The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

Category: Sondra Radvanovsky

  • Opera in the Park 2009

    * Notes * San Francisco Opera's Opera in the Park performance this year was rather charming. Incoming Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducted with great enthusiasm, and to begin he faced the audience for the National Anthem and conducted us. Both the overture to La Forza del Destino and the intermezzo to Manon Lescaut sounded grand and…

  • Il Trovatore at SF Opera

    * Notes * The 2009-2010 season at San Francisco Opera opened with Il Trovatore last night. David McVicar's production is elegant, and Charles Edwards' rotating set made the scene changes straightforward. Maestro Luisotti's debut as music director was effervescent, and the orchestra sounded fine. The chorus was clear and together. Renée Tatum and Andrew Bidlack, the…

  • Il Trittico at LA Opera

    * Notes * There has been much ado about Woody Allen directing his first opera, one third of Puccini's Il Trittico, with William Friedkin, famed director of The Exorcist, directing the other two thirds. One cannot help feeling a bit skeptical of Los Angeles Opera hiring three film directors for the opening performances of the…