West Edge Opera’s Snapshots of the future

By Jaime Robles, 26 February 2018

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

Reviewed at Taube Atrium Theater, San Francisco on 25 February 2018

Deaconoff, The Last Tycoon

London, Dynamo

Wold, She Who Is Alive

Rosen, Death of a Playboy

Saxon, 452 Jamestown Place

West Edge Opera

Jonathan Khuner, Conductor

Mary Chun, Conductor

Earplay Orchestra

Molly Mahoney, Mezzo-soprano

J. Raymond Meyers, Tenor

Julia Hathaway, Soprano

Jason Sarten, Baritone

Darron Flagg, Tenor

Heidi Moss, Soprano

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.

*****

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

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 7th August

The sets, costumes, and venue contribute to the atmosphere, but it's the singing and playing of Janáček's enchanting music that make West Edge Opera's The Cunning Little Vixen magical.

****1

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

Magnifying Glass: a magnificent Les Enfants terribles in Lille

Elena Luporini, 20th March

A new production of Les Enfants terribles at the Opéra de Lille drags the audience into a terribly marvelous labyrinth, courtesy of conductor Virginie Déjos and directors Matthias Piro and Lisa Moro.

*****

More reviews...

Jaime Robles

Jaime Robles has previously written in the San Francisco Bay Area, including for the San Francisco Classical Voice. Also a poet, she has written song lyrics and librettos for several one-act operas, including Inferno (music by Peter Josheff), staged in 2009 by San Francisco Cabaret Opera, and Vladimir in Butterfly Country (music by Anne Callaway), staged in 2012.