The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Alek Shrader
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* Notes * The 2025 class of Merola is quite strong. The Grand Finale for the program was held last night at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Conducted by Maestro Kelly Kuo, the lively orchestra was not always perfectly synchronized with the singers, but for the most part everyone sounded great. The…
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* Notes * The English Concert, conducted by Maestro Harry Bicket, has been touring Händel's Alcina with a first-rate cast. Yesterday afternoon the group came to Cal Performances in Berkeley with the splendid soprano Karina Gauvin (pictured, photograph by Julien Faugere) in the title role. The singing was uniformly wonderful, from bass Wojtek Gierlach's grave, authoritative…
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* Notes * San Francisco Opera presented a delightful drive-in version of The Barber of Seville (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) at Marin Center starting last Friday. The new production from director Matthew Ozawa is bold and fun. Maestro Roderick Cox made a fine debut conducting the 18 members of a mostly masked and socially-distanced orchestra…
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* Notes * Christopher Alden’s delightfully humorous production of Partenope opened at San Francisco Opera last night. The stylish set (Act I pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver), designed by Andrew Lieberman, was enhanced by Adam Silverman’s lighting. Costume designer Jon Morrell did a wonderful job evoking 1920s Paris and Man Ray. The staging matches the…
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* Notes * The Metropolitan Opera, dark for two nights because of Hurricane Sandy, reopened on Halloween with a third performance of The Tempest by Thomas Adès. The production, from Robert Lepage, is enchanting. The piece is set in a version of La Scala, which starts almost as a paper theater, but ends up being rather…
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* Notes * The Magic Flute (Alek Shrader as Tamino and the animals of the woods in Act I Scene 3 pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera Wednesday night. The new production, from artist Jun Kaneko, is an utter delight. Kaneko’s use of bright colors and whimsical shapes is charming.…
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* 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,…
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* Notes * The 2009 Schwabacher Debut Recital Series opened with Alek Shrader, accompanied by the inimitable John Parr, last Sunday. Shrader's voice is clear and pretty, but his upper register is considerably more strained than his lower register. However, he is remarkably consistent. His rendition of various Benjamin Britten songs came off well, but he…
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* Notes * The Adler Fellows Gala Concert last night was rather Germanic, there were no arias from Verdi or Puccini at all, though the evening started with the overture from Les vêpres siciliennes. Andrew Bidlack was drowned out by the orchestra during Capriccio's "Verraten hab ich meine Gefühle," though Tamara Wapinsky sang well…
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* Notes * The opening performance of Idomeneo at San Francisco Opera started off a bit shaky, but did hit its stride by the second act. John Copley's 1999 production has a very similar look to his Ariodante seen at the War Memorial earlier this year. Certainly this is no surprise, as the productions…
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