David Hockney's "Turandot" Gets Invigorated in San Francisco

Foster as Puccini's Icy Princess

"Making her company debut in the title role, soprano Susan Foster revealed a powerful and intermittently well-controlled instrument, one that carried effortlessly and with steely intensity above the clamor of the orchestra and rang out clearly in more exposed passages. Foster had a harder time locating the lyrical vein in this role, and the potency of her singing often shaded into stridency; her account of the opening 'In questa reggia' sounded blunt and lurid. But she came into her own nicely in Act 3, managing Turandot's improbable emotional turnaround with flair. Tenor Walter Fraccaro's performance as Calaf also improved as the evening progressed, though he had further to go. Throughout Act 1, Fraccaro's singing - a few well-placed, clarion high notes aside - was tonally ragged and beset

Crocetto as Liù

by intonation problems. But the Act 2 Riddle Scene had a sturdy heft to it, and although his 'Nessun dorma' at the start of Act 3 sounded stiff and ill tuned, his performance flourished from there on. Christian Van Horn was a solid, if uninspiring, Timur. The rest of the performances evoke happy memories of opening night. Soprano Leah Crocetto, an Adler Fellow, remains a brilliant Liù, vocally lustrous and dramatically assured, and the Opera Chorus sang superbly throughout." [Source]

San Francisco Opera Gala Opening Night Event One Week Away

Iréne Theorin will portray
Puccini's icy princess.

"It’s not too late to part-take in of the most prominent events in the San Francisco musical and social scene. On September 9th, join Encore!, the San Francisco Opera’s club for opera aficionados, as they host the opening night gala at City Hall. As the second largest opera company in North America, the San Francisco Opera has been host to opera’s jewels like conductor Sir Georg Solti, director Francis Ford Coppola and lirico-spinto soprano Renata Tebali. The 2011/12 season will feature John Adams’ Nixon in China, a long sought after program. This magical evening will begin with cocktails at 5PM, followed by an elegant seated dinner at 6PM in City Hall and then attendees will head to the War Memorial Opera house and enjoy a performance of Puccini’s Turandot. The festivities continue back at City Hall at around 11PM after the performance with dessert and dancing into the wee hours of the night. One must first join Encore! and then purchase tickets for the gala which at this point start at $425 for Dress Circle Rear placement. A table for 10 Patron tickets is $6,000 (call (415) 621-4403 for orders and use this form) and if you can only make the performance, tickets are still available starting at $129." [Source]

Check out an image from the Hockney production and watch a clip of Iréne Theorin singing the "Riddle Scene" from Turandot at Covent Garden after the jump.