The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Month: April 2015

  • John Eliot Gardiner Conducts L’Orfeo

    * Notes * John Eliot Gardiner, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Monteverdi Choir (pictured left, photograph by Paul Burns) performed a beautiful L’Orfeo, Favola in musica at San Francisco Symphony‘s Davies Hall last night. The playing was elegant, even the brass instruments sounded clean. The singing was even and lovely. The vigorous choristers sounded together.…

  • Opera San José’s Die Zauberflöte

    * Notes * My review of Opera San José's The Magic Flute is on San Francisco Classical Voice. * Tattling * There was little talking or electronic noise. A woman on the left aisle in about the fourth of fifth row tapped her feet incessantly during Act II, especially during the Queen of the Night's…

  • Cal Performances 2015-2016 Season

    September 11-12 2015: National Circus of the People’s Republic of ChinaSeptember 18 2015: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra September 24-25 2015: Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of VenezuelaOctober 1-4 2015: Mariinsky Ballet & OrchestraOctober 9 2015: Orquesta Buena Vista Social ClubOctober 11 2015: Takács QuartetOctober 11 2015: Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers of IndiaOctober 16-18 2015:…

  • PBO and SF Opera Adlers

    * Notes * A number of San Francisco Opera Center's Adler Fellows (pictured left) performed with conductor Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra last night at the SFJazz Center. The evening was a delight from beginning to end. The first half of the program featured four instrumental pieces interspersed with four vocal pieces, all by Mozart.…

  • SFCM’s L’elisir d’amore

    * Notes * Last week the San Francisco Conservatory Opera Program held two performances of L'elisir d'amore. The charming production marked the debut of director Jose Maria Condemi, who is incoming Director of Opera at the school. The spacious set (pictured left) features a runway downstage of the orchestra pit, and different levels upstage. The…

  • Cupcake Susannah

    In Act I, Scene 4 of Susannah the title character has been shunned from the church dinner by the residents of New Hope Valley, Tennessee. Mrs. McLean (Catherine Cook) is instrumental in ostracizing Susannah. Details of Painting | Performance Review of Susannah

  • Upcoming L’Orfeo at SFS

    Sir John Eliot Gardiner (pictured left, photograph by Sheila Rock) is touring the United States with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir from April 19 to May 1, 2015. They are performing a concert version of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at Davies Hall in San Francisco on April 27, 2015. This concert and others are…