Night at the Elektra museum in San Francisco

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 14 September 2017

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“a dislocating effect, wavering between past and present, illusion and reality”

Reviewed at War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco on 13 September 2017

Strauss R., Elektra

San Francisco Opera

Henrik Nánási, Conductor

Keith Warner, Director

Boris Kudlička, Set Designer

Kaspar Glarner, Costume Designer

Christine Goerke, Elektra

Michaela Martens, Klytaemnestra

Adrianne Pieczonka, Chrysothemis

Alfred Walker, Orest

Robert Brubaker, Aegisth

Anthony Reed, Orest's Tutor

Rhoslyn Jones, Maid 5

Jill Grove, Maid 1

Laura Krumm, Maid 2

Nicole Birkland, Maid 3

Sarah Cambidge, Maid 4

Alexandra Loutsion, Overseer

Erin Neff, Confidante

Amina Edris, Trainbearer

Kyle van Schoonhoven, Young Servant

Bojan Kneževiċ, Old Servant

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

San Francisco Opera Chorus

Ian Robertson, Choirmaster / chorus director

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Thomas May, 24th September

An excellent cast and smart, engaged direction make for an auspicious season launch in San Francisco Opera’s production of one of Verdi’s most sophisticated creations.

****1

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Lois Silverstein, 14th September

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Mark Pullinger, 18th September

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***11

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Edward Sava-Segal, 22nd June

Both vocally and instrumentally the performance was a high-class one

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Edward Sava-Segal, 21st June

The evening’s most revelatory performance came from the young countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Medoro.

****1

Heggie creates a new holiday tradition for the opera world

Donna Stoering, 20th November

A wonderfully realized production at San Francisco Opera of Jake Heggie's operatic version of a holiday classic.

*****

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Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a product manager for Yahoo, a theatre and opera critic, and a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She explored theater and opera stagings as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. She currently writes for Bachtrack, San Francisco Classical Voice, and Stark Insider. Twitter: @ilana_wb.