The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

  • Tra la la. Largo al factotum.

    Operaboxlevel* Notes *
    Alarmingly, the fifth performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia this season was worse than opening night, at least as far as Act I. John Osborn (Count Almaviva) was flat, Allyson McHardy (Rosina) gasped in her prominent aria "Una voce poco fa," Nathan Gunn (Figaro) seemed more concerned with his Vespa than with singing, and the finale of Act I was not together. This last bit was rather embarrassing, utter chaos. Act II was markedly better, but on the whole not inspired.


    * Tattling *
    Because the performance began half an hour earlier than usual, in order to get us to bed at a reasonable time, there were many latecomers. They were not allowed to take their seats, so there were nearly two dozen disgruntled patrons waiting about in standing room, For some reason, they preferred to speak during the arias, duets, and ensembles rather than the recitative.


    I’ve also noticed that people love to check their mobile devices during the performances, one young lady in X 102 seemed to be intently staring at her phone. I don’t much care if people are paying attention or not, but the lighted screen is distracting.

    Considering my lack of enthusiasm for this production, perhaps I should not go again for the Sunday matinee. I’ve already made two more dates to see in the latter half of the month, so maybe five times isn’t strictly necessary.

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  • SF Opera Workers Ratify 5-year Contract

    Chronicle Article

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  • To Hell and Back

    Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra premiered the new Jake Heggie opera To Hell and Back last weekend.

    Janice Berman's Article | Joshua Kosman's Review

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  • SF Chronicle Review of Barbiere

    Joshua Kosman uses a soufflé metaphor.

    SF Chronicle Article| SF Opera Information

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  • Opening of Il Barbiere

    Barbiereopening2006* Notes *
    A revival of Johannes Schaaf’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia production from 2003 opened last night on Halloween. Hans Dieter Schaal’s set looked as white and stark as ever, the centerpiece being a German fantasy of the Barbie Malibu Dream House, which Thomas May describes as "Bauhaus inflected." The scene changes do go quite smoothly as the set turns. The construction site complete with manhole and barrier with blinking light in Act I was a bit gratuitous, at least it was off to the right from the orchestra.

    Perhaps I’m missing something, but Nathan Gunn’s voice is not spectacular. The baritone does cut a nice figure as Figaro, but his voice is a bit light and languid. Mezzo Allyson McHardy (Rosina) has a dark tone, strong, but some of her arpeggios were muddy. I liked her very much as Olga in Eugene Onegin, and it was interesting to hear her as the lead this time around. John Osborn (Count Almaviva) is possibly the loudest tenor we’ve had all season, he has a good deal of vibrato, which perhaps makes his intonation less than perfect. Baritone Bruno de Simone (Dr. Bartolo) enunciated well, his parlando parts were all clear. Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu sang well as Fiorello, and he also was the Sargeant, but there isn’t much singing for the latter. His voice has a notable resonance that Gunn’s lacks.

    * Tattling *
    A young man was whispering into his cellular phone in standing room during the overture. After he was done with his call, he tried to go to his seat in the orchestra, but the usher would not allow him in. He argued with her for a bit, then tried the usher at the center aisle, who also did not allow him to take his seat.

    There weren’t that many costumes this year, sadly. The house was not full either.

    * Overheard *
    The third and fourth people in the standing room line told the house manager that his absence at the final performance of Rigoletto was sorely missed, as there were many people in line and much chaos. They also expressed their disapproval of latecomers who talked in standing room, and the house manager assured them that they were working on having the opera on screens in the lobby.

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  • Wiederaufnahme Idomeneo

    Neuenfelsheads3The Hans Neuenfels production of Idomeneo at Deutsche Oper Berlin has been rescheduled for December 18th and 29th of this year. At the moment, cast has not been announced.

    Deutsche Oper Berlin Statement| IHT Article

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  • 2007 Adler Fellows

    Adlers2007The four new Adler Fellows for 2007 are Heidi Melton, Ji Young Yang, Katharine Tier, and Noah Stewart. They join second year fellows Rhoslyn Jones, Melody Moore, Elza van den Heever, Kendall Gladen, Matthew O'Neill, Sean Panikkar, Jeremy Galyon, and Matthew Piatt.

    Press Release | SF Opera Adler Fellow Web Site

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  • Idomeneo Rescheduled

    Dob_1 Deutsche Oper Berlin decided to reschedule Idomeneo for two performances before the end of the year. All this controversy certainly is suspect, perhaps it is true that no publicity is bad publicity. I suppose if I were running an opera house in a city with two other major competitors, I might try a few stunts myself. Particularly when the house in question may well be the ugliest one in all the land. The building dates from 1961, as should be obvious. Berlin’s "most modern opera house" is said to have an "elegant retro-design," but I cannot say the concrete block is inspiring in any way. The inside is even more horrid, what with the dated wood paneling and mustard-yellow upholstery. One only hopes that in a few decades the kitsch-factor will become humorous instead of just painful.

    Deutsche Oper Berlin Architecture | IHT Article

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  • SF Opera Podcast

    OperahouseThis season, instead of sending subscribers a yearbook going over all of the operas showing at San Francisco Opera, they sent out a double CD with David Gockley talking about each opera and playing clips. Seattle Opera has been doing this for a few years as well, and this format is useful as one can get a feel for the actual music. Mr. Gockley certainly is entertaining, his tone is unpretentious. The music used is from the San Francisco Opera archive, so there was no clip of Iphigénie en Tauride, as it has never been given here.

    The preview of the 2006-2007 season has been made into a podcast, along with a September 15, 2006 interview with Deborah Voigt. I must say their suggestions for when to listen are hilarious: Listen while you drive to work, do the laundry, or work out at the gym.

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  • Wie, hör’ ich das Licht?

    Isolde_1* Notes *
    The     Wagner Society of Northern California held a symposium on Tristan und Isolde last Saturday, October 21, 2006. There were seven speakers whose topics ranged from the day-to-day administration of Tristan at San Francisco Opera to a Jungian analysis of Wagner. The turn out was good, about a hundred people.

    The highlight of the day was the round table with Christine Brewer and Jane Irwin, both were charming. Kip Cranna, who interviewed them, always speaks well. I also very much enjoyed Evan Baker’s talk on Tristan und Isolde in Vienna, not least because of his amusing slides. Particularly interesting were Hoffmann’s watercolors of the original sets for Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, which Baker photoshopped into an engraving of the Nationaltheater München’s stage. This doesn’t seem to have much to with the talk, subtitled "The Iconoclastic Mahler/Roller Production of Tristan und Isolde," but it did show how this Viennese production was a departure. He went on to speak about Adolphe Appia, the Wiener Werkstätte, and the Secessionists, all with plenty of visuals.

    * Tattling *
    The main purpose of this Wagner society is to wrangle tickets to the Richard-Wagner-Festspiele in Bayreuth. Sandra Molyneaux signed me up for a membership and later checked up on me to see how the day was going. She asked if I was interested in going to Bayreuth, and I must admit it is tempting. The last time I was there was in 1998 for a semester abroad, and naturally I did not have tickets to the Festspiele. It was interesting to see Bayreuth go from the quiet university town that it is most of the year to Wagnerstadt in the summer.

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