The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

  • Merola’s 53rd Season Participants

    Sopranos
    Janai Brugger, Chicago, Illinois
    Rebecca Davis, Naperville, Illinois
    Valentina Fleer, Moscow, Russia
    Hye Jung Lee, Seoul, Republic of Korea
    Abigail Santos Villalobos, Ciales, Puerto Rico
    Nadine Sierra, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

    Mezzo-sopranos
    Colleen Brooks, Platteville, Wisconsin
    Robyn Flynn, Orlando, Florida
    Renee Rapier, Marion, Iowa

    Tenors
    Alexander Lewis, Sydney, Australia
    Daniel Montenegro, Santa Ana, California
    Kevin Ray, Cornwall, New York
    Eleazar Rodríguez, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico

    Baritones
    Benjamin Covey, Mallorytown, Ontario, Canada
    Dan Kempson, Wilton, Connecticut
    Ao Li, Shandong, People’s Republic of China
    Sidney Outlaw, Brevard, North Carolina

    Bass-baritones
    Thomas Florio, Manassas, Virginia
    Ryan Kuster, Jacksonville, Illinois

    Bass
    Kevin Thompson, Washington, DC

    Apprentice Coaches
    Jenna Douglas, Barrie, Ontario, Canada
    David Hanlon, Arlington, Virginia
    Natalia Katukova, Klin, Russia
    Michael Spassov, Ottawa, Canada

    Apprentice Stage Director
    Ted Huffman, Greenwich, Connecticut

    Official Site | Biographies

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  • Robertson conducts St. Louis Symphony

    David-robertson * Notes * 
    The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra came to San Francisco for two performances at Davies Hall, the first of which occurred yesterday evening. David Robertson had the musicians well in hand, they seemed entirely together and produced a gorgeous, clear sound. The performance started with Christopher Rouse's Rapture, which has an apt title and did sound quite like spiritual exaltation. The trombones were particularly fine in their playing. Gil Shaham joined the orchestra as the soloist for Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor. The second movement was stunning, and the low strings were especially moving. Shaham's playing was vivid.

    The second half of the program began with Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 in C Major. The brass section was lucid, and the horns were exceptionally good. The Vivacissimo was just that, spirited and brilliant, and the tempi in general seemed appropriate. The performance ended with the Doctor Atomic Symphony from John Adams, who was sitting in Loge A. The piece sounded beautiful, and the trumpet solo was absolutely ravishing.

    * Tattling * 
    Though San Francisco Symphony very kindly provides press tickets to me, I still have a subscription and occasionally buy single tickets in the Center Terrace. There was some light snoring during the second movement of the Prokofiev, but very little noise until the last piece. A plump, grey-haired woman old enough to be my grandmother just behind me was speaking at full volume during John Adams, and after turning around once to express my displeasure, to no avail, I was forced to hushed her. She leaned over and hissed "Bitch" into my hair, to which I could only laugh. After the ovation, I asked her if she had really hurled an expletive at me during the performance, to which she responded "Why, yes I did." I thanked her for being quiet for the rest of the performance, and her companion told me that I should hear the things she calls him.

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  • The Tender Land at Berkeley Opera

    Tenderland-berkeley * Notes *
    The production of Aaron Copland's The Tender Land at Berkeley Opera is both lively and heartfelt. The music was quite cute and rather transparent, and the thirteen musicians sounded together under Philip Kuttner. The singing was consistent and the acting was convincing. The chorus sounded nice during the party scene in Act II.

    Of the principals, contralto Julianne Booth (Ma Moss) was perhaps the weakest, she only sang the one performance on April 16, and she seemed off from the music at first. She also tripped at one point during the Act I. Paul Cheak sounded confident as Grandpa Moss, and even his lowest notes were not obscured by the orchestra. Lee Steward and Paul Murray were believable as the two strangers, Martin and Top, respectively. Their voices blended nicely together. Steward had some trouble with his highest notes, but managed to be heard. Amy Foote was darling as the heroine Laurie. She has a lovely voice, that has a wonderful ease until she gets to her upper register, where she does sound a bit strained. It seems that she needs to use a lot of vibrato to project her voice up at the top.

    The production, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, was tasteful and simple. Chad Owens' set was elegant, and the one major scene change in Act II was quite clever. Jeremy Knight's projections were for the most part not too cumbersome, and the switch from black and white to color near the end was effective.

    * Tattling * 
    The much of the audience was inattentive, talking despite being hushed many times, and generally acted as if they were in their living rooms at home. The cynical woman in Row M Seat 30 was particularly obnoxious. In the second half she spent the whole time crumpling a cellophane packet of biscuits, which she never seemed to open or to put away. Before the end of the opera, when we could hear the exposed woodwinds still clearly playing, she declared, at full volume "Is that all?" to her companion, who did not respond audibly.

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  • Thom Yorke at the Fox Theater

    Thom-yorke * Notes *
    Thom Yorke and Atoms for Peace played two shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, before heading off to Santa Barbara and Coachella this weekend. I am often at a loss about what to make of the music young people listen to or the lighting displays at such events as these. Thom Yorke has a pretty voice and an oddly graceful stage presence. Despite amplification, he was most audible when only accompanied by his own piano or guitar playing. The band played together and was very loud.

    * Tattling *
    The audience was rather excited at the Thursday performance I attended, and a small number of people in the front mezzanine chose to stand up instead of taking their seats. One can only imagine this blocked the view of the audience members behind them. An usher in this area stood in aisle, and I crankily mentioned to him that I hardly came to this show to stare at the back of his head. He told me that I would "catch more flies with honey," but did make efforts to get out the way. A young woman behind me thanked me for saying something, as he was in her sight-line as well.

