The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Opera Review
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* Notes * The curtain came up on the latest season of San Francisco Opera with Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) yesterday evening. The youthful cast sounded great, but the production was simply clunky. From the very first moment there were familiar faces on stage, there are a lot of…
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* Notes * West Edge Opera performed an English language version of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera for a second time yesterday afternoon. The darkly funny piece features much bawdy humor with some fine singing, though somewhat marred by the location of the theater. What was clear right away was this is a play with songs rather…
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* Notes * Yesterday West Edge Opera gave the West Coast premiere of Missy Mazzoli's compelling Breaking the Waves. The bleak plot based on the film by Lars von Trier makes for good theater and the singing was powerful, especially from the lead, soprano Sara LeMesh. Set in Scotland in the 1970s, the dark narrative concerns…
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* Notes * West Edge Opera presented Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice last night at yet another new venue. Unfortunately, the space, once a repair facility for rail cars, is not acoustically suited for unamplified music. In the past decade, West Edge Opera has performed everywhere from a high school theater in El Cerrito to a Bart…
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* Notes * Merola Opera Program's very first commission, If I Were You, premiered last night at Herbst Theatre. Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera certainly shows off the young singers voices but most impressive was Maestra Nicole Paiement at the helm of the orchestra. The focus of Merola's performances is, of course, very much on…
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* Notes * Last night’s opening of L’enfant et les sortilèges at San Francisco Symphony shimmered and shone. James Bonas’ semi-staged production (Anna Christie and Isabel Leonard pictured, photograph by Jean Pierre Maurin) made use of quirky animated projections. The nine soloists and three choruses all sang beautifully and the playing from the orchestra glittered. Maestro…
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* Notes * The hit of the summer at San Francisco Opera is Rusalka (Act II pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver), which opened a week ago on Father's Day. Right out the gate, the orchestra sounds utterly lush, the set is mysteriously beautiful, the costumes elaborate, and best of all, the singing is fantastic all around.…
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* Notes * It is a joy to hear Händel's beautiful music live in San Francisco Opera's latest production (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) of Orlando, which opened this afternoon. Set in the early autumn of 1940, in a hospital in West London, the staging turns out to be fairly dull though the singing is…
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* Notes * “Enjoy your hundredth Carmen!” teased my husband as I left for the opening of the latest production of this opera at San Francisco Opera last night. Quite an exaggeration, at best I’ve seen this opera twenty-five times, though I have seen this staging by Francesca Zambello way back in 2007 at Royal Opera,…
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* Notes * Opera Parallèle is presenting the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s Today It Rains this weekend at Z Space. This chamber opera based on Georgia O’Keefe’s first trip to Santa Fe is contemplative and features some beautiful singing and stagecraft. Conductor Nicole Paiement had the 11 orchestra members well in hand. Kaminsky’s music can…
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