3/4 of the big roles didn’t deserve to be on that stage.
Gockley’s policy to only hire big names for obscure and second tier operas and let the first tier operas thrive based on the opera’s fame will eventually backfire. Maybe this cast was his way of saying “look what will have in the case you don’t give us money”. The problem is that I am in the 99%…

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Mark Thomas

November 18, 2011

Wow such an extended review and full of nonsenses.
I just get so annoyed when people start to write nonsenses without really knowing the subject….
Anita has a big and generous voice but yesterday she was flat almost in every high notes. An instrument that doesn’t play the right notes…. I don’t know if I like it… I’m sure she was not in her best day.
Sara was delicate and I don’t see why Micaela should have a fuller voice.
For me she was good. She sang “Je dis”with a beautiful feeling and I was very moved by her comprehension of the entire role.
Paulo sounded great yesterday. I read some review saying bad things about this man and I was shocked when I realized he was just the opposite. He was SO good!!!! Commending, mature technique, rich high notes and that incredible security onstage that only great stars have. The best Escamillo I’ve seen and the only one I remember who could really sing those long phrases after the fight with Josè the way it should be. I was just amazed by his charisma and generosity.
Thiago is a young singer with lots of energy and interesting things to offer but yesterday he sounded a bit tired .Also It seemed to me , specially when I watched him, that the stage direction was very poor with no intentions and I, of course, blame the director for that.
I agree that the production is very old but I had great fun yesterday.
Oh! just for the record…. I go to the theater to have fun, always.

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Sheilae

November 19, 2011

I too went on the 17th (my very first Opera) and thought Paulo Szot my favorite- his voice was full, loud and he interacted well with the audience.
The rest of the cast were okay, nothing memorable. None of the others gave me the feeling that they were comfortable or – ever – having fun on stage. I’d have loved a little more interaction/tension between Carmen and Micaela in the mountains, a bit of some sort of spark between Carmen and don Jose- and maybe a little a little mad angst from him (too often he just bent forward and grabbed his head)-
Any recommendations for an opera newbie?

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Roberto

November 19, 2011

Mark Thomas,
One of the interesting things of this blog is that everybody attend to the same performances and the opinions are always around the map. But this Carmen broke the record. Everybody has a different impression. I stand to what I wrote. 3/4 of the principal voices were mediocre.
I also go to an opera to have fun. Or I should say that as long as the performance is not a torture, it is all right. This one, due to Anita R. and Luisotti was not a torture. They saved it.

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The Opera Tattler

November 21, 2011

I guess Szot’s voice must have sounded better in other parts of the house!
You have a couple of weeks to hear Turandot at SF Opera.

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The Opera Tattler

November 21, 2011

Glad to hear you had fun. The War Memorial Opera House doesn’t have a consistent acoustic, so it is completely possible for someone to be audible in one spot versus another. I was just rather surprised to learn Szot was audible on the orchestra level and not up in the back balcony, where most singers sound loudest.

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graustark

November 21, 2011

I found the low quality of yesterday’s performance only exceeded by the low quality of a few people seated nearby.The audience matter involved the continual eating of junk food and crunching the plastic bag. A big “Shh” brought an end to it, but words were exchanged at the intermission.

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CruzSF

November 24, 2011

Opera Tattler, I wonder if you attended the performance on the 23rd. From the first row of Dress Circle, I had no trouble hearing any of the singers, including Szot. If you were in the house this night, did you still have difficulty hearing him.
Anita’s voice was strong, deep, low, and dark. I thought she sounded great. She was a little cool in terms of fire, and there wasn’t much chemistry between her and Arancam, I thought. I liked most of the singing, although I thought that the Micaela’s voice was thin and piercing at times. I’m sure her voice will grow in size and fullness. She’s quite young. I thought she did fine as an actress. Szot’s take on Escamillo was amusing, I thought, as he seemed to be a blowhard who’s used to adulation.

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Linette H.

November 24, 2011

Szot was a true star yesterday!

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Shaun

November 30, 2011

yes he was…finally got over his
bronchitis that he’s been fighting since
he got here.

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Shaun

November 30, 2011

“David Gockley always says that even if the revenues are down, he will not compromise
the artistic integrity and so on. He
obviously did on this one.”
…old policy… new policy is, “we’ll
hire who we can afford”. Welcome to
Houston West.
I’m glad you still liked the show, warts
and all, however. 😀
anyone see the “families” version on Sun?
from the stage point of view

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Marylin Lire

December 5, 2011

Szot sounded so huge as if he had a hidden mic or a surround sound system around him.
Amazing!
What a beautiful voice!

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