SAN DIEGO OPERA NEWS COVERAGE
The latest news on performances of Opera in San Diego.
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S CARMEN at the San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - April 03, 2019
San Diego Opera is the 13th company since 2011 to cast mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson in the title role of Bizet's Carmen. Her voice, sultry looks, and sensuous flamenco dancing are perfect for the role. She even manages castanets in perfect rhythm without missing a step. The considerable powers...
BWW Interview: Ginger Costa-Jackson of San Diego Opera's CARMEN at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - March 24, 2019
Since 2011 Mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson has sung the title role in 12 different productions of Bizet's Carmen. She will star in yet another this month for San Diego Opera. From here it's on to rehearsals for nine performances of Bizet's masterwork at Seattle Opera. Is the singer tiring of Carm...
BWW Review: San Diego Opera's JAKE HEGGIE'S THREE DECEMBERS at The Patrick Henry Phame Theatre
by Ron Bierman - March 12, 2019
Mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade starred in the San Diego Opera's staging of Three Decembers. One of several works written with her in mind by her close friend Jake Heggie, it' s a chamber opera for three singers and 11 musicians. In a recent Interview Von Stade said, 'I've done three productions, ...
BWW Interview: Frederica Von Stade of at San Diego Opera
by Ron Bierman - March 05, 2019
The famous mezzo soprano Fredericka von Stade is in San Diego this week rehearsing Three Decembers, one of several works written with her in mind by her close friend Jake Heggie. The chamber opera for three singers and 11 musicians will be performed three times next weekend at the 500-seat Patrick H...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF RIGOLETTO at The San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - February 06, 2019
The San Diego Opera's opening-night production of Verdi's Rigoletto featured the powerful voice and convincing acting of baritone Stephen Powell in a title role he has sung often. In contrast, it was soprano Alisa Jordheim's debut as Rigoletto's naive ill-fated daughter Gilda. Her fresh innocent app...
BWW Interview: Alisa Jordheim of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S RIGOLETTO at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - January 28, 2019
Coloratura Alisa Jordheim will be debuting in the role of Gilda with baritone Stephen Powell in a San Diego Opera production of Verdi's Rigoletto. This is the fifth time he's sung the lead. The first time was in a Cincinnati Opera production in which Jordheim had only a few lines as a page. 'I feel ...
BWW Interview: David Bennett, Juan Carlos Acosta, And Walter DuMelle at San Diego Opera
by Ron Bierman - December 04, 2018
Can a musical drama set on a grim WW I battlefield make an audience feel good? Those working on the San Diego Opera's staging of All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914 are certain it can. The work tells the true story of the spontaneous unofficial truce between WWI enemies who left their trenches ...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at the Civic Center Theater
by Ron Bierman - October 27, 2018
The San Diego Opera's production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro featured expressive singing, clever attractive sets, beautiful costumes, and strong comedic and dramatic acting. The work is generally called a comic opera, but as director Stephen Lawless pointed out during my interview with him, '...
Opera San José Presents PAGLIACCI
by A.A. Cristi - October 25, 2018
On November 17th, Opera San Jose's 35th season continues with Leoncavallo's tragedy Pagliacci....
BWW Interview: Stephen Lawless, Director of San Diego OPERA'S Civic Center Production of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
by Ron Bierman - October 17, 2018
Stephen Lawless will be directing the San Diego Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro this week. I met with him in the opera company's rehearsal room recently to discuss that, how he came to be a director, and his views of a director's responsibilities....
Opera San José Presents Mozart's THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO
by A.A. Cristi - August 14, 2018
On September 15th, Opera San Jose's 35th season opens with Mozart's comedy The Abduction from the Seraglio. The opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II, and as the myth goes when he first heard it, he complained to Mozart, 'That is too fine for my ears - there are too many notes.' Mozart replied...
Opera San José Presents Mozart's THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO
by A.A. Cristi - July 25, 2018
On September 15th, Opera San Jose's 35th season opens with Mozart's comedy The Abduction from the Seraglio. The opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II, and as the myth goes when he first heard it, he complained to Mozart, 'That is too fine for my ears - there are too many notes.' Mozart replied...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S ONE AMAZING NIGHT at The Balboa Theater
by Ron Bierman - May 17, 2018
The San Diego Opera's last concert this season was billed as 'One Amazing Night.' The program was originally scheduled to feature soprano Lise Lindstrom and tenor Rene Barbera, but Barbera was released from his commitment when he was offered a Teatro alla Scala debut as Ernesto in a new production o...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S FLORENCIA EN LA AMAZONAS at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - March 23, 2018
The San Diego Opera's production of Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas was premiered Saturday at San Diego's Civic Center. Much has been made of the influence the magical realism of Nobel-Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez had on Marcela Fuentes-Berain's libretto, but most of the magic...
BWW Interview: Elaine Alvarez of San Diego Opera's Production of Florencia en el Amazonas
by Ron Bierman - March 17, 2018
I spoke recently with Elaine Alvarez who will be singing the lead role this weekend in the San Diego Opera's production of Florencia en el Amazonas by Mexican composer Daniel Catan and librettist Marcela Fuentes-Berain. Alvarez told me that when she got a call from the San Diego Opera's General Dire...
BWW Feature: SAN DIEGO OPERA 2018-19 SEASON at the San Diego Civic Center, and More
by Ron Bierman - March 08, 2018
The San Diego Opera's 2018-19 season will feature three grand operas at the city's Civic Center and three smaller-scale productions at other venues. Seasoned opera buffs are likely to fill the 3000-seat Civic Center for The Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto, and Carmen. But elaborate three-hour producti...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S TURANDOT at the Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - February 27, 2018
The San Diego Opera's new production of Puccini's Turandot held rapt attention throughout its three acts in spite of a dark plot that's implausible even for opera, and a lead character less loveable than Lady Macbeth. Powerful men from other kingdoms flock to win Princess Turandot's hand by answerin...
Opera San José Presents LA TRAVIATA
by A.A. Cristi - February 26, 2018
One of the most treasured operas of all time, La traviata is told in waltz time, giving us the life of the most beautiful woman in Paris. Dancing away her days, Violetta survives on the generosity of the wealthiest men of France, living in luxury until she meets Alfredo Germont, who, having nothing,...
BWW Interview: Lise Lindstrom TO SING TURANDOT IN SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION at the San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - February 18, 2018
ise Lindstrom has returned to San Diego to sing the lead in Puccini's Turandot. We spoke for nearly an hour in a rehearsal room at the San Diego Civic Center where she'd just finished working on makeup for the performance. You might think that someone with Lindstrom's powerful voice would have kn...
Opera San José Announces Fantastic 35th Season Line-Up
by A.A. Cristi - February 06, 2018
Opera San Jose today announced the company's 2018-19 season opening September 15, 2018 with Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, directed by Michael Shell, followed in November by Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, directed by Shawna Lucey. The company will then begin 2019 with Heggie and Scheer's Moby-D...
BWW Interview: Bruce Stasyna of MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES at Lyceum Theater
by Ron Bierman - January 24, 2018
Bruce Stasyna, San Diego Opera's chorus master, will also lead the orchestra in the company's upcoming production of Astor Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires. We met in the Civic Center's Copper Room recently to discuss that, his career, and more....
