October 24 – November 7 2014: Otello
October 31- November 15 2014: Così fan tutte
December 5-21 2014: A Christmas Carol
January 23- February 8 2015: Madame Butterfly
January 30- February 15 2015 : The Magic Flute
April 18- May 3 2015: Die Walküre
April 24- May 9 2015: Sweeney Todd
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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October 18- November 1 2014: Don Giovanni
January 10-24 2015: Tosca
February 21- March 7 2015: Semele
May 2-16 2015: Ariadne auf NaxosSeattle Opera announced the 2014-2015 season today.
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September 27 -October 29, 2014: Don Giovanni
October 6-28 2014: Capriccio
October 27- November 29 2014: Il Trovatore
November 17-December 20 2014: Porgy and Bess
December 6 2014-January 16 2015: Anna Bolena
January 24- March 14 2015: Tosca
February 9 -March 6 2015: Tannhäuser
February 24 -March 1, 2015: The Passenger
March 28-29 2015: El Pasado Nunca Se Termina
April 2015: CarouselAnthony Freud announced Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2014-2015 season today.
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Opera Parallèle presents Francis Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias and Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from April 25 to 27, 2014. Baritone Gabriel Preisser performs Bobby in Mahagonny Songspiel and Le mari in Les mamelles de Tirésias; soprano Rachel Schutz is Jessie and Tirésias/La cartomacienne; tenor Thomas Glenn is Charlie and Lacouf/Le journaliste/Le fils; Daniel Cilli is Billy and Le directeur/Presto; mezzo soprano Renée Rapier is Bessie and La marchande de journaux; Matthew Lovell is Jimmy and Le messieur barbu.Leave a comment
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Lyric Opera of Chicago‘s 2014-2015 season includes The Passenger, which will be performed from February 24 to March 15, 2015. The company will also present a new Ring production, directed by David Pountney, starting on October 1, 2016 and continuing in consecutive seasons, followed by three complete cycles in April 2020. The conductor is Sir Andrew Davis, and the cast includes Christine Goerke (pictured left) as Brünnhilde and Eric Owens as Wotan.Leave a comment
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October 3- November 1 2014: Falstaff
October 10-31 2014: Madama Butterfly
January 24- February 21 2015: Don Giovanni
January 31- February 22 2015: Die Walküre
April 17- May 22 2015: The Barber of Seville
May 6-23 2015: Bluebeard's Castle and ErwartungLeave a comment
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September 13-28 2014: La Traviata
October 25- November 15 2014: Dido and Aeneas and Bluebeard’s Castle
November 22- December 20 2014: Florencia en Amazonas
February 7- March 1 2015: The Ghosts of Versailles
February 28- March 22 2015: The Barber of Seville
March 21- April 12 2015: The Marriage of Figaro
April 23-26 2015: Hercules vs Vampires
June 11-14 2015: Dog DaysLeave a comment
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September 5-30 2014: Norma
September 6-21 2014: Susannah
October 4-22 2014: Un Ballo in Maschera
October 15- November 2 2014: Partenope
October 23- November 8 2014: Tosca
November 9-26 2014: Cenerentola
November 14- December 7 2014: La Bohème
June 7- July 1 2015: Les Troyens
June 13-30 2015: La Ciociara
June 14- July 5 2015: Le Nozze di FigaroDavid Gockley announced San Francisco Opera‘s 2014-2015 season today. The season starts with Bellini’s Norma starring Sondra Radvanovsky. Patricia Racette and Brandon Jovanovich sing in Susannah. Danielle de Niese sings the title role in Partenope, with Anthony Roth Costanzo as Armindo. Susan Graham is Dido in Les Troyens. Anna Caterina Antonacci and Sarah Shafer star in the world premiere of Marco Tutino and Fabio Ceresa’s La Ciociara.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
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* Notes *
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra continued its 2013-2014 season with a set of performances entitled "Solomon in London." The San Francisco performance was again held at the SFJAZZ Center as Herbst Theatre undergoes a retrofit. The new venue lends the orchestra a more incisive sound, but Nicholas McGegan still gets his musicians to play with cheer and bounciness.The concert started with William Croft's Burial Service, and McGegan dedicated this piece to Nelson Mandela, rather than Stanley's Concerto for Strings in B Minor, Op. 2, No. 2, which came later in the evening.
The main attraction of the concert was William Boyce's Solomon. The piece certainly has some amusing lines, and PBO played with vim. Soprano Yulia Van Doren (pictured above) and tenor Thomas Cooley seemed to have fun singing together. They clearly listened to each other. Van Doren sounded strong but had a bird-like quality as well. Cooley's high notes ring out but his lower ones do get a bit lost.
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I was scolded for refused to take a disposable plastic bag for my umbrella and had to explain that the umbrella was going into my backpack straightaway, as I am, at the moment, the last person who wants to slip and fall.Leave a comment
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* Notes *
San Francisco Opera gave a second performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia (Finale of Act II pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) this season with four different principal singers yesterday night. Emilio Sagi’s direction is funny but has som much going on at all times. There is an incredible amount of choreography and the corps de ballet is kept quite occupied.While much of the staging for the different singers remained the same, the difference between the singing was significant. Maurizio Muraro (Doctor Bartolo) has a lot of volume. Audun Iversen is a brash, amusing Figaro. Daniela Mack is a sassy Rosina. Her “Una voce poco fa” had much verve, but there were times when she was slightly harsh. Alek Shrader is elegant as Almaviva. His voice does sound pinched at the top, but his coloratura is deft. They all sang very nicely together and the trio “Ah! qual colpo inaspettato!” was especially charming.
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Standing room attendance was even more sparse than the first night, I purchased my ticket at 6:30pm and had Standing Room Ticket 9. The attendance in the Balcony Level, as far as seating, included quite a few people, many were apparently opera novices. The four people in Row L 108-114 talked a great deal.There were many late-comers. An elderly couple had a loud discussion on such important topics such as finding their glasses and using the lavatory during much of Act I.
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The Opera Tattler 
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