opera Reviews
May 13, 2008
The Duke’s Exotic Consort
Duke Ellington's opera comique Queenie Pie springs to glorious life in Oakland Opera Theater's restoration.
May 6, 2008
Scaling the Bartók-Ravel Summit
Doing justice to an unusual double bill is child’s play for Berkeley Opera.
April 22, 2008
A Rippin’ Pippin
Pocket Opera proves ever-constant with its delights in its mounting of Così fan tutte.
April 15, 2008
Young Singers Reanimate History
The San Francisco Conservatory revives an opera from 17th-century Venice.
March 18, 2008
For the Love of Donzetti
Berkeley Opera presents a buoyant Elixir, featuring an exciting soprano discovery.
March 11, 2008
One Hell of a Funny Opera
Offenbach’s most popular operetta gets a boost from Donald Pippin’s riotously stylish libretto translation.
February 19, 2008
January 15, 2008
A Chinese Classic in European Style
The China National Opera ventures a new version of a famous love tragedy.
December 4, 2007
A Victim of Virtue
San Francisco Opera's Madama Butterfly is a soul-searing, richly satisfying production.
November 27, 2007
A Radical Rake
Glamour and romance elevate San Francisco Opera's updated Rake's Progress to a new level of greatness.
November 20, 2007
Maddening Macbeth
San Francisco Opera’s latest production trades on foolishness in the guise of insight.
November 13, 2007
A Swallow in Full Plumage
The San Francisco Opera takes flight with the fascinating Angela Gheorghiu starring in the long-lost La Rondine.
October 30, 2007
Letter From Seattle
Seattle Opera captivates with searing visuals and music in Iphigénie en Tauride.
October 16, 2007
October 9, 2007
Battle Hymn of a Divided Republic
San Francisco Opera's premiere of Philip Glass' Appomattox triumphs in spite of the music.
Truth and Ambiguity
Oakland Opera Theater works out the kinks in its new space, and in its Turn of the Screw.
October 2, 2007
Racy Paean to Love
San Francisco Renaissance Voices frees William Boyce's Solomon from relative obscurity.
September 25, 2007
Music Triumphs in Tannhäuser
San Francisco Opera's production achieves musical, if not directorial, greatness.
Small-Scale Tales
San Francisco Lyric Opera's Tales of Hoffmann shows that good things can come in tiny packages.
September 11, 2007
Glittering Season Opener
Opening night at the S.F. Opera kicks off the season with glamour and excitement.
Vocal Up-and-Comers
Bright new talent gets a chance to shine in Opera San José's Lucia di Lammermoor.
September 4, 2007
August 21, 2007
Merolini Make It All Shine
San Francisco Opera Merola Program strikes gold in its anniversary year grand finale.
August 14, 2007
Resurrecting a Haydn Gem
City Concert Opera Orchestra unearths a Hadyn opera worth bringing to a desert island.
August 7, 2007
Farce on a Texas Ranch
Hotel Casablanca quotes liberally from operas past, but its music remains at odds with the comedy.
July 24, 2007
At War in Berkeley
Berkeley Opera's production of Aïda updates the setting but remains true to Verdi.
July 17, 2007
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A Fairy-Tale Cinderella
The Merola Program's La Cenerentola sparkles with an interpretation that gets to the emotional core of an otherwise coldly satiric opera.
July 10, 2007
Carmen From Afar
Festival Opera learns that a Carmen with all the necessary wattage — from cast and costumes to playing and conducting — can still turn out a low-intensity production.
June 19, 2007
An Iphigenia for Today
S.F. Opera's modernized Iphigénie updates a revolutionary composer's work.
Power to the People
Oakland Opera Theater unveils two operas-to-be.
June 12, 2007
Silver and Gold
S.F. Opera's Rosenkavalier is a simple, straightforward, and honest standout.
June 5, 2007
The Triumph of the Impossible
S.F. Opera's brilliant, convincing Giovanni.
May 29, 2007
Lighting a Fire Under Lucia
Talise Trevigne shines in San Francisco Lyric Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor.
May 15, 2007
A Mezzo Reaches for the Sky
Music at Meyer season finale sparkles with Kendall Gladen, Heidi Melton, and other Merola and Adler Fellows.
May 8, 2007
A Queen With an Empty Deck
Donald Pippin's Pocket Opera production of Queen of Spades is rich on pomp, poor on casting choices.
A Carmen Without the Drama
Bizet's dramatic opera is slow to ignite, but S.F. Opera Adler Fellows fan the flames in the final acts.
A Mismatch for the Lovelorn
A good idea gone wrong: Shakespeare and Gounod share the stage at the Berkeley Opera and an amorous production becomes amorphous.
May 1, 2007
The Unique Charms of Pippinized Opera
Donald Pippin's magic is on display yet again in a successful joint production of The Merry Wives of Windsor with Notre Dame de Namur University.
April 3, 2007
Concentrated Handel
Donald Pippin's cherished puns aren't lost in translation in Pocket Opera's Italian-sung Flavio.
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