The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: March 2025
-
* Notes *Mahler Chamber Orchestra played a couple of Mozart piano concertos with Mitsuko Uchida (pictured with the orchestra, photograph by A. Bofill) as director and pianist at Cal Performances last Sunday. The playing was crisp and animated. Uchida had the orchestra sounding clear and there was a sense of breath in the phrasing. The…
-
* Notes * William Kentridge’s The Great Yes, The Great No (pictured, photograph by Monika Rittershaus) had a Bay Area premiere at Cal Performances last weekend. The choral music was composed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and also performed by her and six other singers. The music director was Tlale Makhene who played percussion in the small ensemble…
-
* Notes * Violinist Midori (pictured, photograph by Nigel Parry) and pianist Özgür Aydin gave a recital inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem Casida of the Lament. The playing was vibrant and varied. Midori has an incredible range as far as her technique. She really can get all sorts of sounds and colors out of…
-
* Notes *Opera Parallèle gave a moving world premiere of David Hanlon’s The Pigeon Keeper (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) at Cowell Theater in San Francisco last night. The piece was prepared meticulously and is engaging on many levels. The drama is set on an unnamed Mediterranean island beset by drought and refugees that wash…
-
* Notes * Livermore Valley Opera's Don Giovanni (Ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened last night at the Bankhead Theater. The opera is cast well and the production is very committed. Robert Herriot's staging used video projections that featured monstrous roses in every scene. They seemed to have blood vessels and looked almost three-dimensional. The…
The Opera Tattler 