The company premiere of Die Walküre (Back: Vida Miknevičiūtė as Sieglinde, Jamez McCorkle as Siegmund; Front: Ryan Speedo Green as Wotan, Sarah Saturnino as Fricka, photo by Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera) at Santa Fe Opera last night has spectacular singing. Director Melly Still's production is busy and frentic.
The cast is exceedingly strong. The Valkyries all sang well, sounding powerful and unified in Act III. Bass Soloman Howard was menacing as Hunding, I found him only the slightest bit grainy at first, but he did well. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino made Fricka very sympathetic, she did not come off as shrill or hysterical, and seemed quite reasonable.
Soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė is stunning as Sieglinde, it is a bit ridiculous that so much sound can project from such a tiny person, Her voice is sweet and brilliant, and her last words in Act III gave me chills. Her Siegmund, tenor Jamez McCorkle, has a lovely baritonal sound that has pleasant brightness but perhaps not quite enough weight.
Soprano Tamara Wilson is a forceful. fierce Brünnhilde and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is likewise a potent Wotan. Both have a lot of volume but are able to convey so much emotion in their voices. It would be so interesting to hear these two in a full Ring Cycle, and Green in particular is one of the best Wotans I have heard.
The staging has a lot going on at all times. There are many dancers that play characters from Das Rheingold and it might have been confusing for those not as familiar with the plot. The costumes did not seem to be from one particular period, so this did not help the audience guess which dancer was which character. The set did use the space well, including the vertical space, and there was much layering above and behind the main action.
I enjoyed hearing Maestro James Gaffigan conduct, as I haven't heard him much since he was at San Francisco Symphony years ago. His take is stately and elegant, and there were times when the tempi could have been more propulsive. The orchestra was quite moving in Act III, especially at the very end.
* Tattling *
There was much poor-behavior on display in the audience. Someone's cellular phone rang for at least a minute when Siegmund was singing to Hunding in Act I. At the beginning of Act II a man was eating nuts out of cellophane, he made a lot of noise for several minutes and my companion asked him to stop.
The audience did seem engaged, and they clapped with excitement at the beginning of Acts II and III. People stayed for the entire opera, but we ducked out early before the ovations, as the parking stressed people out and we noticed lots of yelling on our way to the theater.
The Opera Tattler 
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