The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Cal Performances

  • Love’s Labour’s Lost at Cal Performances

    * Notes * Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opened a run of Love's Labour's Lost at Cal Performances yesterday. Musicians played in the audience, there were a mere five instrumentalists that played recorder, shawms, dulcian, ocarina, hurdy-gurdy, sackbut, viol, hunting horn, Baroque guitar, theorbo, and percussion. Many of the actors also walked around in the lobby and through the…

  • Davitt Moroney plays Das Wohltemperirte Clavier

    * Notes * Davitt Moroney gave a marathon performance of Bach's Das Wohltemperirte Clavier as a part of Cal Performances last weekend. This took about 5 hours to complete, and was humanely divided up so that one did not sit for more than an hour at a time. On Saturday evening Part I was played, Sunday afternoon…

  • A House in Bali

    * Notes * The American premiere of Evan Ziporyn‘s dance-opera A House in Bali was presented by Cal Performances last weekend. This ambitious project involves percussion, bass, keyboard, cello, violin, guitar, a 15-piece gamelan orchestra, Balinese dancers, opera singers, Balinese singers, and real-time videography. Despite a panoply of instruments, the two ensembles, the Bang on a Can…

  • MMDG’s L’Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato

    * Notes * The Mark Morris Dance Group just finished a run of L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato at Cal Performances. It seemed to be a success, the audience was entertained and amused. The dancing struck me, however, as sloppy. Many of the angles as far as arm and leg positions were not consistent on…

  • Matías Tarnopolsky News

    Matías Tarnopolsky has been appointed the next director of Cal Performances. Press Release | Official Site

  • Cal Performances’ 2009-2010 Season

    September 17-20 2009: Mark Morris Dance Group September 22 2009: Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra September 26-27 2009: A House in Bali September 27 2009: Christine Brewer, soprano September 30 2009: Michael Pollan October 11 2009: Takács Quartet October 17 2009: Wayne Shorter Quartet October 18 2009: Michael Schade, tenor October 24-25 2009: Davitt Moroney, harpsichord October 24-25…

  • Angelika Kirchschlager News

    Angelika Kirchschlager has canceled her recital in Berkeley due to illness. Official Site | Cal Performances

  • 3 Cupcakes

    In Act I of Three Decembers, we become acquainted with renowned stage actress Madeline Mitchell, and her two rather unhappy children. Details of Painting | Performance Review of Three Decembers

  • ERSO at Cal Performances

    * Notes * The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performed in Berkeley yesterday afternoon as the final concert in a tour of the United States. The rather large orchestra, conducted by Eri Klas, displayed a fine control during Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten. Likewise, the quiet parts of Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 in D major were played…

  • The Tallis Scholars sing Mouton, Praetorius, & Lassus

    * Notes * The Tallis Scholars performed an incredible concert at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley an last night. Lead by Peter Phillips, the 10 singers produced a pure but almost palpable sound. Their volume was strong, though it helps that the venue has such good acoustics. The program featured composers of the Renaissance polyphony,…