The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Opera Review

  • SF Opera’s Manon Review

    * Notes * The latest Manon at San Francisco Opera is visually striking and has some fine singing and playing. The opera hasn't been seen on the War Memorial stage since 1998, and Vincent Boussard's direction is a welcome departure from the very traditional stagings of the past. The set (Act III, Scene 1 pictured, photograph…

  • LA Opera’s La Belle et la Bête

    * Notes * LA Opera just did a short but sweet run of Philip Glass' La Belle et la Bête with the Jean Cocteau film at the ACE Hotel Theatre. It is hard to imagine a cooler venue for the production, the flagship movie house of United Artists is glorious in its 1920s splendor, decked…

  • SF Opera’s La Traviata Review

    * Notes * San Francisco Opera's recent La Traviata is very pretty both in the orchestra pit and on stage. This is Maestro Luisotti's last series of performances as music director, and the orchestra sounded spirited during the Sunday matinée last weekend. I felt like I could hear every individual instrument from the back of the…

  • SF Opera’s Elektra Review

    * Notes * Despite glowing reviews, I was apprehensive about hearing San Francisco Opera latest Elektra yesterday afternoon because I have never much liked the music of Richard Strauss. My doubts were dispelled almost at once, this stylish production has an excellent cast and conductor, and works both theatrically and musically. Originally directed by Keith Warner…

  • Ars Minerva’s La Circe Review

    * Notes * Ars Minerva gave the modern premiere of Pietro Andrea Ziani’s La Circe last night at ODC Theater. It is almost alarming how pretty all the unknown music the group has uncovered is, this being the third Baroque Venetian opera the company has staged. It is clear that there is simply a ton of…

  • West Edge Opera’s L’arbore di Diana

    * Notes * West Edge Opera has found a new home at Pacific Pipe, an abandoned warehouse in Oakland this year, after the City of Oakland denied permits public events at the 16th Street Station, where the company performed the previous two seasons. Since I had a baby a scant 12 weeks ago, I decided to…

  • Merola’s La Cenerentola

    * Notes *  The second set of opera performances from the Merola Opera Program this year was Rossini's La Cenerentola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on August 3 and 5. The sugary sweet staging from Chuck Hudson showcased a plethora of fine young singers (pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) supported by conductor…

  • Merola’s Triple Bill

    * Notes *  The Merola Opera Program presented a triple bill of Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona, Holst's Sāvitri, and Walton's The Bear at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on July 20 and 22. It came off as a deadly boring tragedy sandwiched by cutesy frills, perhaps because of Peter Kazaras' staging. But as always,…

  • Temple of Glory at Cal Performances

    * Notes *It is a shame that Rameau's Le Temple de la Gloire at Cal Performances (Prologue pictured left with Aaron Sheehan as Apollo and his muses from New York Baroque Dance Company, photograph by Frank Wing) only has three performances this weekend. The music is delightful, and I could have happily gone again today…

  • Anna Caterina Antonacci at SF Opera Lab

    * Notes * Last night the arresting soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera) gave the first of three performances of songs by Berlioz, Debussy, and Poulenc paired with a piano version La Voix Humane at SF Opera Lab. Antonacci gave a compelling renditions of the various French songs, all…