The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Opera Review
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* Notes * Yesterday SF Opera Lab opened a second season with Ted Hearne's disturbing oratorio The Source. The 2012 piece concerns Chelsea Manning's disclosure to WikiLeaks of classified material about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unconventionally staged with the four singers dispersed in the audience (Isaiah Robinson pictured left, photograph by Stefan Cohen)…
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* Notes *The Pulitzer Prize winning Silent Night by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell is a fine choice for Opera San José, which gave the West Coast premiere last night. It was a worthy challenge for the company, which has a many youthful repertory members, all of whom seemed to rise to the occasion. Campbell's…
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* Notes *Opera Parallèle has opened another near impeccable production with Jonathan Dove's Flight, which has a three performance run this weekend at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Featuring an ensemble of 10 vocalists, the cast, mostly alumni of the Merola Opera Program, is incredibly strong. The small orchestra of 29…
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* Notes *Los Angeles Opera's recent Akhnaten, which closed last Sunday with a matinee performance, was nothing short of spectacular. With Philip Glass' hypnotic score, an excellent cast, and a grand production featuring acrobats and a flexible, multi-level set, it was hard to look away from the stage for even a second. This is the…
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* Notes *San Francisco Opera ends 2016 with yet another run of Madama Butterfly after only two years, but with a very fine soprano in the title role that makes it worth the time to hear again. I am not a big fan of Puccini or of this opera with its Orientalist theme, however, Lianna Haroutounian…
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* Notes *The most spectacular part of San Francisco Opera's new Aida is undoubtedly the singing, with the orchestra coming in as a close second. Last night's opening performance features the elegant work of contemporary artist RETNA but Francesca Zambello's production is stark and static. RETNA's art is clearly influenced by calligraphy and graffiti, and it is…
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* Notes *My review of West Bay Opera's Le nozze di Figaro is up on San Francisco Classical Voice. Tattling * The audience was very enthusiastic about the performance. On the other hand, my opera companion insists that he won't go to another Mozart opera at West Bay.
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* Notes * With a monstrous but charismatic narcissist as protagonist, last night's revival of San Francisco Opera's The Makropulos Case felt timely. It was difficult to not compare our lead, soprano Nadja Michael, with the previous star in the role, Karita Mattila, especially since the latter was so recently here in the nearly perfect…
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* Notes * After an absence of over thirty years from the War Memorial stage, a new production of Don Pasquale opened Wednesday at San Francisco Opera. Inspired by Italian comedic movies from the 50s and 60s, the slapstick staging from Laurent Pelly features a charming turntable set (Act II pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver)…
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* Notes *My review of Opera San José's Lucia di Lammermoor is up on San Francisco Classical Voice. * Tattling * There were a ton of cellular phone rings and watch alarms at the Sunday matinée performance on September 18.
The Opera Tattler 