Reviews

A Different View
September 5, 2003
By Michael Zwiebach for San Francisco Classical Voice
The San Francisco Lyric Opera played to its strengths in its new production of Mozart and Da Ponte's "Cosi fan tutte", which opened on Friday night at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco. The show's high points came from a youthful, attractive and engaging cast, who filled the small auditorium with energy and a good deal of poised singing.
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A Lively Romp
June 28, 2003
By Norman Rabkin for San Francisco Classical Voice
Both musically and dramatically, the new production of "L'elisier" by the San Francisco Lyric Opera at the Eureka Theater succeeds wonderfully on the romantic side and in creating the village ambiance, perhaps somewhat less so in the opera's farcical aspect. Barnaby Palmer, music director and conductor, led a string quartet and piano in place of the orchestra for which Donizetti wrote a brilliant score. The same combination, doing the same composer's late comedy "Don Pasquale" last December, seemed inadequate to this critic. The difference can be explained by several factors: a stronger cast of singers, closer control by Mr. Palmer in the stage as well as well as pit, and a higher level of energy overall. A clear-voiced chorus of fifteen added greatly to the evening's success. They enacted their roles with charm and sang their words clearly. Their charm was reinforced by Matthew Berglund's enchanting stage design using both painting and imaginative props, Emily Ehrlich Inget's colorful costumes for the large cast, and Kay Kleinerman's adroit stage direction. But it was the singing of the lead parts that really made the evening so memorable. The San Francisco Lyric Opera has given the city that loves opera cause to rejoice, even if in very small quantities at a time.
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First Rate Traviata
March 8, 2003
By Michael Zwiebach for San Francisco Classical Voice
Like a gambler with a lucky touch, the San Francisco Lyric Opera continued its run on consumptive heroines, as its production of "La Traviata" opened on Saturday night at the Eureka Theater. The show's high points far outweighed its few problems and the rough spots should not deter anyone from seeing Verdi's opera in a space where the intimate motions of the drama feel natural and unforced. Following modern performance tradition, director Kay Kleinerman's production was set in 19th-century Paris and took all the usual cuts (the cabalettas for Alfredo and his father Giorgio, for example). The director also added staging to the prelude, an irresistible temptation for modern directors and a necessity given the lack of an orchestra pit. But Ms. Kleinerman is a "clean" director: the story was told clearly and effectively, the whole cast was well-drilled and cohesive, and there were imaginative details in the staging. The production gained immeasurably from a fine Violetta Valéry. In her second foray into tubercular-soprano land, Lanier McNab (an excellent Mimì in last year's "La Bohème" at the Lyric Opera) was a dignified and self-aware heroine, making her death scene even more devastating than usual. One of the greatest areas of improvement in this show over "La Bohème" was the singing of the chorus, which in "Traviata" was spot-on both in rhythm and pitch. There is more sound there now, as well. If the health of a city's artistic life is judged not only by its major institutions but by the breadth of interest in and support for the arts, then we have to be encouraged that in these perilous economic times the Lyric Opera continues to thrive and put on excellent performances such as this "Traviata".
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