The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

  • Don Pasquale

    The Merola Opera Program is an 11-week summer program of performance and study under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera. The program culminates in two fully staged and costumed productions, in this case, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

    The two performances of the former production were held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a rather staid venue. As charming as Donizetti’s music is, the cast was mediocre, no one particularly stood out as truly gifted, though it must be said, the acting was solid. The production itself was a bit dull, soprano Rhoslyn Jones first appeared as Norina in a bubble bath, o-la-la, indeed. Her voice is nothing special, not so comfortable in the high range. Baritone Alexander Tall (Malatesta) and tenor Jeremy Little (Ernesto) both lacked vocal power and vitality.

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  • Faust

    Ferruccio Busoni’s Doctor Faustus ended the 2003-2004 season at San Francisco Opera. It was a co-production with Staatsoper Stuttgart, which was immediately apparent, as the set looked very much like the inside of a laboratory. I felt I was suddenly transported back to Munich! The music was unmemorable, neither pleasing nor displeasing. Rodney Gilfry’s voice is quite good, but the music did not show this.

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  • Cunning

    The saving grace of Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen is this opera’s brevity, a mere 1 hour and 45 minutes. San Francisco Opera’s co-production with the Bregenzer Festspiele and Grand Théâtre de Genève closed Thursday, 1. July 2004. The set and costumes were all quite bright, something out of a fairytale. I’ll admit that I enjoyed the frog in his raincoat and galoshes and also the chickens. I find Janáček’s music unbearably boring though.

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  • Lorito il becco aprì, un pocco di prezzemolo da Socrate morì!

    Mark Lamos’ 1996 production of La Bohème is quite beautiful. Michael Yeargan’s set is nearly perfect, the garrett opens up nicely into the Latin Quarter so that Act I transitions seamlessly into Act II. If only they could have done the same with Acts III and IV, the gorgeous Act III set for the Barrière d’Enfer is too clunky to be disassembled without an intermission. Walter Mahoney’s costumes are appropriate, Musetta’s costume at Café Momus is particularly grand, black velvet with white fur trim. The choreography was lilting almost until the very end.

    As far as the January cast went Vinson Cole (Rodolfo) had a lovely voice, though his acting wasn’t passionate. Neither of the female leads, Olga Guryakova (Mimi) and Dina Kuznetsova (Musetta), impressed me, but they weren’t bad either. Mariusz Kwiecien was strong as Marcello, his singing and acting were solid. Ayk Martirossian sang Colline’s last aria "Vecchia zimarra, senti" admirably, though that aria always strikes me as terribly absurd. Troy Cook made a dashing Schaunard, even if his voice is a little weak.

    The star of the summer cast was undoubtedly Anna Netrebko, whose pure icy voice shone as Musetta. "Quando me n’vò" was one of the more thrilling moments in the opera. Elena Prokina’s Mimi seemed lackluster and strained in comparison. Frank Lopardo was somewhat weak and belabored as Rodolfo. Scott Hendricks was adequate as Marcello. As for the two who played Schaunard, Johannes Martin Kränzle’s voice was stronger than Brad Alexander’s, but Troy Cook from January may have been the best actor of the three. Freidemann Röhlig’s voice doesn’t seem fully formed to me, he lacks the gravity that Ayk Martirossian possesses. But he was better as Colline than Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail).

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  • Il Trovatore at LA Opera

    RadvanovskyfarinafrontaliStephen Lawless' production of Il Trovatore at Los Angeles Opera, designed by Benoit Dugardyn, was rather dark and oppressive. Thankfully, the principal singers were adequate and the music is wonderful, so the performance came off well. Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has pretty voice that is neither piercing nor shrill. Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick was strong and clear as Azucena. Tenor Franco Farina was fairly good as Manrico, he had enough volume at least. Disappointingly, baritone Roberto Frontali as Count di Luna was too quiet.

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  • Naxos

    AriadneseattleLast March I saw Seattle Opera's production of Ariadne auf Naxos. Dahlstrom's set was depressing, especially the prologue which looked like we were behind the scenes in the McCaw Hall itself. I hope Jane Eaglen has a nicer changing room though, not one marked by a blue circle and white icon that characterizes a women's bathroom sign. Director Chris Alexander wanted to update the opera to the present time, but I'm not sure that this made the opera any more accessible. The whole production lacked charm and warmth, even with the absurd fireworks ending. Jane Eaglen as the Prima Donna/Ariadne was impressive, but she does make everyone else sound bad in comparison.

