2020-2021 Season Will Be Announced January 22, 2020.
2020-2021 Season
Fidelio
Così fan tutte
2021-2022 Season
Don Giovanni
Other Rumors
Adriane Lecouvreur
Orfeo ed Euridice
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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The soprano that created the role of Bess in the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess died last Friday.Leave a comment
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Bass-baritone Marco Vinco is scheduled to sing the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro at San Francisco Opera from October 15 to December 5, 2010.
Marco Vinco's Official Site | SF Opera's Official Site
(Thanks to Immanuel for sending this in.)
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* Notes *
The American Bach Soloists performed four Bach cantatas yesterday evening in San Francisco. The concert began with a bit of a rehearsal for the audience, as we were to sing the final chorales for Cantatas 140, 78, and 80.When the actual soloists started singing Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, they were a bit difficult to hear over the instruments. The tenor, Jeffrey Thomas, who is also the Artistic and Music Director of the ensemble, seemed a bit frail. His recitative "Er kommt, er kommt" was not secure, and one was a bit afraid his voice would crack at any moment during "Zion hört die Wächter singen." On the other hand, soprano Yulia van Doren sounded bell-like and baritone William Sharp quite warm in their first duet, "Wann kömmst du, mein Heil." The violino piccolo was assertive here, but certainly played well.
The sole solo cantata was Ich habe genug, BWV 82, sung by William Sharp. The performance was less than scintillating, but was lovely in any case. John Abberger's oboe playing was fine and clean for the most part, only a few of the trills sounded somewhat smudged.
Jeffrey Thomas was in better voice for in Jesu, der du meine Seele, his aria was good. The duet, "Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten," between the soprano and alto was gorgeous. The alto, Jennifer Lane, has a pretty voice that is not perhaps not striking, but blends well. The low strings and basso continuo all played very beautifully as well here.
There were times during Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott in which the singers seemed almost incidental, because of the prominence of the high strings. However, van Doren had a creamy clarity, despite a few slight gasps.
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The audience sang better than one would expect, even the diction was fairly good. There was no speaking during the performance, nor much electronic noise except some high-pitched hearing aid sounds. There was a little rustling of programs and a few times objects were accidental dropped on the wooden floor.Leave a comment
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* Notes *
James Conlon conducted San Francisco Symphony in a performance of Berlioz, Liszt, and Shostakovich yesterday evening. The horn timing seemed somewhat off in Berlioz's Le Corsaire Overture, though I do not know the piece, so certainly I cannot say this definitively. The flutes played very deftly, and the brass did sound quite clear near the end of the piece. Jean-Yves Thibaudet was the soloist for Liszt's second piano concerto. The work is lush and pretty, and Thibaudet had a contrasting blunt vehemence at times, though he certainly played well. The part with only cello and piano was particularly lovely, and Thibaudet's arpeggios sounded remarkably harp-like.Conlon spoke on the themes of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, and the orchestra gave the various musical examples. Conlon's arrangement of Shostakovich's opera into a suite is engaging and the orchestra played with a great intensity. There were moments that were almost unbearably loud. With the exception of occasional raggedness from the horns, the musicians were in fine form.
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The audience was well-behaved, only a bit of coughing and one watch alarm were heard during the music.Leave a comment
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* Notes *
James Conlon, the Music Director of Los Angeles Opera, and Dr. Katherine Syer gave talks at the Wagner Society of Northern California today in San Francisco. Conlon spoke on how he came to love classical music and Wagner, and how he decided to become a conductor a young age. We heard that the two conditions of accepting the position in LA was contingent upon being able to conduct both music by Wagner and composers suppressed by the Nazis. He also assured the audience that unless the Dorothy Chandler falls apart, the Ring Cycle will take place in Los Angeles. Much of his talk emphasized the primacy of music in opera, and how the ascendancy of the stage director can put this in jeopardy.Syer spoke on the many Ring Cycles that have been put on in the last decade. She discussed the use of masks and puppets, then turned our attention to uses of advanced technology, such as live camera feeds and the like. She showed clips of a production staged in Mexico City, in which almost all the singers wore masks. The performance took place behind a scrim, which had the image of a ring on it to frame the action. The other production that was focused on came from Vlaamse Opera, which uses video cameras and many television screens.
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James Conlon has sense of humor, he was amused by the introduction he was given, and denied that he likes oreos, as the Wikipedia article on him has claimed. He had a rather difficult time leaving, as many people stopped to talk to him on his way to the door.The people giggled at a particular staging shown and described to us by Dr. Syer. She jokingly admonished that it was "a very serious moment," and someone in the audience muttered that she was "going to become a Verdi fan."
The WSNC seems rife with bloggers, no less than three were spotted in the audience. It was rather sad to not be harrassed by Ruth Jacobs at the door. I had finally convinced her that I was, in fact, a member of the Wagner Society when we shared a box for Simon Boccanegra last September.
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* Notes *
San Francisco Opera's Medallion Society Luncheon was held yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton. George Hume, Sheri Greenawald, and David Gockley addressed the 660 people in attendance. Barbara K. Jackson was given the Spirit of the Opera Award.Adler Fellows Andrew Bidlack, Leah Crocetto, Dennis Doubin, Kenneth Kellogg, Austin Kness, David Lomelí, Heidi Melton, and Allen Perriello performed works from Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il Trovatore, Pagliacci, and La Traviata.
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The audience fairly good, though one's expecations were not particularly high, given that it was a luncheon. Mr. Feldheim of Not For Fun Only made a fine date to this event. He tolerated costume-like attire and all manner of opera-related chatter. Our table had a thank you note from SF Opera's Head of Music Staff, John Parr.Leave a comment
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Stephen Temperley's Souvenir, a play about Florence Foster Jenkins, is closing at ACT this weekend. The work is hilarious, and Judy Kaye does an impressive job singing quite badly. For the most part, Donald Corren was engaging as her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. His piano playing and singing were both perfectly fine. R. Michael Miller's set is simple but lovely and the costumes from Tracy Christensen looked historically accurate and made use of pleasing colors.The pacing was good, having just two characters never got dull, and one could appreciate the terrible singing even without knowing the arias or songs at hand. The first half of the evening was very funny, but after it bit it seemed somewhat cruel. A certain amount of self-delusion is probably unavoidable, and one did start to feel bad for Jenkins.
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The audience was sparse, though still rather noisy. Someone's listening device bothered me for most of the performance, the high pitches produced were unnerving.Leave a comment
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September 6- October 28 2009: Eugene Onegin
September 6-26 2009: El Cimarron
October 7 – November 12 2009: Lucia di Lammermoor
October 21-22 2009: La Traviata (Den Jyske Opera)
November 8 2009 – June 12 2010: Carmen
November 15- December 11 2009: Ariadne auf Naxos
December 20- February 1 2010: Tannhäuser
January 18- March 28 2010: Die Zauberflöte
January 9 – February 7 2010: Pelléas et Mélisande
February 9- April 12 2010: The Rake's Progress
February 17-18 2010: Idomeneo (Den Jyske Opera)
March 20- April 17 2010: Jephtha
March 26- May 1 2010: Elektra
April 23- May 19 2010: Skin Deep
April 30- June 5 2010: My Fair Lady (Concert Version)
May 4- June 7 1010: Waiting in NowhereLeave a comment
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