by Christina Waters | Oct 28, 2010 | Home |
The vehicle for legendary tenor Placido Domingo‘s final salvo with the SF Opera, was a rarely-performed Cyrano de Bergerac. Composed in 1936 by Franco Alfano (a second tier workman known best for his underwhelming completion of Turandot after Puccini’s death), the opera swoops and froths its way through Edmond Rostand’s classic play. It is a delirious and often silly pastiche of between-the-wars musical schizophrenia, but there are about 25 minutes of breathtaking musical lines in all of this — and they belong to Domingo.
If his voice has been stronger, the highest registers more brilliant, c’e niente. Domingo’s voice is a wonder of sonic architecture and in this first performance of the season’s Cyrano, he showed why he can’t leave the stage just yet. With a gorgeous Roxane (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 28, 2010 | Home |
Appetites at full throttle after the drive up and back to the city, my opera companion and I hit Gabriella Cafe last Sunday like cross-dressed longshoremen after a 20-hour shift.
Gabriella complied with glasses of Smith Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon (full of cassis and leather), which made the perfect companion for a shared filet mignon that knocked us out with its utter perfection. So good was this steak — and a rare indulgence for me — that I brought The Guy back a few nights later to see for himself.
We began with a split order of the colorful Live Earth roasted beet salad, (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 21, 2010 | Food, Home, Wine |
The lovely Pino Alto dining room at Cabrillo’s historic Sesnon House, formed a graceful backdrop for some cool jazz and exciting food and wine pairings last Wednesday evening.The highlights for me were the elegant sounds of Hot Club Pacific trio (who also hold down the house at Soif each Monday night), and the well-trained students from Mike Wille‘s advanced culinary class, who served, cleared endless dishes and stemware, and served some more throughout the evening. The evening, this year’s version of the recent “Dare to Pair” wine & food event, marked the mid-term exam of Wille’s young team.
Another highlight was an engaging match of (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 21, 2010 | Art, Home |
I refer to The Marriage of Figaro – live at the San Francisco Opera House – and Das Rheingold, via HD simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. One experience involved a procession of time, travel, anticipation, the entrance into the great hall, the darkened theater, the murmuring audience and the ineffable sense of being surrounded by a living organism – the opera – about to unfold.
The other involves considerably less cost, much less travel – the opera was screened at a downtown movie theater – incredible crisp visuals thanks to intimate hi-def camerawork, even behind-the-scenes interviews before the opera, and remarkable acoustics.
Mozart’s much-loved froth about love, deception and marriage still seduces the ears with music so beautiful, so replete with joie de vivre that it forgives (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 21, 2010 | Home |
A dead-ringer for author and film critic Lisa Jensen was seen last week noshing on some fruit-filled pastry and swilling coffee at the Live Oak Cafe, a surprisingly serene oasis tucked into an industrial park off Soquel Drive.
The cafe is open for coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch (which includes a highly celebrated housemade meat loaf). This is a real gem, with plenty of room to spread out and talk, read or catch up on e-appointments, (more…)
