The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Elza van den Heever
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* Notes * It was as expected, the audience at the Macbeth opening was, on the whole, discontent with the production and even booed the members of production team that dared to take bows. That is quite a feat, the last time I heard Americans boo at a production was five years ago at Alcina.…
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* Notes * Peter Hall's 1992 production of Die Zauberflöte opened at San Francisco Opera last Saturday. It certainly was odd to see all of Gerald Scarfe's funny designs again, for this production was my first at Los Angeles Opera, and I did not enjoy it particularly then, as I was even crankier in my…
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* Notes * Appomattox had its world premiere last Friday. I must confess I do not enjoy contemporary music, in fact, I am not overfond of many operas after Fidelio. This is ridiculous, given that this encompasses Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini. Setting that aside, I found Appomattox rather less challenging than Doctor Atomic, Le Grand…
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* Notes * For the second performance of Don Giovanni, I thought I would check out the new OperaVision screens in the balcony. The two screens are retractable, and the images are not fixed, so that at first we were seeing the conductor and orchestra members and later we saw both close-ups of singers and…
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* Notes * Don Giovanni opened the summer half of the 2006-2007 season in San Francisco last Saturday. The co-production with Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie premiered in 2003, and has been also been performed at the Grand Théâtre de la ville de Luxembourg and Opéra de Lille. David McVicar's production was designed by John…
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Yesterday David Gockley decided that Hope Briggs (pictured left) would not sing Donna Anna in the new production of Don Giovanni, which opens tomorrow. Instead, the current Adler Fellow Elza van den Heever (pictured right) will have her main stage debut as Donna Anna. Press Release [PDF]
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* Notes * The Adler recital last night started off with the overture from Bernstein's Candide. This was followed by a most terrible butchering of Händel's Alcina Act III, Scenes 2 through 7. Soprano Elza van den Heever was a shrill, nasal, and gasping Alcina. Mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen was cold and too quiet as Bradamante,…
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The four new Adler Fellows for 2007 are Heidi Melton, Ji Young Yang, Katharine Tier, and Noah Stewart. They join second year fellows Rhoslyn Jones, Melody Moore, Elza van den Heever, Kendall Gladen, Matthew O'Neill, Sean Panikkar, Jeremy Galyon, and Matthew Piatt. Press Release | SF Opera Adler Fellow Web Site
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