The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Month: November 2013

  • SF Opera’s Barbiere (Shrader, Muraro, Iversen, Mack)

    * Notes * San Francisco Opera gave a second performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia (Finale of Act II pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) this season with four different principal singers yesterday night. Emilio Sagi’s direction is funny but has som much going on at all times. There is an incredible amount of choreography and…

  • SF Opera’s Barbiere (Camarena, Corbelli, Meachem, Leonard)

    * Notes *  Last night a co-production of Il barbiere di Siviglia (Act II pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) with Lithuanian National Opera opened at San Francisco Opera. Llorenc Corbella's set includes few walls on a raised platform meant to look like either the outside of Bartolo's house, or an interior courtyard, or the…

  • Wispelwey Plays Bach Cello Suites

    * Notes * Pieter Wispelwey performed Bach’s Complete Suites for Unaccompanied Cello last Saturday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco. His playing is focused, rapid, and crisp. The phrasing and inflection of the notes was idiosyncratic, and one could never mistake Wispelwey’s playing with someone else’s. Though one would be hard pressed to call his…

  • Philippe Sly’s Salon at the Rex

    * Notes *Bass-baritone Philippe Sly (pictured left, photograph by Adam Scotti) gave a recital with guitarist John Charles Britton for the Salons at the Rex series Wednesday evening. The evening's music consisted of fifteen Schubert Lieder, including ones from Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. Instead of providing the text in the program, Sly read translations…