The big news on Van Ness Avenue, it goes without saying, is Calixto Bieito’s operatic debut on these shores.
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I grew up with the Anna Moffo recording of Luisa Miller, so it was fortuitous that the Met gave the premiere of a new production in 1968, around the time RCA released the album.
When it comes to throwing shade, Latrice Royale herself must surely yield her crown to the queen who made a contribution to the Rentboy.com Legal Defense Fund “In honor of David Gockley and San Francisco Opera’s production of Gordon Getty‘s Usher House.”
Even in San Francisco, actions speak louder than words.
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is heavy on macabre atmosphere and light on action.
Emilio Sagi’s production of The Barber of Seville is ungepotchket in the flesh.
Die Meistersinger is a bold stroke of programming, in a not particularly exciting way.
San Francisco Opera yesterday announced its third major cast change in five days.
Due to illness, soprano Nadine Sierra is unable to perform. Replacing Ms. Sierra in the title role of Lucia is Russian soprano Albina Shagimuratova.”
With a primary color, projection-heavy English-language Magic Flute that’s going to feel like a matinee whenever you see it, the SFO season has lived up to its initial promise.
Well that’s a terrible place to start a review, and it’s not quite fair to SFO’s Lucia di Lammermoor, but…
“Our patrons are also our investors, and because many of our core subscribers are also our most generous philanthropists, we need to make sure that our programming jives with their expectations, what they’d like to see onstage.”
The breaking news from San Francisco Opera is that Nadine Sierra will sing the title role of in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, replacing Diana Damrau, who will not.
If I’d gotten an hour less sleep you’d now find me mixing everything up and writing about Mrs. Lovett making her entrance on a bronze horse like Peter the Great.
Gala this; gala that; who knew rich people wore clothes so badly?
In celebration of the impending retirement of San Francisco Opera’s head honcho David Gockley, La Cieca proposed a quick midweek competition, with a first prize of not having dinner with San Francisco Opera’s head honcho David Gockley.
You might be surprised, though, when that title turns out to be Show Boat.
Three blocks from the opera house is a terrible time to realize there was homework.
I have an idea (soon to be angrily debunked in the comments section) that Le nozze di Figaro is rarely a source of unalloyed bliss to the chronic operagoer.
It is easy to become overly identified with opera—as a cleverer friend of mine once noted: being a sports fan is an interest, but if you like opera, everyone thinks of it as a crippling obsession.
Certain operas are better in theory than practice.
The key to enjoying Bellini’s I Capuleti e Montechi is to do a hard factory reset and reformat your brain to forget all other works based on Romeo and Juliet.
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