opera – Page 33 – Repeat Performances

August 11, 2009

‘Patience’ at the Proms

Promming at the Royal Albert Hall Before leaving London after a long summer vacation, I managed a brief glimpse at the BBC Proms, one of the world’s largest classical music festivals. The Proms, which celebrated its 115th anniversary this summer, is a two-month extravaganza with over 100 concerts and events that span the classical music spectrum from the arcane and distinguished to the popular and raucous. The bulk of the concerts are...

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July 11, 2009

Turandot at Lesher Center

Festival Opera kicks out the jambs A true spectacle. Lavish sets, outlandish costumes, bloodthirsty villagers, and the roar of a bewitched crowd. That was the July 11 premiere of Turandot, a Festival Opera production at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts. Two years in the...

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July 10, 2009

Merola Opera artists in concert at Herbst Theatre

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="125"] Kate Crist[/caption] A glimpse into the future of opera Thirty finalists out of 750 applicants showed their mettle Friday evening, July 10 in the first of four concerts of the Merola Opera program, a 12-week summer intensive for singers culled...

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July 7, 2009

Saariaho’s ‘L’amour de loin’ at the English National Opera

Love Across Time Last week, in London’s Coliseum, which is the early 20th-century English interpretation of a Roman theatrical arena, quaint with SPQR decorations and patriarchal busts amid red velvet Victorian luxuries and dark wood, I was fortunate to see the English National Opera’s performance of composer Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de Loin (Love from Afar). ENO has contemporary productions to die for. It’s always great to see new opera, not...

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June 20, 2009

San Francisco Symphony’s ‘Iolanthe’

Tripping hither, tripping thither ... When the San Francisco Symphony’s chorus members enter the stage at Davies Hall, they are all in formal black. The women, though, are sporting huge, dressy hats, shaped in brightly colored semi-transparent netting. One woman seems to have a swan perched on her head. It’s all perfectly in keeping with the bright pink patterned sections where they are sitting—the women on one side, the men on the other—divided by a bright...

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‘La Traviata’ at San Francisco Opera

Demimondaine to flapper The current production of La Traviata at the San Francisco Opera was developed for the Los Angeles Opera, and it bears all the qualities of that company’s artistic style: it is elegant and spacious, with lighting and set designs that are dramatic yet spare and that project profound wealth through a sure physical allure. The production is directed by Marta Domingo. Married to Plácido, she is yet another member of that outrageously talented...

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