Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
The 2012 winners (pictured left, photograph by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera) of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions are soprano Janai Brugger; mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa; countertenor Andrey Nemzer; tenor Matthew Grill; and baritone Anthony Clark Evans. Brugger is currently a young artist in the Domingo-Thorton program at Los Angeles Opera.
* Notes *
San Francisco Opera's Annual Meeting for 2012 was held Thursday afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco. Board of Directors President George H. Hume, CFO Michael Simpson, and General Director David Gockley all spoke. The outlook this year is better, though the company did run a deficit again, donations are up and they expect to break even in 2013. The most interesting plan we heard about was the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, which is to be built on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building in the War Memorial complex. This will provide space to house most of the opera's operations including the costume shop, space for rehearsals, and a small performance venue. There will also be room to house an archive of San Francisco Opera's recordings on various media.
Four Adlers performed: soprano Marina Harris; mezzo sopranos Laura Krumm and Renée Rapier; and pianist Robert Mollicone. Rapier sang "All' afflitto" from Roberto Devereux , Harris sang "Einsam in trüben Tagen," from Lohengrin, and Krumm sang "Quis fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Roméo et Juliette.
* Tattling *
Somehow I managed to spill ink all over both my hands at the very beginning of the meeting. The people next to me offered me tissues and wipes. Three mobile phones rang at different points during the proceedings.
September 7- October 3 2012: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
September 8-27 2012: Capriccio
September 15- October 25 2012: Le Nozze di Figaro
October 10-30 2012: The Rake’s Progress
October 15- November 11 2012: La Fille du régiment
October 23- November 20 2012: Tosca
November 22 2012- March 25 2013: La Cenerentola
December 4-29 2012: Carmen
January 22- February 9 2013: Khovanshchina
January 23- February 13 2013: Le Nain / L’Enfant et les sortilèges
January 29- February 12 2013: Das Rheingold
February 17- March 10 2013: Die Walküre
February 27- March 24 2013: Falstaff
March 21- April 15 2013: Siefried
April 14- May 6 2013: Hänsel et Gretel
May 2-31 2013: La Gioconda
May 21- June 16 2013: Götterdämmerung
May 23- June 18 2013: Giulio Cesare
June 18-26 2013: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Sopranos
Elizabeth Baldwin, Sylvania, Ohio
Jennifer Cherest, La Plata, Maryland
Aviva Fortunata, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Jacqueline Piccolino, Palatine, Illinois
Suzanne Rigden, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Rose Sawvel, Denver, Colorado
Melinda Wittington, Wilson, North Carolina
Mezzo-sopranos
Erin Johnson, Washington, New Jersey
Sarah Mesko, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Carolyn Sproule, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Tenors
Joshua Baum, Kansas City, Missouri
Casey Candebat, New Orleans, Louisiana
AJ Glueckert, Portland, Oregon
Theo Lebow, Sierra Madre, California
Yi Li, Shandong, China
Andrew Stenson, Rochester, Minnesota
Chuanyue Wang, Hei Long Jiang, China
Baritone
Joseph Lattanzi, Mableton, Georgia
Bass-baritones
Hadleigh Adams, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Gordon Bintner, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Seth Mease Carico, Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Matthew Scollin, Walled Lake, Michigan
Bass
Andrew Kroes, Onalaska, Wisconsin
Apprentice Coaches
Francesco Fraboni, Senigallia, Italy
Artem Grishaev, Moscow, Russia
Elena Lacheva, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Kevin Miller, Bronx, New York
Sun Ha Yoon, Seoul, South Korea
Apprentice Stage Director
Jennifer Williams, McLean, Virginia
* Notes *
The fourth performance of Los Angeles Opera’s Albert Herring (Act II Scene 1 pictured left, photograph by Robert Millard) on Sunday boasted a balanced ensemble cast and fine musicianship all around. Conducted by Maestro James Conlon, the playing in the pit sounded taut and clear. The horn only made one slight error, but otherwise sounded quite agreeable. The singers all seemed perfect for their roles, and distinct enough from one another in sound. The diction was clear.
Liam Bonner (Sid) and Daniela Mack (Nancy) made for a nice, youthful pair. The various pillars of society sang humorously together, or against one another, as need be. As Superintendent Budd, Richard Bernstein was warm in contrast to Robert McPherson’s rather bright Mr. Upfold. Jonathan Michie sang nimbly as Mr. Gedge. Though Stacey Tappan’s voice is pretty and bird-like, her Miss Wordsworth still managed to be convincing. Ronnita Miller’s acting as Florence Pike was confident, and her singing hearty. Janis Kelly played Lady Billows with the right amount of self-importance and hysteria. Her cold, brilliant voice is piercing. As for Albert Herring himself, Alek Shrader seemed ideal, it is hard to imagine a more suitable tenor for this role. Shrader’s voice is lovely.
The production, directed by Paul Curran, was first seen at Santa Fe Opera last summer. The set and costumes, designed by Kevin Knight, are charming and sweet. The use of supernumeraries to change the scenes in various cunning ways made for good laughs.
* Tattling *
The performance was not particularly full. There was light talking in the Founders Circle, especially in the first half of the opera.
* Notes *
At first glance, the revival of Don Pasquale (Act II, Scene 2 pictured left, photograph by Ken Howard) at San Diego Opera simply looks like someone took a set and costumes for Fanciulla del West and used it for Donizetti's work. Thankfully, there is much more to director David Gately's elaborate production, which is quite funny. This Wild West version of Don Pasquale works because the essentials are still true to this opera buffa. The characters are all believable, and this rendering has a lot of charm. The gags just keep on coming, and perhaps at times this felt somewhat overwrought. The sets, from Tony Fanning, descriptive and painstakingly detailed, as are the costumes from Helen E. Rodgers.
