The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

  • Dutoit conducts Fauré’s Requiem

    Charles-Dutoit-4x6* Notes * 
    At the moment, Charles Dutoit (pictured left) is conducting San Francisco Symphony in performances of Poulenc, Stravinsky, and Fauré. Poulenc’s Gloria began the concert on Thursday. The orchestra sounded bright and the chorus was cohesive. The “Laudamus te” was particularly jaunty. The soloist, soprano Susanna Phillips, sounded gorgeous. The “Domine Deus” was clear and haunting.

    The Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms, took a bit to set up, as the piece does not have high strings and also requires two pianos. The flute, oboe, and bassoon had a lovely moment.

    After intermission we heard Fauré’s Requiem. The soloists were both strong. Bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann has a rich, powerful voice. Susanna Phillips sounded rather sublime as well. The dynamics of the piece were evident, and the chorus’ pianissimo was impressive.

    * Tattling * 
    There was only a brief exchange around me by one couple at one point during the last piece.

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  • San Diego Opera 2015 Season

    Nix312San Diego Opera's closure has been rescinded. The 2015 season includes La bohème, Don Giovanni, and Nixon in China. The ongoing crowd funding effort has resulted in a total of $2,116,376 in donations from 2,461 of donors as of midnight Sunday, May 18, 2014.

    Official Site | Save San Diego Opera

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  • WNO Ring 2016

    Nina Stemme photo by Tanja NiemannWashington National Opera just announced principal casting and performance dates for its first complete presentation of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Three full cycles will be presented from April 30 to May 22, 2016 and will be directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Philippe Auguin.

    Nina Stemme (pictured left, photograph by Tanja Niemann) and Catherine Foster share the role of Brünnhilde. Daniel Brenna sings Siegfried in the United States for the first time. Alan Held is Wotan. Subscription packages will be available Spring 2015.

    Production Web Site

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  • Yoncheva Withdraws From Traviata & Boheme

    Cabellnicole005-creditdevoncassSoprano Sonya Yoncheva, who was scheduled to appear at San Francisco Opera as Violetta in six performances of La Traviata this summer and as Mimì in seven performances of La Bohème this fall, has withdrawn from the productions because she is expecting a baby. She is to be replaced by Nicole Cabell (pictured left) in the former production and Alexia Voulgaridou in the latter.

    Tenor Daniel Montenegro replaces Pene Pati in the role of Gastone for all performances of La Traviata and baritone and current Adler Fellow Hadleigh Adams will sing the role of Schaunard, replacing Adler Fellow Philippe Sly, in all performances of La Bohème.

    Traviata Production Web Site | Bohème Production Web Site | Press Release

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  • Cal Performances 2014-2015 Season

