The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Xerxes
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San Francisco Opera's Serse (Michael Sumuel and Heidi Stober pictured in the first image below, Susan Graham and Lisette Oropesa pictured in the second; photographs by Cory Weaver) just finished a run of six performances last Saturday. 31. October 2011: Opening Media Round-Up 4. November 2011: From Orchestra Standing Room Opera Tattler Review 8. November…
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* Notes *Händel's Serse (Act III pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) had an impressive second performance last night at San Francisco Opera. The English National Opera production at hand premiered in 1985, yet is still as fresh and comedic as ever. This was helped by the deft, transparent playing from the orchestra. The brass…
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Production Web Site | SF Opera's Blog Reviews of San Francisco Opera's Serse (Act I pictured left with David Daniels as Arsamene, Lisette Oropesa as Romilda, Susan Graham as Serse, members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus, and supernumeraries; photograph by Cory Weaver) look quite positive. Performance Reviews: Not For Fun Only | Out West…
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* Notes * Händel’s Serse (Act I pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) opens this afternoon at San Francisco Opera, and I for one am quite sad not to attend. Instead I offer you a preview, based on attendance of rehearsals. Nicholas Hytner’s production, directed here by Michael Walling, originates from English National Opera and was…
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* Notes *The production of Serse that recently completed a run at Berkeley West Edge Opera turned Händel's opera seria on its head, to amusing effect. Though I was reluctant to go to this, as I had just heard and seen a fantastic Serse in Houston only 7 months ago, the experience in El Cerrito was…
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* Notes *Händel’s Serse had a strong opening yesterday evening at Houston Grand Opera. The production, from the English National Opera, is entertaining, and features astroturf as a main stage element. The chorus seemed to all be painted grey, and the supernumeraries white. During the overture, the principals are introduced in turn, with the names…
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I'm being kept quite busy with non-opera activities, so I present to you an opera painting from 2003. This acrylic on paper work was painted after I had gone to a performance of Händel's Serse at the Bavarian State Opera. It was one of the few times in Munich that I wasn't in standing room. The…
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Yesterday evening I attempted to see the entirety of the Bavarian State Opera's production of Serse. The last time I only made it through the the first two acts before I was too disgusted to watch the rest. This time I decided to sit in the best section of the Nationaltheater, the Königsloge. The acoustics…
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The production of Serse at the Bavarian State Opera was hideous. When one is staging an opera, which does, in fact, involve music, and thus, sound, perhaps one should think about how the sounds that various parts of the production may distract from the music at hand. All sorts of supernumeraries stomped here and there…
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