A few performances we caught, before the Thanksgiving holidays distracted us from writing them up: Bryn Terfel at Cal Performances, Aida at SF Opera and Yefim Bronfman with the SF Symphony more ›

If Harry Potter was an opera, baritone Quinn Kelsey would be Hagrid: a mountain of a man, undeniably very strong, yet gentle, approachable, with a genial bonhomie. While he'll have to wait for someone to compose that score, he's been sticking to the Italian repertoire with San Francisco opera. On this stage, he has recently sung Verdi (Count di Luna in Trovatore) or Puccini (Marcello in La Boheme), and he returns this season with more ...Verdi and Puccini, of course. When the second run of Aida comes around in November, he'll be her dad, Amonasro. And starting tonight, he'll be Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. This Butterfly is somewhat bittersweet: we grew accustomed to Zheng Cao in the role of Suzuki, and our thoughts go to her battle against cancer. more ›

We enjoyed two performances at SF Opera, the 2nd cast of Il Trovatore in the last performance of that run, and Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, which continues for three more performances. more ›