Abandon your preconceptions about how Handel should be presented. This brilliant production and stellar cast will turn every one of them upside-down.
San Francisco,
Near the end of Act I of this decidedly comic British production of “Partenope,” in its company premiere at San Francisco Opera, a breeze wafts through an open window, billowing the diaphanous curtain in seductive swirls. That undulating fabric is ...
Though the women in this production do their best, they cannot save their miscast and lackluster male counterparts from keeping Verdi's tuneful work earthbound.
Suzanne WeissSan Francisco,
What better way to celebrate the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi than with his famous costume party? And so it was that I found myself on October 10 at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House raising a metaphorical glass to ...
While updating Verdi's tale of star-crossed romance to the Roaring Twenties is open to debate, this production remains true to his glorious music.
Karen WeinsteinLos Angeles,
The question: To be or not to be faithful to the original setting of an opera is known to evoke passions as intense as those expressed by the originalists fighting with the rest of us who think the Constitution should ...
Patricia Racette, stunning in the title role, is matched in vocal power by tenor Brandon Jovanovich and bass Raymond Aceto in a new and moving production of Carlisle Floyd's tale of lust and hypocrisy in 1930s Tennessee.
Suzanne WeissSan Francisco,
“Ain’t it a pretty night,” sings the soprano and, whenever “Susannah” is in town, the night is more than pretty. It’s gorgeous.
Carlisle Floyd’s 1955 work, written when he was only 27, may be the quintessential American opera ...
Despite a cluttered set and problematic staging, this new production soars on the voices of Sondra Radvanovsky and Jamie Barton.
Suzanne WeissSan Francisco,
Bel canto means “beautiful singing” and that’s what you get in San Francisco Opera’s new production of Bellini’s “Norma.” With the fantastic American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role, once utterly owned by the likes of Maria Callas ...
Shelley Jackson and Joseph Dennis go centerstage at SF Opera
Michael Wade SimpsonSanta Fe,
Two-thousand fourteen may be remembered at Santa Fe Opera as the year of the understudy. First there was Shelley Jackson, a second-year apprentice, stepping in as Norina, the female lead in “Don Pasquale.” Laura Tatulescu, the soprano originally cast in ...
“Boystown: the Opera,” with one comic diva and a whole lot of intertwining melodies for big-voiced men.
Michael Wade SimpsonSanta Fe,
Laurent Pelly’s take on “Don Pasquale” this summer at Santa Fe Opera is tight, funny and physical. With only five characters and no chorus, this narrowly focused opera allows for each individual voice, and actor, to shine. Beyond that, thanks ...
Michael Wade SimpsonSanta Fe,
“Carmen” and “Don Pasquale” may be alternating onstage at the opera this weekend, but that won’t stop cast members in the two operas from fraternizing. Daniela Mack and Alek Shrader, who are playing, respectively, the title role in “Carmen,” and ...
The Santa Fe Opera goes for political edginess in this re-imagined take on Bizet's tale of love and jealousy and death.
Michael Wade SimpsonNM,
The collision between grand opera and the iPhone is happening now; it’s just in places like Santa Fe that the wreckage is perhaps less noticeable. Does anyone still prefer a live orchestra, over-the-top theatrics, and $200 tickets to their Apps ...
In the great outdoors, the Fab Phils reawaken the senses.
Lewis WhittingtonPhiladelphia,
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s outdoor concert series at the Mann Center (pictured above) kicked off in grand style with British conductor (and droll wit) Bramwell Tovey conducting showpieces by Beethoven and Britten. Tovey, musical director of Vancouver Symphony and in ...
