The program notes for Massenet's Werther, which opened Wednesday night at the SF Opera, mention a 1894 critic who wrote: "Werther despairs in Act I, continues in despair in Acts II and III and becomes desperate in Act IV." Last night performance was faithful to this description: claustrophobic, oppressive, cloistered. In a sealed, hermetic stage, the characters are all mostly unhappy, and only dreams, or death, can provide an escape. more ›

The superlative British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote will give her first solo recital in San Francisco tonight at Herbst theater, for SF Performances 30th anniversary season. The theme of the evening: English art songs. She impressed everyone in her SF debut at SF Opera in Alcina, and returned to great acclaim in Idomeneo, where the worst one could tell about her was that she impersonated her male character so well, she looked like Nicolas Sarkozy. Did we write that? Oops. She'll be back in September as Charlotte in Massenet's opera, Werther. more ›

After the stage fireworks of the Bonesetter's Daughter (acrobats! videos!), the SF Opera presented Wednesday night a re-run of the 1989 production of Idomeneo. This stale, dated setb was chosen, we guess, most likely to offset the costs of the previous show: one cannot have it all shiny new prods. Thank Neptune the singer's budget was allocated wisely, for it would be a long evening otherwise. Stellar turns from Kurt Streit and Genia Kühmeier, along with the steady hand of maestro Runnicles, made the evening thoroughly enjoyable. The story goes like this: on his return from winning the Trojan war, the king of Crete, Idomeneo gets caught at sea in a storm. Neptune, God of the oceans, lets him go home safely only after Idomeneo vows to sacrifice the first person he meets on land. Of course, the Gods being a facetious bunch, it's his son Idamante who happens to be there. Idomeneo and his legal councel wise advisor Arbace decide to send Idamante away rather than fulfill the pledge. Neptune is not amused, and sends some Godzilla monster to Crete. Idamante goes and kills the monster, an act of courage which earns Neptune's admiration and forgiveness. more ›