June 17, 2017
“La Bohème” at San Francisco Opera
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opera
June 6, 2017
A sturdy Rigoletto at SF Opera
Cursed jesters and slippery Dukes
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto was unexpectedly crowd pleasing last Tuesday, June 6, at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. Nicola Luisotti led the SF Opera in a careful production that emphasized the beauty of the craft rather than dwelling too deeply on the menacing action.
But that was only a little surprising. Patrons strolled out wreathed with smiles after an evening of rape and murder, rather than...
June 3, 2017
West Bay Opera’s “Salome”
A Femme very Fatale in Palo Alto
West Bay Opera took a dangerous concept and ran with it this past Saturday, June 3, at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto. Salome, the opera by Richard Strauss based on the play by Oscar Wilde, was loosely derived from a cautionary Biblical tale of debauchery, politics and the death of a saint. Conductor José Luis Moscovich and Director Ragnar Conde joined forces together with Mexico City’s Escenia Ensamble for...
May 26, 2017
Opera Parallèle’s “Les Enfants Terribles”
A compelling descent.
Last Friday, May 26, Opera Parallèle explored the complex relationship between a brother and sister for a sold-out crowd at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Philip Glass’ opera, Les Enfants Terribles, was one long downward spiral of symbolism and obsession based on the poetry of Jean Cocteau and impelled by three pianos pounding away at a minimalist score.
Cocteau wrote his story of destructive love in the...
March 3, 2017
Gloriously tilting at windmills – opera in Alameda
Mad or divinely inspired? Social commentary or tragedy? Those treacherous mires were balanced and carefully unanswered in the opera Don Quichotte by Island City Opera of Alameda, which opened this past Friday in a production that was rich, colorful and energetic. Loosely based on Miguel de Cervantes’ seminal novel, Don Quixote, the 1910 opera by French composer Jules Massenet takes a very French Romantic view of an early seventeenth century Spanish classic and, in the...
February 26, 2017
“The Source” at SF Opera Lab
SF Opera Lab opened its second season with The Source. It’s a complex and compelling piece that deals with war and the ways in which the U.S. military obscures what it does in conflict. The Source focuses on Pvt. Chelsea...