The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: June 2012
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Production Web Site | SF Opera’s Blog Reviews of San Francisco Opera’s Nixon in China (Act I Scene 2 pictured left with Chen-Ye Yuan as Chou En-lai, Ginger Costa-Jackson as Nancy T’ang, Buffy Baggott as Second Secretary, Nicole Birkland as Third Secretary, Simon O’Neill as Mao Tse-tung, Patrick Carfizzi as Henry Kissinger, and Brian Mulligan…
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* Notes * Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (Act I pictured left, photograph by Richard Termine) had a second performance at Opera Company of Philadelphia this afternoon. The opera, a co-production with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group, premiered in New York last November with the same cast. Neal Goren also conducts the Philadelphia performances, and the…
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* Notes * A new production of Nixon in China had a Bay Area premiere at San Francisco Opera last night. Lawrence Renes conducted a crisp performance, and for the most part the singers were audible over the amplified orchestra. The amplification of the principals and eight members of the chorus made it difficult to gauge…
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The 29 incoming Merolini (pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) were interviewed by San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald, Merola Opera Board of Directors Chairman Jayne Davis, and President Donna L. Blacker yesterday evening, in the Green Room of the War Memorial Veterans Building. This year four of the participants are Canadian, two are…
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* Notes * The final dress rehearsal of San Francisco Opera's Nixon in China (Michael Schwab's poster pictured left) was held yesterday at the War Memorial Opera House. The music seems quite challenging, but is sounding strong. Maestro Lawrence Renes stopped the orchestra in Act II as the playing was too loud, even though all…
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* Notes * Cal Performances hosted Nicola Luisotti and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) on Sunday afternoon, their second this season in Berkeley. The concert began with Prokofiev's First Symphony, and the orchestra sounded best in the graceful, dancing third movement. The woodwinds were clear, as was the brass. The…
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* Notes * David Robertson (pictured left, photograph by Michael Tammaro) conducts San Francisco Symphony in Rossini, Chopin, and Dvořák this week. The overture to L'italiana in Algeri that opened yesterday's performance sounded neat and precise. Chopin's Concerto No. 2 in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 21 also was together and clean. The soloist,…
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