Smooth operators
A husband-wife duo add star power to San Francisco Opera‘s stylish revival of Manon.
West Coast
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots could learn to lighten up.
Man of the masses
Amartuvshin Enkhbat is superb in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in San Francisco — even if the drama offstage is more persuasive than this new production.
Bang to whimper
Opera San José opened its season with a new production of Don Giovanni that embraced the opera’s challenges with youthful abandon, even as it was sometimes felled by them.
All-American girl
A new English translation of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West gallops into a high school in Pacifica with as much grit and gumption as its titular frontierswoman.
The kids are alright
Though, really, the young artists of the Merola Opera Program were more than alright in their annual showcase.
Da capo days of summer
San Francisco goes baroque with performances of Handel‘s Alcina, Tolomeo, and Rinaldo.
Life’s a Blitch
Shakespeare Opera Theatre presented two American operas exploring themes of hypocrisy and deception — in a church!
Hit me with your best shot
Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s production of Der Freischütz in Munich may fire a few blanks, but the musicians are all on target.
Because I’m not one of your FANS!
Just in time for this month’s theme of filth or dementia, a review of Terrence McNally‘s Master Class from Central City Opera.
A barrel of laughs
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer‘s bubbly The Judgement of Paris brings a distinctly Californian terroir to operatic comedy.
Tabor-ing under no illusions
A grandly sung revival of The Ballad of Baby Doe at Central City Opera mines poignance from America’s past and present.
Ma queer immortelle
San Francisco Opera hosts an exuberant tribute to queerness past and present.
Rubber soul
Video Artists International brings us back to a time when opera was carried over the airwaves by great voices—and a tire company.
Anna Caterina Antonacci should have made it to the Met
The one who got away was Anna Caterina Antonacci, a thrilling performer.
By Last Castrato
68 comments
Sister, sister, oh so fair
Conductor Eun Sun Kim and soprano Elza van der Heever play to their strengths in a piercing revival of Elektra at San Francisco Opera.
Nun the wiser
Matthew Travisano has such doubts about Douglas Cuomo‘s opera recently seen at Opera Parallèle.
Rosina in bloom
Maria Kataeva makes a promising US debut in an otherwise uneven revival of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in San Francisco.
A favorite Verdi performance from Astyanax
The air held a real charge that night in SF’s War Memorial Opera House.
By Astyanax
88 comments
A favorite Verdi performance from Tildy Diva
A well-known Met Aïda with a starry cast from 1967 is TildyDiva’s Favorite Verdi Performance
By Tildy Diva
36 comments
Clipped wings
Madama Butterfly at Opera Colorado plays it safe — and never fully takes flight.
Hustle your bustle
Opera San José‘s La Traviata has all the buzz and energy of a world premiere.
Big man in town
A strong revival of Falstaff at the Los Angeles Opera proves a fitting farewell vehicle for Music Director James Conlon.
Music to heal the hurt
Ten years since the death of countertenor Brian Asawa, Charles Stanton remembers his friend and corrects the record on his untimely passing.
By Charles Stanton
11 comments
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).