The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: John Relyea
-
* Notes *San Francisco Opera gave the West Coast premiere of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale last night. The piece is an impressive theater experience, compressing the more than 300 pages of Margaret Atwood's novel into less than 3 hours. The co-production was first shown at The Royal Danish Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) in 2022.…
-
Metropolitan Opera's new production of Carmen was revived this season. Here is the Unbiased Opinionator's account of the performance that occurred on November 16th. * Notes * The Metropolitan Opera's reprise of its 2009 production of Carmen, directed by Richard Eyre, updates the story from Prosper Mérimée's 1830s setting to the time of the Spanish Civil…
-
* Notes * Gounod’s Faust opened at San Francisco Opera last weekend. I had briefly entertained the idea of driving back from Southern California where I was seeing LA Opera’s Ring for this, but decided it would be too disruptive to both my schedule and state of mind. Even at Tuesday night’s performance, it was a bit…
-
July 31- August 21 2010: Tristan und IsoldeOctober 16-30 2010: Lucia di LammermoorJanuary 15-21 2011: Il Barbiere di SivigliaFebruary 26- March 12 2011: Don QuichotteMay 7-21 2011: Die Zauberflöte There are five operas scheduled for next season at Seattle Opera, none of which are particularly adventurous. Many familiar conductors return: Asher Fisch conducts Wagner, Dean…
-
* Notes * Last night Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of Steven Gerber's Music in Dark Times. The piece was commissioned by Ashkenazy and also dedicated to him.The fanfares of the first and last movements did not show off the brass to their best advantage, though the woodwinds sounded beautiful in the second movement.…
-
* Notes * A double-bill of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung opened at Seattle Opera this evening. The two works were originally directed by Robert Lepage for the Canadian Opera Company, but were directed by François Racine in Seattle. The Bartók was stunning, though the orchestra was not always perfect under Evan Rogister, the music is compelling and the production…
-
September 26 2009- January 29 2010: ToscaOctober 5- November 7 2009: FaustOctober 27- November 23 2009: ErnaniNovember 22- Deceumber 12 2009: Katya KabanovaDecember 5 2009- January 16 2010: The Merry WidowJanuary 23- February 22 2010: L'Elisir d'AmoreFebruary 20- March 17 2010: La Damnation de FaustFebruary 28- March 27 2010: Le Nozze di Figaro René Pape and Kyle Ketelsen share the…
-
* Notes * Director Robert Lepage's production La Damnation de Faust was shown as a simulcast over the weekend. His Met debut certainly had the marks of a production from that company. Carl Fillion's set was not entirely unlike the one for Doctor Atomic from a few weeks ago, both being vertical and grid-like.…
-
Robert LePage’s production of The Rake’s Progress is currently at Covent Garden. The reviews seem mixed, Rupert Christiansen found the production dull, but Warwick Thompson found it magical. I should have liked to hear John Relyea sing Nick Shadow, as I found James Morris a bit boring in that role last year. Richard Morrison’s Review in the…
-
* Notes * Bellini’s last opera, I Puritani, had its Seattle Opera premiere at the beginning of the month, and Linda Brovsky’s production is magnificent. The sets, the work of Robert A. Dahlstrom, look inspired by the Getty Center, as there are many steel staircases and landings. This kept the action in the vertical…
The Opera Tattler 