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  • LA Opera’s Die Gezeichneten Media Round-Up

    Production Web Site | Press Photographs

    Reviews: The Opera Tattler | Out West Arts | OC Register | Variety | LA Times

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  • PBO’s Orlando Media Round-Up

    Production Web Site | Press Photographs

    Performance Reviews: The Opera Tattler | Not For Fun Only | Civic Center | The Reverberate Hills |  Mercury News | SF Chronicle

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  • The Adler Fellows in The Stronger & The Impresario

    Adlers2010 * Notes * 
    Half a dozen Adler Fellows put on Hugo Weisgall's The Stronger and Mozart's The Impresario at Livermore Valley Opera last Sunday. Pianist Tamara Sanikidze played the astringent music with aplomb, and Leah Crocetto managed to command attention despite how unsympathetic the character of Estelle could be. Maya Lahyani acted the mute role of Lisa convincingly, and without being reduced to a mime.

    Allen Periello and Tamara Sanikidze were entirely adorable in their highly choreographed performance of the overture to The Impresario (Der Schauspieldirektor) on piano. This involved both high-fives and switching who played the high notes, all to hilarious effect. Periello played most of the rest of the opera by himself, quite prettily, and Sanikidze joined him again for the finale. The three singers, Austin Kness, Susannah Biller, and Sarah Gartland, took on German, French, and English accents, respectively. It was exceedingly silly and came off well. The singing was fine, though the ladies did get a bit shrill at times, though that fit the dynamic of their rivalry perfectly.

    * Tattling * 
    The audience was uncommonly attentive, no electronic noise was noted, and no one talked or whispered during the music. There was much laughing during the second opera.

    I later heard that they were supposed to have three operas and not just two, the third featuring Ryan Belongie and Maya Lahyani. Curiously enough, Belongie was listed on Livermore Valley Opera's official site as one of the singers in the performance, though he did not appear on stage.

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  • Jennifer Higdon wins Pulitzer

    Jennifer Higdon has won a Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto.

    Pulitzer | Official Site

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  • Die Gezeichneten at LA Opera

    Stigmatized-la-opera * Notes *
    Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten opened last night as part of LA Opera‘s Recovered Voices series. The music is rather voluptuous, yet oddly shimmery as well, and certainly is very beautiful. For the most part, the orchestra held together under James Conlon. The sound, while at times quite robust, did not overwhelm the principal singers. The brass had some blurry edges, particularly in an exposed moment near the end of the opera. The chorus, however, sounded lovely in the last act and entirely together.

    Despite the obsurity of the opera, there were many familiar faces to be seen in this production. On stage were former Merolini Matthew Moore and Ben Wager, as well as former Adlers Kenneth Kellogg and Eugene Brancoveanu. Beau Gibson, who was in Salome and Otello this season in San Francisco, sang Menaldo very prettily. Another stand out in the smaller roles was Keith Jameson, who was deliciously evil has Pietro.

    The three lead roles were sung admirably. Baritone Martin Gantner was a brazen Count Tamare, he swaggered and suited the part. His voice is strong, and has a nice warmth. The tenor, Robert Brubaker, had a fine debut as Alviano. His sound had a surprising heft to it, although he was not exceptionally loud. He was sympathetic, and he delivered the last lines of the opera with poignancy. Anja Kampe showed great flexibility as Carlotta, she acted convincingly and her voice is tremendous. Her duets with Brubaker in Act II and Gantner in Act III were both impressive.

    Ian Judge’s production was busy and cluttered, despite having rather little in the way of props. The projections, designed by Wendall K. Harrington, covered a scrim in front of the stage, the upstage background, and the raked floor. Perhaps my perspective was off, given that I was all the way at the top of the house, and I was not experiencing all these visuals in their appropriate context. At times I felt relieved that I could not see the upstage projections, as the ones I could see were dizzying enough. There were spectacular moments, but the rape scene near the end was brutal. One would have liked, perhaps, to have been warned about this beforehand. Unlike the rather tame and boring bacchanal from Tannhäuser a few years back, this “orgy,” though appropriate to the circumstances of the plot, was intensely disturbing.

    * Tattling * 
    Balcony B had rows of empty seats, so it was not difficult to find a seat away from other audience members. However, both talking and snoring were heard during the performance.

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  • Händel’s Orlando at PBO

    William-towers * Notes * 
    Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra opened a run of Händel's Orlando last night at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The opera was semi-staged, which made a rather silly opera perhaps even less convincing than it might have been. Production aside, the music was lovely. The orchestra sounded cohesive and jaunty under Nicholas McGegan. The strings were crisp and clean, and though the woodwinds were less than perfect in the first Sinfonia, they were otherwise very good. The horns fared pretty well in Act I, Scene 3's "Non fu già men forte Alcide," only a handful of errors were noted.

    The cast was uniformly strong. Bass-baritone Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Zoroastro) did gasp slightly, but has a warm, rich tone. Susanne Rydén was very funny as Dorinda, and her crystalline voice was not without warmth. Sometimes I was not always sure she was hitting the middle of each note, especially at the beginning of Act I, when she chirped through "Quando spieghi i tuoi tormenti." The mezzo-soprano, Diana Moore, had impressive breath control, and her big aria in Act II as Medoro came off fantastically.

    The fullness of Dominique Labelle's voice worked nicely for Angelica, she was never overwhelming and her vibrato was under control. One of the best moments of the opera was the trio at the end of Act I featured Labelle, Moore and Rydén. In the title-role, countertenor William Towers may have started off a bit thinly, but sang beautifully for the rest of the evening. His "Gia lo stringo, gia l'abbraccio" in Act III was wonderful.

    * Tattling * 
    Aside from some whispering in the first act, the audience members around me on the right side of the orchestra level were attentive and quiet. There was noticeable audience attrition at the second intermission, as the performance was 3.5 hours long.

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