The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Elza van den Heever

  • SF Opera’s Idomeneo

    * Notes * The new production of Idomeneo (Matthew Polenzani in the title role pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) at San Francisco Opera is effective and engaging. The cast is very solid and the orchestra sounded utterly clear and beautiful under Music Director Eun Sun Kim. The 2023 production comes from Opera Australia and is…

  • SF Opera’s Fidelio

    * Notes * A brand-new production of Fidelio (Act II pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera last night, a year late and with a splendid cast. Maestra Eun Sun Kim kept the orchestra lively and balanced. Matthew Ozawa's contemporary production features a startlingly spare set that spins to reveal cages full of…

  • Rinaldo at Lyric Opera of Chicago

    * 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…

  • Elza van den Heever at SF Performances

    Whilst the Opera Tattler attended the sold-out performance of Takács Quartet in Berkeley last Sunday, the Last Chinese Unicorn was over in San Francisco for Elza van den Heever's recital presented by San Francisco Performances. * Notes * My biggest complaint today when it comes to opera singers is that nobody is willing to take risks anymore.…

  • Elza van den Heever Interview

    Soprano Elza van den Heever (pictured left) is currently an Ensemblemitglied at Oper Frankfurt, but as been in San Francisco this month for Vier letzte Lieder at San Francisco Symphony and a recital presented by San Francisco Performances. She sings Elsa in Bayerische Staatsoper's Lohengrin this January, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and Leonora…

  • Elza van den Heever sings 4 Last Songs

    * Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas is conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Schubert and Richard Strauss this week. MTT introduced the Schubert piece, the Entr'acte No. 1 (Allegro molto moderato), from Incidental Music for the Play Rosamunde, D.797, noting it has never been played by SF Symphony before and is in B…

  • Mahler’s 8th at SFS

      * Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony continued their Mahler recording project with Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, the so-called Symphony of a Thousand. The work struck me as a bit strange, the first part being in Latin and rather religious in feel, whereas the second part is in German, and…

  • Seattle Opera’s 2nd International Wagner Competition

    Soprano Elza van den Heever and tenor Michael Weinius won Seattle Opera's second International Wagner Competition, held on August 16, 2008. Elza is an alumna of the Merola Program and a former Adler Fellow. The judges included Hans-Joachim Frey, Ben Heppner, Peter Kazaras, Pamela Rosenberg, Stephen Wadsworth, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Press Release [PDF] | Official…

  • Elza van den Heever’s Salon at the Rex

    * Notes * The lovely Elza van den Heever gave a recital of various songs for the Salons at the Rex series yesterday evening. Van den Heever began with five Brahms Lieder. She skipped a verse in "Die Mainacht," and was somewhat loud as she sang the word "Morgenrot." Her German diction was nearly perfect,…

  • Penultimate Performance of Macbeth

    * Notes * I wasn't going to bore you with yet another review of Macbeth, but I had some thoughts about OperaVision and also wanted to pose a question. Thank goodness for OperaVision, or else one would never be able to see the large hole in the ceiling! Generally, I did not look at the…