    MT_katwade_outsideZHAugust 12 2014: Yo-Yo Ma performs Bach’s Cello Suites
    September 13 2014: Eco Ensemble
    September 25-28 2014: Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble
    October 10 2014: Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston perform WORDLESS!
    October 11 2014: Afropop Spectacular: Bassekou Kouyate and the Krar Collective
    October 12 2014: Takács Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin, piano
    October 16-19 2014: Australian Ballet performs Swan Lake
    October 24-25 2014: Sasha Waltz & Guests
    October 26 2014: Richard Goode, piano
    October 30 2014: Mavis Staples, vocals
    November 2 2014: Jorge Federico Osorio, piano
    November 7-8 2014: Théâtre de la Ville performs Six Characters in Search of an Author
    November 9 2014: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
    November 13 2014: Apollo’s Fire plays Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin
    November 14-15 2014: Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance
    November 15 2014: Academy of Ancient Music plays Bach’s Complete Orchestral Suites
    November 15 2014: David Sedaris
    November 16 2014: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Tony Arnold, soprano
    November 16 2014: Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
    November 21-23 2014: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe perform The Old Woman
    November 23 2014: St. Lawrence String Quartet
    December 4 2014: Cantus performs All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
    December 5-6 2014: Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Band and Amy X Neuburg perform They Will Have Been So Beautiful: Songs and Images of Now
    December 6 2014: Audra McDonald, soprano
    December 7 2014: Takács Quartet and Erica Eckert, viola
    December 10 2014: Yo-Yo Ma, speaker
    January 13 2015: Gidon Kremer, violin and Daniil Trifonov, piano
    January 18 2015: The Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, pipa
    January 24-25 2015: Peking Acrobats
    January 25 2015: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Nicolas Hodges, piano
    January 31 2015: Matthew Polenzani, tenor
    January 31- February 1 2015: Kodo
    February 4-7 2015: Les 7 Doigts de la Main Circus performs Sequence 8
    February 8 2015: Peter Nero Trio
    February 15 2015: Olli Mustonen, piano
    February 19 2015: The Nile Project
    February 20 2015: Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI
    February 22 2015: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
    March 1 2015: Susan Graham, mezzo soprano
    March 1 2015: Cassandra Wilson, vocals
    March 6 2015: The Intergalactic Nemesis: Book Two: Robot Planet Rising
    March 8 2015: David Finckel, cello and Wu Han, piano
    March 11 2015: Hugh Masekela, trumpeter, vocalist and Vusi Mahlasela, singer-songwriter
    March 12 2015: Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano and Tamara Stefanovich, piano
    March 14-15 2015: Joffrey Ballet
    March 15 2015: Jennifer Koh, violin
    March 19 2015: Chick Corea, piano and Herbie Hancock, piano
    March 20-22 2015: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
    March 28 2015: Davitt Moroney, harpsichord
    March 29 2015: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
    March 28-29 2015: Chitresh Das Dance Company performs Shiva
    April 10-11 2015: The Tallis Scholars
    April 13 2013: Ray Kurzweil
    April 12 2015: Ian Bostridge, tenor
    April 17 2015: Arlo Guthrie
    April 21-26 2015: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
    May 1-3 2015: Handspring Puppet Company performs Ubu and the Truth Commission
    May 1 2015: Les Arts Florissants
    May 8 2015: Donal Fox Trio
    May 10 2015: Christian Tetzlaff, violin and Lars Vogt, piano
    May 15 2015: Sérgio Assad, guitar and Odair Assad, guitar
    June 2015: Ojai North!

    Matías Tarnopolsky announced the new Cal Performances season today.

    Official Site | Brochure

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  • Opera Parallèle’s Les mamelles de Tirésias

    Mamelle2837* Notes *
    Opera Parallèle has put together a double bill of Mahagonny Songspiel with Les mamelles de Tirésias at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Opera Parallèle has embedded the Poulenc between the second and third parts of the Weill. Director Brian Staufenbiel never lacks for ideas and connects the two pieces by setting them in an apocalyptic future, which looks distinctly like Steampunks at Burning Man. The main set piece is a boat on wheels (pictured above, photograph by Steve DiBartolomeo) that is pulled around the stage by the singers. The action includes quite a lot of choreography, especially for the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the OP Chorus, and the Resound Ensemble. The effect of all these elements together is disorienting and utterly surreal.

    For opening performance on Friday, Artistic Director Nicole Paiement conducted the ensemble with characteristic poise. The orchestra sounded incredibly together and clean. The singing was exquisite. Aleksey Bogdanov, Hadleigh Adams, Daniel Cilli, and Thomas Glenn all made fine contributions. Gabriel Preisser was amusing as Le Mari in the Poulenc, his voice is pretty. Renée Rapier sang Betty in the Weill, and was haunting in "Alabama Song" with Rachel Schutz (Jessie). Schutz was most impressive as Tirésias/La cartomancienne. Her voice is so bright and elegant.

    * Tattling * 
    The audience members were fairly quiet, though I did notice that the woman in Row E Seat 103 fussed with her purse a few times and also spoke to her neighbor about the cookware that appeared on stage.

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  • Opera San José’s Don Giovanni

    Don-giovanni-sj-opera-2014* Notes *
    Don Giovanni opened with two different casts at Opera San José over the weekend. The piece seemed a bit beyond the abilities of all those involved. Though Mozart sounds wonderfully effortless, the Sunday afternoon performance on Easter was both sincere and labored. It was probably a wise decision to cut “Dalla sua pace,” for example. Anthony Quartuccio conducted an orchestra that sounded angular and moderate. The unsubtle singing was promising but not quite together, the singers often lagged behind the orchestra.

