Author Archives: philip

Tosca ROH – A Five-* Production

Posted on November 18, 2011 by philip

Tosca is one of my favorite operas.  The complex dramatic plot and the sublime music of Giacomo Puccini alone are enough to put it in my top ten. First, the music is so melodic, so listenable that I find myself humming bits of it for weeks after attending a performance.  In addition, the music and the words and the action are so perfectly blended that the whole is far greater the sum of its already great parts. Continue reading »

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Carmen SF Opera – America’s favorite opera

Posted on November 18, 2011 by philip

They say that in the United States no opera is performed more often than Georges Bizet’s Carmen.  I can easily believe that.  Continue reading »

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La Voix Humaine – Opera San JosÉ presents an emotional block-buster

Posted on November 17, 2011 by philip

The house lights dim.  We, the audience, grow quiet.  Concertmaster Cynthia Baehr stands to direct the final pitch-giving.  Conductor Bryan Nies makes his way through the orchestra to polite applause. Continue reading »

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Xerxes – SF Opera’s Handle on Handel

Posted on November 13, 2011 by philip

George Frideric Handel wrote lots of truly inspired music including more than 40 operas.  He visualized complex characters and put them into interesting situations.  But when he came up with names for these characters, he had trouble getting as far as “B” in the alphabet.  Continue reading »

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Don Giovanni MetHD – Second Production this Season

Posted on November 2, 2011 by philip

The advance program said that James Levine would be the conductor.  The program at the theater door listed Fabio Luisi as the conductor.  At intermission, RenÉe Fleming interviewed Maestro Luisi and we found out that he was the Met’s new Principal Conductor.  Obviously there was a story here. Continue reading »

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Adriana Lecouvreur – an ROH production of a rarely performed opera

Posted on October 27, 2011 by philip

What an exciting experience I had last Sunday, October 19, 2011.  I walked into the delightfully remodeled Camera 3 Cinema and took my comfortable seat knowing almost nothing about what to expect. Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur sounded vaguely familiar to me, Continue reading »

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Don Giovanni SF Opera – First of Four Productions this Season

Posted on October 22, 2011 by philip

The Opera season 2011-12 could well be called “The Year of the Don”.  In the space of four months I am planning to see four different productions of Mozart’s masterpiece – two live stage performances and two on HD:  Continue reading »

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Anna Bolena – Anna: Netrebko IS Bolena

Posted on October 18, 2011 by philip

A wonderful extra to the Met HD Performances is the lengthy intermission with its interviews.  For the Met HD Live on October 15, 2011, there was a small difference.  The performance started five minutes early, and hostess RenÉe Fleming used that time to interview title star Anna Netrebko in her dressing room.  Continue reading »

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Samson and Delilah – An exciting opening for West Bay Opera’s 56th Season

Posted on October 17, 2011 by philip

Opening night of an opera has a special excitement to it; opening night of a season is extra-special; opening night for a company premier of an infrequently performed opera is extra-extra-special.  Continue reading »

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Lucrezia Borgia – San Francisco Opera presents one of Donizetti’s less well known bel canto operas

Posted on September 29, 2011 by philip

Last night I saw the SFO’s production of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia with RenÉe Fleming. As I sat through the performance, I had an unfocussed memory that I had seen it before. It turns out that Pocket Opera did it back in 1997. Continue reading »

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