The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: James Conlon

  • La Scala’s 2009-2010 Season

    December 7-23 2009: Carmen January 15- February 5 2010: Rigoletto January 30- February 14 2010: Don Giovanni February 28- March 16 2010: From the House of the Dead March 17- April 2 2010: Tannhäuser April 6-30 2010: Lulu April 16- May 7 2010: Simon Boccanegra May 13-29 2010: Das Rheingold June 18- July 5 2010:…

  • The Birds at LA Opera

    * Notes * Walter Braunfels' Die Vögel opened at LA Opera last night. Unfortunately, the production did not cohere. Good Hope and Loyal Friend were dressed in a nondescript early twentieth century manner, they looked more American than Athenian. The Birds, on the other hand, were garishly dressed, some were adorned with Isis Wings, invoking…

  • James Conlon at SFS

    * Notes * James Conlon conducted San Francisco Symphony in a performance of Berlioz, Liszt, and Shostakovich yesterday evening. The horn timing seemed somewhat off in Berlioz's Le Corsaire Overture, though I do not know the piece, so certainly I cannot say this definitively. The flutes played very deftly, and the brass did sound quite…

  • James Conlon at WSNC

    * Notes * James Conlon, the Music Director of Los Angeles Opera, and Dr. Katherine Syer gave talks at the Wagner Society of Northern California today in San Francisco. Conlon spoke on how he came to love classical music and Wagner, and how he decided to become a conductor a young age. We heard that the two conditions…

  • Il Trittico at LA Opera

    * Notes * There has been much ado about Woody Allen directing his first opera, one third of Puccini's Il Trittico, with William Friedkin, famed director of The Exorcist, directing the other two thirds. One cannot help feeling a bit skeptical of Los Angeles Opera hiring three film directors for the opening performances of the…