Opera Warhorses

The Los Angeles Opera presented the third production of the Achim Freyer’s conceptualization of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs”. Conducted by James Conlon and starring John Treleaven as Siegfried, Linda Watson as Bruennhilde and Vitalij Kowaljow as the Wanderer, it proved a musically strong performance. Continuing  Freyer’s vivid imagery, it provided another opportunity to watch the [...]

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I had the opportunity in Santa Fe to conduct an interview with Elza van den Heever, at whose San Francisco Opera stage debut I was present in June 2007, and who was Santa Fe’s Donna Anna in this summer’s presentation of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”. With virtually all artists I interview, we discuss various milestones in [...]

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San Francisco Opera’s performance of Puccini’s “Trittico”, utilizing sets from the New York City Opera, continued with “Gianni Schicchi”, the third one act opera of the evening. The opera, like “Tabarro”, is only 50 minutes long. (“Suor Angelica lasts an hour.) But unlike the sombre “Tabarro” and woeful “Angelica”, “Gianni Schicchi” is a merry caprice, [...]

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