Conductor Marco Guidarini made his San Diego debut with yesterday's performance. The orchestra played with the necessary fleetness, and were often rather loud. The trumpet made a brave effort at the beginning of Act II despite a few raw moments. The chorus moved well, and though not precisely together, sang nicely. The principal singers were cast evenly. Jeff Mattsey was an entertaining Dr. Malatesta, and his singing was fine aside from some of the patter in the duet "Cheti, cheti, immantinente." Charles Castronovo (Ernesto) had a pretty lightness and the right mournfulness for the role. His voice sounds slightly metallic when he pushes it too hard. Danielle de Niese's Norina was completely convincing, her gestures and expressions were faultless. Though her breathing is noticeable, her voice is deft and bright. John Del Carlo was hilarious in the title role. His sound is warm and his enunciation was excellent throughout, especially in the aforementioned Act III duet with Mattsey.
* Tattling *
There was light talking throughout the opera, and a watch or phone alarm rang during Act III Scene 2.
September 29 2012: Lang Lang, piano
September 30 2012: Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
October 13 2012: Karina Gauvin, soprano with Michael McMahon, piano
October 27 2012: "An All American Celebration" with John Adams & the International Contemporary Ensemble featuring Jeffrey Kahane, piano
October 28 2012: Modigliani Quartet with Joyce Yang, piano
November 10 2012: Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano with Craig Terry, piano
November 11 2012: Chucho Valdés and the Afro-Cuban Messengers
November 15 2012: Buika
November 20 2012: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano with Alan Curtis, conductor & Il Compleso Barocco
December 8 2012: Tallis Scholars | Love is Better Than Wine
December 9 2012: Philharmonia Baroque performs Handel's Messiah
January 26 2013: Yo-Yo Ma, cello, and Kathryn Stott, piano
February 16 2013: Barbara Cook, soprano
November 2 2011: Lang Lang, piano
March 2 2013: Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin with Lambert Orkis, piano
March 21 2013: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
April 7 2013: Vadim Repin, violin with Itamar Golan, piano
April 9 2013: Elīna Garanča, mezzo-soprano
April 18 2013: Lila Downs
April 21 2013: Tara Erraught, mezzo-soprano with Marcelo Amaral, piano
April 27 2013: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane, conductor & piano
Robert Cole announced the inaugural season for Weill Hall at Sonoma State University's Green Music Center today. The hall is modeled after Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and features a rather warm, expansive acoustic. The air conditioning system is impressively high tech and silent.
* Notes *
Tonight Quatuor Ebène (pictured left, photograph by Julien Mignot) had a San Francisco debut at Herbst Theatre. The evening started with Mozart's String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, which was played with much personality, and what seemed to be an entirely historically uninformed manner. Somehow the confidence and rapport of the players made the latter irrelevant. Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D Major may have been better suited to the style of the ensemble, the playing was lush without being cloying. The third movement Noctturno: Andante was especially delightful.
The second half of the program consisted of Ravel's String Quartet in F Major. It was clear the quartet took the tempo markings to heart. The rhythms in the second movement were quite exhilarating and the changing meters in the last movement came off well. The encore was introduced rather coyly by cellist Raphaël Merlin as a piece by a quartet from Liverpool. The following instrumental version of Lennon and McCartney's "Come Together" was therefore all the more charming.
* Tattling *
The audience was silent and attentive until the encore.
* Notes *
A new production of Rinaldo (Act II, Scene 3 pictured left, photograph by Dan Rest/Lyric Opera of Chicago) concludes Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2011-2012 season. The Sunday matinée performance was nothing if not entertaining. Director Francisco Negrin created his own little circus within Handel's music, an internally consistent world whose elements all work together. The set, by Louis Désiré, involves a monolithic word scramble reading "Gerusalemme," glass panels that can be lit white or red, and an enormous piano-shaped box. Désiré's costumes are likewise striking and odd. Ana Yepes's choreography is amusing and was performed cleanly.
Harry Bicket conducted a rather dry performance from the orchestra. The keyboard solo from Jory Vinikour at the end of Act II was strong. Musically, one of the most interesting parts of the afternoon was during "Or la tromba," when the trumpet almost flubbed a note, but recovered magnificently.
Much of the singing was good, though not always historically informed. Iestyn Davies sounded bright as Eustazio, his fast notes lack deftness, but his timbre is pretty. Sonia Prina's vibrato was distracting at times, she tends to overdo the machismo for trouser roles, and her Goffredo was not an exception. She did rein in the bluster for "Sorge nel petto," which she sang nicely. The pleasant lightness of Luca Pisaroni's voice may not have been perfect for the wicked Argante, but his acting and movements were effective.
Elza van den Heever was a compelling Armida. Her voice is gorgeous and powerful, perhaps a tad heavy for Baroque repertoire. She had the meatiest role as far as direction was concerned, and certainly made the most of this. Julia Kleiter made for a cute, sweet Almirena, she started off sounding a bit breathy but improved as the performance progressed. In the title role, David Daniels also had a shaky start, especially at the beginning of "Cara sposa."
* Tattling *
The audience seemed engaged with the performance. There was some light talking in the dress circle, but not a lot of electronic noise.
The Opera Tattler 
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