Posts by David Gregson

 

NEW from Opera Neo!  Handel’s Ariodante

Handel Ariodante — Opera in two acts with one intermission
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
Performances at Bread & Salt
1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113
Friday, August 12 at 7:30pm
Saturday, August 13 at 7:30pm

Stephanie Doche : Ariodante
Ashley Fabian : Ginevra
Keith Wehmeir : Polinesso
Sara Womble :Dalinda
Brian Skoog : Lurcanio
Andrew Boisvert : The King
Eric Laine : Odoardo
Emily-Margaret Ceres : Ginevra (cover)
Jade Dasha:  Dalinda (cover)

Benjamin Bayl: Conductor
Peter Kozma: Director
Elise Wesley: Costume Designer
Michael Wogulis: Set Designer
Peter Kozma: Lighting Designer
Joseph Bozich: Assistant Conductor / Harpsichord
Sean Flanagan: Choreographer / Assistant Director
Sydney Roslin: Assistant Director
Emerson Haven: Assistant Director
Korey Barrett: Harpsichord
Kihwa Kim: Harpsichord
Lysa McKenna: Technical Director
Chloe Lupini: Stage Manager
Sydney Knowland: Assistant Stage Manager
Jake Jordan: Assistant Lighting Designer

SDO 

World Premiere of El ultimo sueño de Frida y Diego  (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) by Grammy-Award winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer-Prize winning librettist Nilo Cruz. (Main Stage Series) October 29, November 1, 4, and 6 (M), 2022

The Puccini Duo – Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi . First Company performances of Suor Angelica and the gender role reversal of title role of  performed by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. (Main Stage Series) February 11, 14, 17, and 19 (M), 2023

Puccini’s Tosca with the return of Greer Grimsley as Scarpia, and soprano Michelle Bradley in the title role. (Main Stage Series) March 25, 28, 31, and April 2 (M), 2023

World Premiere of Ghosts, three one-act operas by local composer Nicolas Reveles. (dētour Series) April 14, 15, and 16 (M), 2023

The Falling and the Rising (dētour Series) A new opera co-commissioned with the U.S. Army (dētour Series). May 12, 13, and 14 (M), 2023

ADAPTED FROM A SAN DIEGO OPERA PRESS RELEASE:

San Diego, CA – Word premieres, grand operas, large-scale productions, new and familiar works, and new twists on familiar works make up San Diego Opera’s 2022-2023 season.

“The 2022-2023 season is one of the most exciting in the history of San Diego Opera,” shares San Diego Opera General Director, David Bennett. “With two world premieres, productions of sumptuous grand opera by Puccini, and a partnership with the United States Army; there truly is something for everyone in the diverse community of San Diego. Taken together, the season represents the best of the expressive potency of the human voice.”

The season begins Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 7:30 PM with the world premiere of El ultimó sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) by Grammy-Award winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer-Prize winning librettist Nilo Cruz. It is a co-commission with San Francisco Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, and DePauw University. The opera features soprano Guadalupe Paz as Frida, last heard as Mercedes in 2019’s Carmen. She is joined by baritone Alfredo Daza as Diego, and soprano Maria Katzarava as Catrina, both in Company debuts. The director is Lorena Maza in her Company debut and the conductor is Roberto Kalb in his Company debut. In Spanish with English supertitles. The is the 4th world premiere presented by San Diego Opera after Medea in 1972, La Loca in 1979, and The Conquistador in 1997.

The season continues  a double-bill of one act operas by Giacomo Puccini:  Suor Angelica, which has never been performed by the Company, and Gianni Schicchi,  last performed here in 1972. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe,  the Principessa in Suor Angelica, and will take on the title role of Gianni Schicchi, a role traditionally sung by a baritone.  San Diego Opera’s Principal Conductor Yves Abel conducts.

Puccini’s Tosca continues the mainstage season on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 7:30 PM at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Soprano Michelle Bradley, who was last seen in recital in 2021, and made her Company debut in the title role of Aida in 2019, returns to sing the role of Tosca. She recently made her succesful Lyric Opera in the role. Greer Grimsley takes on his signature role of the police chief Scarpia. Tenor Marcelo Puente will make his Company debut as Cavaradossi.

 

The world premiere of Ghosts  is an evening of three one-act horror-inspired operas by San Diego composer Nicolas Reveles. The three operas that comprise Ghosts are Eden, Dormir, and House. The evening stars Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, last seen as Rosina in the Company’s drive-in performances of The Barber of Seville. “Dormir (Spanish ‘to sleep’) completed just before the pandemic of 2020, and House, written during the early months of the pandemic, are an attempt to bring the genre of operatic horror into a smaller space where, in my mind, they would have more of an impact on audiences than in a grand theatre,” said Reveles. “Dormir is an imaginative exploration of what might happen when Old World spiritual practices meet the Christian belief system, when portals open and unknown, powerful entities appear. House explores the idea that trauma haunts many of us, and that trauma remains in our bodies like ghosts.” Eden, also written during the Pandemic, with a libretto by director John De Los Santos, explores the boundaries of madness and obsession and is a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. The evening is directed by John De Los Santos, who last directed our 2018 production of Maria de Buenos Aires, and the conductor is Bruce Stasyna.

Originally announced for the 2019-2020 season, and postponed because of COVID, is the local premiere of Zach Redler’s opera about military spirit with The Falling and the Rising on Friday, May 12, 2023 at 7:30 PM at The Balboa Theatre. The Falling and the Rising is a co-commission between San Diego Opera, the US Army Field Band and Soldier’s Chorus, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Memphis, TCU, and Seagle Music Colony. The Falling and the Rising centers around an unnamed female Soldier who is severely wounded by a roadside IED. Placed in an induced coma to help minimize the extensive trauma to her brain, the soldier must now make a journey towards both healing and home. With a libretto taken from dozens of interviews with active-duty soldiers and veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The Old Guard at Fort Myer, and Fort Meade, Maryland, The Falling and the Rising tells a story of family, service, and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty. The Falling and the Rising cast includes active members of the US military including Teresa Alzadon as the Solider. Performed in English, additional performances are Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 14 at 1 PM.

No photo credit given for the picture below.

San Diego Opera 2022-2023 Season Performance Schedule

El ultimó sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)

World Premiere
Gabriela Lena Frank
San Diego Civic Theatre

Main Stage Series
Saturday                October 29, 2022                7:30pm
Tuesday                 November 1, 2022               7:30pm
Friday                    November 4, 2022              7:30pm
Sunday                  November 6, 2022               2:00pm

 

The Puccini Duo – Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi
Giacomo Puccini
San Diego Civic Theatre
Main Stage Series

Saturday                February 11, 2023               7:30pm
Tuesday                 February 14, 2023               7:30pm
Friday                    February 17, 2023               7:30pm
Sunday                  February 19, 2023               2:00pm

Tosca
Giacomo Puccini
San Diego Civic Theatre
Main Stage Series

Saturday                March 25, 2023                   7:30pm
Tuesday                March 28, 2023                    7:30pm
Friday                    March 31, 2023                   7:30pm
Sunday                  April 2, 2023                        2:00pm

Ghosts (Eden, Dormir, and House)
World Premiere
Nicolas Reveles
The Balboa Theatre
dētour Series

Friday                    April 14, 2023                     7:30pm
Saturday                April 15, 2023                     7:30pm
Sunday                  April 16, 2023                      1:00pm

The Falling and the Rising
Zach Redler
The Balboa Theatre
dētour Series
Friday                    May 12, 2023                       7:30pm
Saturday                May 13, 2023                       7:30pm
Sunday                  May 14, 2023                       1:00pm