The Opera Tattler

* Notes *

Merola Opera Program continued the summer season with La Tragédie de Carmen (soprano Anna Thompson as Micaëla and mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach as Carmen pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) on Thursday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This reimagining of Bizet’s Carmen by Peter Bronk is concise and provocative. The singing was exceedingly strong.

Director Mo Zhou made use of projections and used much imagery around roses and knives. She gave more agency to Carmen than one normally sees. The revised score from composer Marius Constant had the small orchestra under Maestra Stephanie Rhodes Russell sounding rather exposed. There was some shakiness and tentativeness at times, but the singers always sounded robust. The brass was clear, as was the percussion.

This format gave us the opportunity to hear many beloved snippets of this opera. There was no telling what order the music would come in, and sometimes arias were combined to create duets and sometimes we heard pre-recorded music. Mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach was impressive in the title role, with very rich low notes and beautiful high notes as well. She is quite sultry, which works for Carmen.

Tenor Charles Styles is suitably maniacal as Don José, his sound is brash and brassy, while soprano Anna Thompson (Micaëla) is clear and crystalline without a hint of shrillness. Baritone Raúl Morales Velazco is dashing as Escamillo and had good volume. Tenor Logan Wager as Lilas Pastia is sympathetic; he showed up throughout this rendering.

* Tattling *

There was some rustling of cough drop wrappers at one point, but very little other noise or bad behavior from the audience.