Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Michael Tilson Thomas is no longer conducting SF Symphony's performances of Iolanthe. George Manahan shall conduct instead, with Joyce Castle replacing Felicity Palmer as Queen of the Fairies. Sasha Cooke sings the title role, former Merolina Joélle Harvey sings Leila, and former Adler Fellow Lucas Meachem sings Strephon.
Event Details | Press Release [PDF]
Peter Pastreich has been appointed the executive director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. He takes up the position on June 1, 2009.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site | Background from IToM
Matías Tarnopolsky has been appointed the next director of Cal Performances.
Alexander Pereira is to become the next artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. He takes over from Jürgen Flimm in 2011, and Andreas Homoki takes over Pereira's current position at the Zurich Opera House.
Bloomberg Article [PDF] | Salzburg Festival
June 7 2009: The Bonesetter's Daughter
July 5 2009: L'Elisir d'Amore
August 2 2009: Idomeneo
September 6 2009: Tosca
October 4 2009: Opera in the Park
December 6 2009: La Traviata
Radio broadcasts of San Francisco Opera performances air the first Sunday of each month on Classical KDFC.
Oakland Opera Theater‘s new house is nearly finished, though the façade is not complete and some Health Department requirements need to be met. The next production, Händel’s Agrippina, is slated for July 24-26, 2009.
August 29 2009- April 5 2010: Tristan und Isolde
September 6- October 10 2009: La Traviata
September 5- November 14 2009: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
September 7-22 2009: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
September 15-17 2009: Così fan Tutte
September 23- October 25 2009 : Der Rosenkavalier
October 1- April 23 2010: Salome
October 24 2009- March 30 2010: Simon Boccanegra
November 1-15 2009: Lohengrin
November 19 2009- February 20 2010: La Bohème
November 21- December 6 2009: Die Fledermaus
December 7-22 2009: Il Turco in Italia
December 9 2009- January 9 2010: Die Zauberflöte
January 8-16 2010: Madama Butterfly
January 17-23 2010: Die Ferne Klang
February 4-14 2009: Agrippina
February 11- May 7 2010: Le Nozze di Figaro
February 21- March 7 2010: Faust
March 10- May 15 2010: Carmen
March 26- June 5 2010: Eugene Onegin
April 9-25 2010: Tosca
May 16-30 2010: L'etoile
May 18-28 2010: L'elisir d'amore
René Pape sings Gremin in Eugene Onegin and Méphistophélès in Faust. Domingo sings the title role in Boccanegra. Magdalena Kožená is Lazuli in L'etoile, conducted by Simon Rattle.
Official Site | 2009-2010 Season [PDF]
* Notes *
In his second week of performances with San Francisco Symphony, Bernard Labadie conducts an all-Händel program. The Thursday performance in San Francisco started quite impressively with Zadok the Priest. The piece ranged from beautifully stately to entertainingly bombastic. The trumpets were very fastidious, and the chorus perfectly lucid. My heart is inditing lacked the immediacy of the preceding work, though the woodwinds sounded particularly fine. Richard Paré, the soloist in the Organ Concerto No. 1 had a few uncomfortable hesitations in the 2nd movement. The first half ended with a pure-toned, but somewhat dull rendition of The King Shall Rejoice.
After the intermission, things picked up with Dettingen Te Deum. Countertenor Matthew White was on the edge of being overwhelmed, but his voice is quite sweet and pretty. The tenor, Frédéric Antoun, had all of two lines, but seemed strong and warm. Baritone Joshua Hopkins did not stand out, though his voice blended nicely with the other singers, and he was always audible. Again, the chorus sounded quite brilliant, and was always together. The brass had very few missteps, and overall the orchestra sounded smooth and clean.
* Tattling *
Attendance was somewhat sparse again, and everyone was exceedingly well-behaved during the music, at least on the Orchestra level. Nary a whisper was heard.
The Opera Tattler is now on Twitter. I will try my hand at tweeting during intermissions.
* Notes *
A performance of recent songs by Jake Heggie closed Music at Meyer's 2009 Season on Monday. Emily Albrink began the evening by singing Rise and Fall, four songs set to texts by Gene Scheer, accompanied by Heggie himself on piano. Albrink's soprano is cold and bell-like, she was particularly good in the last song, "The Shaman," which was rather jazzy. Brian Leerhuber sang 2 pieces from For a Look or a Touch. I find Leerhuber a very solid singer, but not striking. Cellist Emil Miland played a third piece from the work, "Silence," and this was possibly the most beautiful moment of the program. Next came tenor Nicholas Phan singing 4 songs based on the life of Poulenc, Friendly Persuasions. His voice is sweet and appealing, and his accompaniment of Julie McKenzie (flute), Carey Bell (clarinet), and Emile Miland (cello) was impressive.
After the intermission, the darling bass-baritone John Lindstrom sang a song set to Robert Browning's "Grow Old Along with Me!" Kristin Clayton and Frederica von Stade sang Facing Forward/Looking Back, 4 songs about mothers and daughters. Clayton had a few gasps, but her voice blended very nicely with von Stade's. This was the first time I have gotten an inkling into why von Stade is held in such high regard, her voice can be scintillating, and in those close quarters this was apparent. Catherine Cook held her own singing Statuesque with an ensemble of flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, and cello. Her voice is distinct, she had good volume for this space, and she is hilariously funny. She did crack or wheeze a little, but it was hardly distracting. The work itself did have a Broadway or jazz sensibility, and was fun.
* Tattling *
The performance was dedicated to the ailing Zheng Cao, who is friends with Heggie, von Stade, & co. The audience was fairly well-behaved, no cellular phones rang, no watch alarms sounded, and there was only a bit of whispering. During intermission, the coffee line was rather chaotic, and I noticed that the marketing director of San Francisco Opera cut in front of us. A moot point given that there was only decaf, so we did not actually get any coffee in the end.
The Opera Tattler 
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