A dreamlike forest in an abandoned train station: The Cunning Little Vixen at West Edge Opera

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 07 August 2016

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“the musical world of the forest was lush and engrossing”

Reviewed at Oakland Central Station, Oakland on 7 August 2016

Janáček, The Cunning Little Vixen

West Edge Opera

Jonathan Khuner, Conductor

Patrick Diamond, Director

Christine Cook, Costume Designer

Philip Skinner, Forester

Amy Foote, Vixen

Nikola Printz, Fox

Nikolas Nackley, Parson

Joseph Meyers, Schoolmaster, Mosquito

Carl King, Harašta

Deborah Rosengaus, Lapák

San Francisco's Volti chorus

Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir

West Edge Opera’s Snapshots of the future

Jaime Robles, 25th February

The program presented excerpts from five new works in a riotously diverse selection, from an adaptation of the unfinished Fitzgerald novel, The Last Tycoon, to Death of a Playboy, an imaginary reenactment of Hugh Hefner’s funeral.

****1

Sex with a side of brilliant opera

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 13th August

Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face has plenty of sex written in, and West Edge Opera's production adds even more. But it's the music and drama that sell.

*****

The “other” Bohème delights at West Edge Opera

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 20th March

Leoncavallo's rarely produced La bohème offers enchanting musical variety, delivered in a well-cast concert staging by West Edge Opera.

****1

Opera Medium Rare presents Rossini’s Zelmira

Jaime Robles, 17th February

West Edge Opera has come up with a means to engage and develop opera audiences in that home of West Coast radicalism, the San Francisco Bay Area.

***11

Irish National Opera’s new Rusalka intrigues more than it convinces

Andrew Larkin, 22nd March

Netia Jones’ modern reimagining intrigues more than it convinces, but still makes a strong case for Dvořák’s dark fairy tale.

***11

Billy Budd, or the Triumph of Beauty at the Opéra de Lyon

Stéphane Lelièvre, 21st March

The Opéra de Lyon presents Britten’s masterpiece for the first time: a triumph, both visually and musically, which is received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

****1

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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.