The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Concert Review

  • Philippe Jaroussky & VBO at GMC

    * Notes * Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky (pictured left, photograph by Simon Fowler) is currently on tour with Orchestra Barocca di Venezia (VBO) and performed yesterday at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center. The program is entitled “A Legendary Battle: Farinelli & Porpora vs. Carestini & Händel” and includes instrumental works by both composers interspersed with eight…

  • ABS performs Magnificat

    * Notes * Last weekend American Bach Soloists performed a program consisting entirely of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Last Sunday’s San Francisco concert began with the very cheery and sycophantic “Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!” The ensemble, conducted by ABS Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, played neatly. The tenor, Guy Cutting, was slightly blustery, while…

  • Boyce’s Solomon at PBO

    * 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…

  • Luisotti Conducts Verdi’s Requiem

    * Notes * Last night Nicola Luisotti conducted Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the War Memorial Opera House with the combined orchestras and choruses of Real Teatro di San Carlo and San Francisco Opera. The volume was occasionally deafening, especially the repeated part when the chorus sings "Dies irae" and the trumpets play. The piece felt…

  • Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at PBO

    * Notes * Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's 2013-2014 season opened with a set of performances entitled "Pergolesi in Naples." The San Francisco performance was held at the SFJAZZ Center, which has an intimate feel and a dry, crackly acoustic. Maestro Nicholas McGegan described Pergolesi's Sinfonia from L'Olimpiade as having "vim and spritz," the Händel duets and arias…

  • Eschenbach conducts Wagner & Dvořák

    * Notes * This week Christoph Eschenbach (pictured left, photograph by Eric Brissaud) conducts San Francisco Symphony in performances of Wagner and Dvořák. The two Wagner pieces included “Die Frist is um” from Der Fliegenden Holländer and Wotans Abschied from Die Walküre, with baritone Matthias Goerne as soloist. Goerne sounded characteristically legato. He was drowned out…

  • Lucerne Festival zu Ostern 2013 Sinfoniekonzert 4

    * Notes * Mariss Jansons and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (pictured left, photograph courtesy of Bayerischer Rundfunk) performed Shostakovich and Beethoven as the closing concert of this year’s Lucerne Festival zu Ostern. The orchestra played Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 first. The piece is quite odd, having a vernal, yet dark quality…

  • Lucerne Festival zu Ostern 2013 Chorkonzert 4

    * Notes * Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Tölzer Knabenchor were conducted by Mariss Jansons (pictured left) in Britten's War Requiem op. 66 at Lucerne Festival Saturday evening. The orchestra sounded secure and polished. The brass fanfares in the Dies irae were particularly fine. The chorus was perfectly good. The boys'…

  • Lucerne Festival zu Ostern 2013 Chorkonzert 3

    * Notes * John Eliot Gardiner conducted (pictured left, photograph by Sheila Rock / Decca) English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir in Johannes-Passion BWV 245 at Lucerne Festival Friday night. The playing was crisp and genial, and any intonation errors were within reason given the period instruments. The singing was lucid and very much together. The…

  • Lucerne Festival zu Ostern 2013 Sinfoniekonzert 2

    * Notes * Claudio Abbado and Orchestra Mozart Bologna (pictured left, photograph by Marco Caselli Nirmal) played a second concert at Lucerne Festival last night. The program started with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 2, played with a smooth lucidity. Martha Argerich returned to the KKL Konzertsaal stage to play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20. Both soloist…