San Francisco Classical Voice

Mr. Heuwell Tircuit, who reviewed Pocket Opera's performance of Verdi's Oberto, clearly has no knowledge of what opera singing is really about. His downright vicious comments regarding the male leads, Ralph Wells and Michael Licciardello, were so far off the bat it was laughable. I was at this performance and happy to finally hear singers who can really handle the demands of Verdian music.

I am dismayed at the arrogance and viciousness of the review of Pocket Opera's presentation of Oberto. Certainly, your reviewers can be honest without being cruel, not to mention educated about the art form.

I was offended by Heuwell Tircuit's review of the June 24 performance of San Francisco Pocket Opera's Oberto, which I also attended. He states in a sly, backhanded way that the audience members must have been an unsophisticated lot, since they were pleased by what he calls "good-to-decent singers" in a production that wisely emphasized the music over the period libretto. As a former theater critic and semiprofessional singer myself, I was also incredulous to read Mr. Tircuit's assessment of the singers. His unmitigated praise of Ms. Carle, whose voice was indeed lovely but could rarely be heard, was more than puzzling. What he calls "bellowing" by (Ralph) Wells and (Michael) Licciardello was, in my opinion, powerful, well-supported singing that drew the audience to its feet.