The Opera Tattler was quite shocked to see how poorly behaved certain audience members were at the Bregenzer Festspiele in the latest James Bond movie.
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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* Notes *
Michael Tilson Thomas conducted San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn, Barber, and Beethoven last week. The Haydn was Symphony No. 60 in C major, Il distratto, which was sprightly and perfectly cute. This made for a nice contrast with Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which is a bit moodier. The soloist, soprano Erin Wall, produced a lovely pure-toned sound.I have never been mad about the Beethoven at hand, his Symphony No. 6 in F Major, known as Pastoral. It is a descriptive work on nature, and this of course bring to mind the bovine, at least for me. However, all these silly thoughts fell away as I listened to San Francisco Symphony play. The singing, limpid sound of the strings was particularly beautiful, and the brass and woodwinds all sounded very clean as well.
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The audience talked a bit during all the pieces, but fairly quietly.Leave a Reply
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Stéphane Lissner has extended his contract at La Scala through 2013.
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* Notes *
La Bohème opened yesterday afternoon at San Francisco Opera with incoming music director Nicola Luisotti conducting. His tempi were quite elastic, though even when he drew out parts, they did not sound sluggish in the least. The singing was all fine, even wobbly Norah Ansellem (Musetta) managed to be convincing, though her high notes were not pretty. Oren Gradus sang Colline's "Vecchia zimarra" beautifully. Quinn Kelsey did well as Marcello, his warm tones were lovely, though his voice was noticeably louder than the others. Piotr Beczala's Rodolfo sounded vulnerable, particularly in "Che gelida manina." I found the big star of the performance, Angela Gheorghiu, a bit difficult to hear over the orchestra at times. When audible, her voice can be sublime, and she does sound better in this than in La Rondine last season.I did not actually watch this first performance, so I have little to say about the production. The set and costumes are standard fare for Bohème, everything looks as one would expect.
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It has been a long time since an opera performance was ruined for me, and given that I go so often, it was bound to happen. Everything was going well in balcony standing room for the first 2 hours and 40 minutes, no latecomers tried to speak to me, no one's cellular phones or watch alarms could be heard, and so forth. Then in the last five minutes, two middle aged men started talking aloud right next to me. One had complained of feeling faint, and so, like me, was sitting in the back. His friend apparently had grown tired of standing room as well, and they could not be quiet, they even giggled as Mimi died. Usually when the last notes of the piece ring out, I feel like I have been kicked in the stomach, and some part of my brain is highly annoyed at Puccini for being so manipulative. This time though, these couple of cretins managed to destroy that effect. Even the sing-along woman at SF Lyric was not able to do that!Leave a Reply
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Composer Conrad Susa gave an amusing talk entitled "In Wagner’s Musical Forge: Das Rheingold" on Saturday afternoon. The focus was very much on the music itself, as evidenced by the beginning of the score taped to the wall. Susa played recordings of Bach's F Major Toccata and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, and demonstrated how Wagner stole from these composers. He also extolled the virtues of Pythagoras, having proved music mathematically and elevating music to a sublime and divine art. Entertainingly enough, Susa called atonal music inhuman and political.
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David Gockley confirmed that Peter Grimes, which was to be part of the 2009-2010 season at San Francisco Opera, is likely to be one of the casualties of the economic downturn, just as La Cieca reported yesterday. Gockley also promised to add "no sniffling" to the list of admonitions printed in the program.
In related news, the cast for this season's Porgy and Bess has been finally announced, at least, officially. The cast includes Eric Owens (Porgy), Laquita Mitchell (Bess), Gregg Baker (Crown), Karen Slack (Serena), Chauncey Parker (Sportin' Life), Angel Blue (Clara), Eric Greene (Jake), and Alteouise deVaughn (Maria).
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* Notes *
The latest revival of La Bohème at San Francisco Opera may be very good indeed, if the final dress rehearsal was any indication. Though I am not crazy about La Gheorghiu, all the signs are good, she may well look and sound completely convincing as Mimi by the opening on Sunday. The rest of the cast is strong, so I actually do look forward to the upcoming performances.* Tattling *
The audience in the Grand Tier was quite enthused. I especially enjoyed overhearing that Gheorghiu is "like a cross between one of the muppets and Judy Garland."Nicola Luisotti had a white sweater draped dashingly over a navy blue shirt that he removed each time he was to actually conduct. It was difficult not to giggle at this.
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The Met has canceled The Ghosts of Versailles next season and will have La Traviata instead.
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The San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle in 2011 may be canceled.
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The rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog. I was tagged by Extatic of Pêcheurs de perles.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. If you don't have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.The 7 facts:
1. I have not yet attended an opera performance in France or Italy, though I've been to ones in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland, and the UK.
2. My first opera experience was because of figure skating. In 1988 there was the "Battle of the Carmens," and as a result my father took me to see a film version of Bizet's Carmen at a cinema in Pasadena.
3. I played the viola in my high school's orchestra and quartet. I've never played an opera but have played for a school production of Into the Woods.
4. I am trained in both Graham technique and belly dance.
5. I suspect something is weird about my head, because it has been mistaken for everything from Peruvian to Tibetan, and pretty much everything in-between.
6. My fastest mile time is 5 minutes and 50 seconds, though these days I'm lucky if I can pull off a mile in under 7 minutes.
7. I have a giddy fondness for fake meat, but am not a vegetarian.I tag:
1. Operatic Vengeance – Astrafiammante is the first opera blogger I've met in real life, her reviews always make me laugh.
2. The Standing Room – M. C— is probably the reason any of you are reading my blog in the first place.
3. Not For Fun Only – Axel Feldheim is a both unassuming and insightful.
4. The Reverberate Hills - I often read Patrick Vaz's reviews and wish I had written them.
5. Civic Center – sfmike takes splendid photographs and often has the backstage view of what's going on at SF Opera.
6. Iron Tongue of Midnight – Lisa Hirsch is much smarter than I am. She's also much better prepared.
7. Opéra Chanteuse – JRD has impeccable fashion sense and fine taste in literature.Leave a Reply
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