Opera

The Turn of the Screw is one of Benjamin Britten’s tautest, most gripping operas. And, unlike much of the repertoire that the local, small-budget companies take on, this chamber opera is conceived on a scale that emphasizes the virtues of West Edge Opera.

The cast of The Tales of Hoffman is superb: tenor Matthew Polenzani, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn are at the top of their game.

For its final regular season concert, American Bach Soloists will present Handel’s dramatic cantata Apollo e Dafne (1709-1710). 

It’s almost essential to see this production of Little Women at the S.F. Conservatory of Music for anyone planning on seeing the composer/librettist’s latest opus, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, at the S.F. Opera in June.

Bonjour M. Gauguin promises to be one of the most exciting, if strange and avant-garde, operas the West Edge company has ever done. And that’s saying something.

I wouldn’t miss this concert for the world.

When the exciting new music group Alarm Will Sound visits the Bay Area, tickets are normallyhard to find. 

Livermore Opera opens its La traviata with a known quantity, in Rebecca Davis, who has sung Violetta Valery at Opera San Jose and is an alumna of the Merola Opera Program.

Nathan Gunn is a refined, elegant singer of art song, and his Cal Performances recital promises to be a highlight, in a Bay Area season that’s just crammed with great singers.

In a good production, Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s 80-minute opera Ainadamar packs one heck of a punch.