The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

Category: Ariodante

  • Ariodante Log

    13. June 2008: Final Dress RehearsalOpera Tattler Review 15. June 2008: Opening Opera Tattler Review 18. June 2008: From Box Q* People clapped for Ruth Ann Swenson when she entered, interrupting the music. * The floor is squeaky, especially when the dancers are doing pas jetés. * Susan Graham missed a line in the duet…

  • Eric Owens Interview

    Bass-baritone Eric Owens is currently singing the role of the King of Scotland in Ariodante at San Francisco Opera until July 6. The Opera Tattler spoke to Owens last Sunday in San Francisco. You started piano at 6, oboe at 10, and now you are an opera singer. Did you come from a musical family?No, there…

  • SF Opera’s Ariodante Media Round-Up

    Production Web Site | Press Release with Photographs | World of Opera Singers: Susan Graham | Ruth Ann Swenson | Sonia Prina | Verónica Cangemi | Richard Croft | Eric Owens | Andrew Bidlack Previews: San Francisco Examiner | Panel Discussion | Dress Rehearsal Reviews of Previous Performances of this Production: Santa Fe Opera (1987) | City Opera (1999) | San…

  • Opening of Ariodante at San Francisco Opera

    * Notes * Today's matinée performance of Ariodante was the San Francisco Opera premiere of Händel's 33rd opera, which was first performed at Covent Garden in 1735. John Copley's production is slightly busy, there is a lot of movement to offset the supposed statis of the libretto. For the most part this was not distracting,…

  • Final Dress Rehearsal of Ariodante

    * Notes * If the final dress rehearsal of Ariodante last night was any indication, I will likely go to as many performances of it as possible. The cast is strong, of course Susan Graham and Ruth Ann Swenson are wonderful, but debuting Sonia Prina, Veronica Cangemi, and Richard Croft are not disappointing either. The…

  • Ariodante Panel Discussion

    Yesterday evening Kip Cranna moderated the last San Francisco Opera Insight Panel Discussion of the season. The three panelists were conductor and Houston Grand Opera's Music Director Patrick Summers, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (Ariodante), and bass-baritone Eric Owens (King of Scotland). Kip Cranna began the evening by asking which opera this summer was in Italian, set in Scotland,…