The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

Month: August 2025

  • Merola Grand Finale 2025

    * Notes * The 2025 class of Merola is quite strong. The Grand Finale for the program was held last night at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conducted by Maestro Kelly Kuo, the lively orchestra was not always perfectly synchronized with the singers, but for the most part everyone sounded great. The…

  • West Edge Opera’s Wozzeck

    * Notes * Alban Berg's Wozzeck (ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened at West Edge Opera on Saturday in Oakland. The impressive production has the same director and conductor as the excellent Lulu from this company held at the Oakland 16th Street train station a decade ago and the same lead soprano. Director Elkhanah Pulitzer…

  • West Edge Opera’s David and Jonathan

    * Notes * A new production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas (ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened at West Edge Opera on Sunday afternoon in Oakland. This French Baroque opera is based on the friendship between David and Jonathan in Old Testament and has some utterly beautiful music. Director Mark Streshinsky takes the love…

  • The Lamplighters Present H.M.S. Pinafore

    * Notes * Lamplighters Music Theatre began a charming run of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore (ovation pictured, photograph by the author) yesterday at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The production is polished and entertaining. The plot is somewhat similar to Verdi's Il Trovatore, but on a ship in England. There are…

  • West Edge Opera’s Dolores

    * Notes * West Edge Opera gave the world premiere of Nicolás Lell Benavides' Dolores yesterday in Oakland. Set in 1968, the opera is about labor leader Dolores Huerta during the Delano Grape Strike. The piece is timely, moving, and, at times quite funny. The music has a lot of interesting textures, and Maestra Mary…

  • Merola’s Le Comte Ory

    * Notes * Merola Opera Program opened a delightful production of Le Comte Ory (Eva Rae Martinez as Comtesse Adèle and Minghao Liu as Le Comte Ory in Act II pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) last night at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. This funny Rossini rarity has…