Tag Archives: Donizetti

Elixir of Love Review – West Bay Opera produces another gem

Posted on February 19, 2014 by philip

It’s been a quiet couple of months on the opera scene in and near Palo Alto. Good thing for the Opera Nut, since I’m just back in circulation after a week in the hospital and another week under house arrest as I recuperated. Nothing serious, thank you, and I’m now fully recovered – in the nick of time, since I have just seen four different operas in five days!  Continue reading »

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Lucia Review – And a Special Extra Treat at West Bay Opera

Posted on March 7, 2013 by philip

The curtain comes down on the fourth and final performance of WBO’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with tumultuous applause drowning out the last few chords of the orchestra.  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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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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Kiss Me Lucia di la Mancha – A glorious musical weekend

Posted on April 7, 2011 by philip

What a fantastic 31 hours! Lucia di Lammermoor in Met HD starting at 10 am Saturday March 19 2011, continuing with the Gunn High School performance of Kiss Me, Kate Saturday evening, and ending at 5 pm Sunday when the curtain came down on Man of La Mancha performed by Symphony Silicon Valley as the final 2010-2011 Broadway in Concert series. Continue reading »

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Lucia di Lammermoor – Mary Zimmerman’s Production is Still Tops

Posted on March 27, 2011 by philip

Two years ago I saw the MetHD performance of the Mary Zimmerman production of Lucia di Lammermoor starring Anna Netrebko in the title role. This was before I knew about SPLASH, but I was so impressed that I wrote about the opera afterwards just to express my own reactions. Continue reading »

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Elixir of Love – Potent Potion Produces Rare Riotous Romance

Posted on March 1, 2011 by philip

If you enjoy light-hearted opera by such composers as Offenbach, Lehar, Gilbert and Sullivan, you are bound to like Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. Particularly when it is sung in English with Donald Pippin’s libretto. And enjoy it, I did – but not quite as much as I expected to. Continue reading »

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Don Pasquale – Another MetHD Must See

Posted on November 22, 2010 by philip

Thirty years ago I saw Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for the first time.  I remember only one thing about that performance: I disliked it.  I use the word intentionally.  I didn’t just fail to enjoy it, I actively disliked it. I’ve done a little sleuthing in my own records and on the Met Archives web page and deduced that the performance I saw was a PBS rebroadcast of a Met Live TV broadcast.  In the early 1980’s I sat in front of my small-screen TV set and watched many operas.  I enjoyed almost all of them, despite the fact that they were technically far inferior to today’s HD theater performances.  This was the only one I disliked.  Why? Continue reading »

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Maria Stuardo

Posted on October 25, 2009 by philip

. . . .  an easy daylight drive in light traffic to Campbell, and at 11 am Sunday there I was attending

MARIA STUARDO
Donizetti
Performed at Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Continue reading »

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Lucia di Lammermoor

Posted on March 7, 2009 by philip

On our way out of the Theater at half past one Saturday March 7, 2009, I asked Sara a rhetorical question, “Would you like to have lived back then?” Continue reading »

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