The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: San Francisco Opera

  • Tra la la. Largo al factotum.

    * Notes * Alarmingly, the fifth performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia this season was worse than opening night, at least as far as Act I. John Osborn (Count Almaviva) was flat, Allyson McHardy (Rosina) gasped in her prominent aria "Una voce poco fa," Nathan Gunn (Figaro) seemed more concerned with his Vespa than with…

  • SF Opera Workers Ratify 5-year Contract

    Chronicle Article

  • SF Chronicle Review of Barbiere

    Joshua Kosman uses a soufflé metaphor. SF Chronicle Article| SF Opera Information

  • Opening of Il Barbiere

    * Notes * A revival of Johannes Schaaf’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia production from 2003 opened last night on Halloween. Hans Dieter Schaal’s set looked as white and stark as ever, the centerpiece being a German fantasy of the Barbie Malibu Dream House, which Thomas May describes as "Bauhaus inflected." The scene changes do go…

  • SF Opera Podcast

    This season, instead of sending subscribers a yearbook going over all of the operas showing at San Francisco Opera, they sent out a double CD with David Gockley talking about each opera and playing clips. Seattle Opera has been doing this for a few years as well, and this format is useful as one can…

  • Oed’ und leer das Meer

    * Notes *The fourth performance of Tristan und Isolde was last night, and it was consistent with the previous performance I saw last week. Thomas Moser (Tristan) started off pretty well in Act I, and he sang beautifully in Act II, but by Act III he was rather quiet. * Tattling * The audience was…

  • Closing of Die Fledermaus

    * Notes * Die Fledermaus ended its seven performance run at San Francisco Opera yesterday. It was as charming as ever, almost everyone had it together for the final go-around. Wolfgang Brendel had the correct footing for his Rockettesque duet with Eugene Brancoveanu at the end of Act II. Likewise, Brancoveanu managed to keep the…

  • Frisch weht der Wind

    * Notes * Los Angeles Opera’s 1987 production of Tristan und Isolde was revived last week in San Francisco. The production was designed by David Hockney, best known for his swimming pool paintings from the sixties. The set looked much like a large-scale colorful pop-up book, filled with strange details, such as curtains attached to…

  • $50 Orchestra Seats

    General Director Gockley announced a plan to cut the price of orchestra seats for Bravo Club members. The tickets are normally $87-$155, unless one gets student or senior rush tickets, which are $25 or $30, respectively. The student rush tickets have gone up in price, they were a mere $15 last season. Given that the…

  • Mistero e Malinconia

    Giorgio de ChiricoMistero e Malinconia di una Strada, 1914Oil on canvas, 88 x 72 cmPrivate collection * Notes * Apparently Michael Yeargan’s set for Rigoletto is based on Giorgio de Chirico’s architectural paintings. De Chirico (1888- 1978) started on this particular style in 1910 when he was living in Florence and moved on from metaphysical…