Arriving at the War Memorial Opera House before this season’s wildly extraordinary “Siegfried”, San Francisco was treated to colorful flags all over the city proclaiming this 2011 Ring Festival, continuing a long tradition in San Francisco of presenting full-scale Ring productions for decades – as in 1935, 1972, 1985, 1990, 1999. But the first full cycle [...]
Entries from May 2011
Wagner’s “Siegfried” Starts San Francisco Opera’s Ring Season With a Smashing Stunner – May 29, 2011
May 31st, 2011
Tags: Tom's Reviews
Waut Koeken’s Iconoclastic Strasbourg “Seraglio” – Opera National de Rhin, May 21, 2011
May 23rd, 2011
On a warm Alsatian spring evening, I traveled to one of the Rhineland’s famed “candy box” opera houses, the 1374-seat Theatre Municipal, home of the Opera National du Rhin of Strasbourg, France. The Theatre Municipal’s 190 year history includes its destruction during the Siege of Strasbourg in the 1870 Prussian invasion that ended Napoleon III’s [...]
Tags: 2005-2012: William's Reviews
A Sultry, Voluptuous “Carmen” Concludes San Diego Opera’s Best Season Ever – May 14, 2011
May 15th, 2011
Concluding the very sensational 2011 San Diego Opera Season is the all time operatic winner in every opera house world-wide – Bizet’s marvelous crowd-pleaser (and revenue-enhancer) “Carmen”, which has graced San Diego’s stage many times, always to huge applause. As expected, the house was sold out and the audience highly enthusiastic about the sun-dappled production with its impressive cast [...]
Tags: Tom's Reviews