    Mozart does not leave a lot of margin for error, and the mistakes were painfully exposed. All of the singing was rather loud, and we never had a problem hearing the singing over the rest of the music. Jennifer Forni was a slightly shrill Donna Anna. Lisa Chavez made for a sultry and vehement Donna Elvira. Krassen Karagiozov was an amusing and bright Leporello. In the title-role Evan Brummel lacked charisma. His voice is nice enough, but the most memorable moment of his performance was when he accidentally threw the mandolin into the door frame after “Deh vieni alla finestra.”

    For the most part, the fairly standard production kept to the text. The ending did not involve a supernatural descent but was resolved by having Masetto punish the rake instead.

    * Tattling * 
    There was much noisy candy-eating in Rows D and F on the right side of the orchestra level.

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  • San Diego Opera Closure Delayed

    Save-san-diego-operaSan Diego Opera's closure has been delayed to May 19, 2014. Carol Lazier, the former Secretary of the Board, is now the acting President after President Karen Cohn resigned along with 12 other Directors in a board meeting that lasted over four hours.

    UT San Diego | Official Site | Save San Diego Opera

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  • Don Quichotte at San Diego Opera

    Don-quichotte-2014* Notes * 
    The last performance of the 2014 season at San Diego Opera was the matinée of Don Quichotte on Sunday, April 13. This may well have been San Diego Opera's final offering, complete with a Save San Diego Opera demonstration outside and capacity attendance inside. The production is a revival of the one at San Diego Opera in 2009.

    Maestra Karen Keltner held the orchestra together, and the music sounded lovely. The chorus was generally good, though the bandits in Act III were not exactly together at first. This improved by the end of the act. The small roles were all filled nicely, it was especially nice to hear Susannah Biller (Garcias) and Joel Sorensen (Rodriguez). Eduardo Chama was delightful as Sancho Pança, he is a fine basso buffo. Anke Vondung sparkled as Dulcinée, and her voice is both rich and smooth. Ferruccio Furlanetto was again entirely committed to the title role. His pathos and ridiculousness came through with great beauty.

    * Tattling * 
    San Diego Civic Theatre only has four wheelchair locations, and an usher put a person in a wheelchair next to me in Row B Seat 43. I had purposely selected this seat as I have a temporary medical condition that requires that prompt attention every few hours. The usher did not consider me at all in his deliberations, and even asked that I get out of his way at one point. However, the person in the wheelchair was exceedingly considerate of me, and was careful to let me get past him at intermission and the end of the show. It was unfortunate that about half the stage was not easily visible for him.

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  • SFCM’s Postcard from Morocco

    Postcard-portland* Notes *
    San Francisco Conservatory Opera Program is currently presenting Argento’s Postcard from Morocco. A co-production with Portland Opera, the set and costumes are entirely professional. The action takes place within a waiting room of a transit station, which has rows of chairs that are easily wheeled about. The concept behind the staging is inventive, though there were certain moments that did not quite make sense with the text. For example, in addition to their attributes, all of the characters have the same suitcases. This was especially confusing for A Man with Old Luggage, as he had both a rucksack meant to signify his old luggage, and the large off-white square piece of baggage exactly like everyone else’s. The production matches the opera in being highly surreal, including a possessed slide projector.

    Curt Pajer conducted a small orchestra that sounded clear and lively in Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. The musicians occasionally overwhelmed a few of the singers. The playing for the “Souvenirs de Bayreuth” section of the opera was entertaining. The cast on Thursday night’s performance was talented. Laura Arthur (A Lady with a Cake Box) and Sergey Khalikulov (A Man with a Cornet Case/A Puppetmaker) made fine contributions to the evening. Molly Wilson (A Lady with a Hand Mirror) and Mason Gates Neipp (A Man with Old Luggage) were particularly good in the operetta duet. Ellen Preseley impressed as A Foreign Singer. Daniel Cameron was a touch quiet as A Man with a Shoe Sample Kit, but his acting was strong. Woojeong Lee sounded bright as A Man with A Paint Box. His accent was obvious at times but his voice is rather pretty.

    * Tattling * 
    The audience was restless during the instrumental section. A latecomer took a seat in Row L Seat 2, but switched seats at one point, placing herself directly in front of someone in Row J. Not only was the offender’s underwear distressingly visible above her jeans, she deigned to talk to her friends in the row of her new seat.

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