Gaetano Donizetti's lyric drama "Roberto Devereux" lights up the War Memorial stage with a semi-historical pageant that triumphantly combines stellar musical artistry with colorful showmanship.
Out music scholar Paul Kildea, author of a brilliant biography of Benjamin Britten, has looked deeply into Chopin's Op. 28 Preludes in "Chopin's Piano: A Journey Through Romanticism" (W.W. Norton).
The pairing of Italian operas "Cavalleria Rusticana" ("Rustic Chivalry") and "Pagliacci" ("Clowns") has been famously successful for more than a century.
With little lag time between a hectic summer and new fall season, San Francisco Opera is launching the first productions fully programmed (with one exception) by the administration of General Director Matthew Shilvock.
For American lovers of singing, late summer can be a dry spell, best deployed to clear the ears from the extreme singing that is opera, since more is coming.
Over the past few years, Betsy Wolfe has played major roles in four Broadway musicals: "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," "Bullets Over Broadway," "Falsettos," and "Waitress."
The San Francisco Symphony's 2018-19 season starts next week, marking the next-to-last year of Michael Tilson Thomas' historical term as Music Director.
San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, known for selecting and intensively training some of the most promising young talent in the world, recently finished its 2018 Summer Festival with a Grand Finale at the War Memorial Opera House.
