Opera Warhorses

Nine of the ten operas of Richard Wagner’s maturity abound in magic and spells - enough potions, curses and enchantment to fill a whole semester in Harry Potter’s School of Wizards. Even in the tenth opera, “Die Meistersinger”, the hero’s prize song comes to him, as if by magic, in a dream - fully orchestrated [...]

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My wife and I attended new productions of “Forza del Destino” in Zurich on October 19 and San Francisco on November 20, 2005. In both cases we sat in first row seats, directly behind a masterful Italian conductor, veteran Nello Santi in Zurich and novitiate Nicola Luisotti in San Francisco, each of whom has received [...]

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The final performance of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” was also General Director’s Pamela Rosenberg’s last performance as San Francisco Opera’s fourth General Director. Circumstances (not all of which likely are known to the general public) resulted in her tenure being the shortest in San Francisco Opera’s 82 year history. She was presented with a giant bouquet of [...]

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