Opera Warhorses

Note from William. The 50-year anniversary observances of performances I attended at San Francisco Opera continue with three other works from the 1960 season (the first season that I attended operas in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, rather than the venues in Los Angeles and San Diego the San Francisco Opera used for its [...]

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Note from William: Since 2006, at the end of each calendar year concurrent with the David Gockley administration at the San Francisco Opera, I have given letter grades to each of the productions performed by the company that year. The criteria are simple. An “A” reflects a musical and theatrical performance and production that would [...]

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[Note from William: The second part of my interview with basso cantante Raymond Aceto took place in San Diego at the administrative offices of the San Diego Opera, where he was appearing as Zaccaria in Verdi's "Nabucco" and in London, England, where he was performing Sparafucile in Verdi's "Rigoletto" at the Royal Opera House, Covent [...]

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