It’s easy to love Puccini’s “La Bohème:” art, love, friends who romp and cavort, street scenes with lively genre action, and music to die for. Puccini’s classic thrills even non-opera lovers. “I could go every night,” we hear spectators say on leaving the War Memorial Opera House. Bringing to life again this Co-production with Houston Grand Opera, originally performed there {…}
With the summer underway, the opera world remains in full swing. Opera in Ozarks is the big company to make headlines this weekend as the company showcases two performances. “Le Nozze di Figaro” gets a look on Friday while “Susannah” gets a showcase on Saturday. Wolf Trap Opera also gets a major showcase with “La Pietra del Paragone” on Friday {…}
“Rigoletto” can’t be topped for its humanity. A father and a daughter, a jester, a virginal naif, longing for and trying to sustain a good a life in selfish and lecherous world, power-hungry and greedy, 16th century Mantua. Such is the subject of Verdi’s middle period masterpiece. The libretto by Francisco Maria Piave is based on the play “Le Roi {…}
San Francisco Opera is striking up a partnership with KQED Public Television to bring opera into the homes of Bay Area residents with two telecasts that will feature Verdi’s “Atilla” and Boito’s “Mefistofele.” The former performance will be aired on Thursday, August 3, 2017 on KQED 9 while the latter comes three weeks later, with the viewing experience taking place on Thursday, {…}
It is a busy weekend around the Opera World. Here are some of the big events to keep an eye out for. Opera Avalon showcases “Dead Man Walking” on Friday and Saturday while American Opera Projects gives audiences “Three Way” on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Kamala Sankaram’s “Thumbprints” gets a showcase on both the east and west coast. Beth Morrison {…}
San Francisco Opera’s “Don Giovanni” brings us bass-baritones with gusto, sopranos with flair, a tenor who pleads his case with feeling, and an opera that never ceases to amaze. Opening SFO’s 2017 summer season, Jacopo Spirei, in his SFO debut, offers us the ever satisfying chestnut in as provocative and seductive a production as the Don himself. Who can {…}
Another light weekend in North America’s Opera World with only a few companies putting on shows. Opera Theater of Saint Louis continues its run of Gordon’s “The Grapes of Wrath” on Friday. The next day the company puts on Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito.” The company closes out the weekend with “Madama Butterfly.” Portland Opera puts on its lone performance {…}
San Francisco Opera has announced a new program entitled Opera for All Voices: Stories of Our Time. This program specializes in storytelling, regardless of age or experience in the field of opera, to incorporate all audiences. The idea behind Opera for All Voices is to work together in order to bring about new American operatic works that are flexible {…}
With the summer taking shape, it remains a rather relaxed opera season in North America, with most companies off. But there are still a few companies putting on quality productions this week. The big fish is San Francisco Opera which kicked off its summer 2017 season with “Rigoletto” and will showcase “Don Giovanni” this weekend on Sunday. That work features {…}
San Francisco Opera has announced that Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott and American bass Erik Anstine will sing the role of Leporello in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Both artists will make their first appearances with the San Francisco Opera as they will be stepping in for previously scheduled bass Marco Vinco, who has withdrawn from the production for health reasons. Schrott is {…}
The San Francisco Opera has announced that it will present “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” the first full-length opera written by Bay Area composer Mason Bates and set to a libretto by Mark Campbell in 2019-20 season. It will join Santa Fe Opera and Seattle Opera, with support from Cal Performances as a co-commissioner. The new work will be a co-production {…}