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  • Le précaution inutile

    On 13. January 2004, I attended my third performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia at San Francisco Opera. This new production is owned by San Francisco Opera, but the stage director, set designer, and dramaturge have all worked at the Stuttgart Opera, and it showed. The set looked very much like a German fantasy of the Barbie Malibu Dream House, the clean white lines, sparse bare rooms. The set was very effective use of space, but, in my (naive) native Southern Californian opinion, was not particularly beautiful. The staging was tiresome at times, it was a little childish, having Rosina play around with her stuffed kangaroo, the Vespa with acrobat, the umbrella that flies away during the storm (the audience cheered every time, naturally), and so forth.

    The singing was very solid. Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), her debut to San Francisco in this production last November, was strong. She is a strapping sassy lass, and has a very rich voice. Matthew Polenzani (Count Almaviva) was not bad, his voice is sweet, and his volume is pretty good. Thomas Hampson (Figaro) has a much louder voice than Troy Cook, who sang in the role last Fall. Hampson’s movements were not as fluid, nor as dashing, but he had a certain charm. Francesco Corti’s conducting was especially shaky in the first overture. All in all though, the whole performance came off rather well.

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  • Asnchensk

    Staatsoper Stuttgart’s production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk came to San Francisco for six performances last November. The set was stark and geometric. The choreography was highly artificial and omnipresent, at times it was effective.

    Soprano Solveig Kringelborn was excellent as the lead, Katerina Lvovna Ismailova. Her voice was powerful, but she had good control as well. Christopher Ventris as Sergei was one of the better tenors I’ve heard this year, his voice is very pretty indeed. Also strong was mezzo-soprano Jane Dutton, who had the small part of Sonyetka in Act IV. Her duet with Sergei was the high point of the opera.

    Shostakovich’s music was at times melodramatic, but on the whole, it was rather good.

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  • From 3. Sérénade

    Les cités nouvelles
    Où Dieu me guida
    Ne me semblaient pas belles,
    Tu n’étais pas là;
    Tout durant l’absence
    Est indifférence.

    Fromental Halévy’s La Juive, a grand opera in five acts, premiered in 23. February 1835. Günter Krämer’s production just finishing up now at the Metropolitan Opera first premiered on 23. October 1999 at the Wiener Staatsoper. I attended the 69th performance of this opera at the Met, and the man from Baltimore just to my right said he had waited more than 30 years to see it. This is no surprise, as La Juive was last seen at the Met 68 seasons ago. Its last performance in the United States was in 1973.

    As soon as I learnt that the production was from Vienna, I kept my expectations for the staging very low. The opera takes place in Konstanz (in Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland), and the costumes were mostly Dirndl and Lederhosen for the German Christian characters. Since the opera is in French, this is something of a surreal experience. The Jews wore modern suits, but the title character’s black dress looked more like it was from 1940. It was somewhat depressing to compare these costumes with Caruso and Ponselle’s for the 1919-1920 production on display in the lobby.

    The set was sparse and uninspired, the opera opened with a wall of glass doors.

    The music itself was beautiful throughout, nothing overwrought, at times less than compelling.

    As for the singing, I was most impressed by the American tenor Neil Shicoff (Eléazar), whose voice was powerful and had an intensity that I have rarely heard from a tenor. Soile Isokoski was adequate as Rachel, Elizabeth Futral was a slightly shrill Princess Eudoxie, and Eric Cutler was a somewhat dull Léopold.

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  • Don Carlos

    Way back in November 2003 I attended a couple performances of Don Carlos at San Francisco Opera. They did a five act French version, which is unusual. The two leads, Marina Mescheriakova as Elisabeth and Mark Duffin as Don Carlos, were not particularly impressive. The former was shrill and stiff, the latter was too quiet. Bo Skovhus (Rodrigue) was solid as always, though his movements were somewhat arachnid-like. Violeta Urmana (Princess Eboli) was excellent, her voice was strong and fiery. Her acting was also very good.

    The sets and costumes were pretty but not particularly exciting. I found the auto-da-fe to be overly stylized, instead of burning the victims alive, they have them attached to wires and they float away.

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