I had not seen either Halevy or Ketelson, but they both proved to extraordinary performers, so that the principal singers constituted a memorable foursome. Both singers met my expectations and proved to be excellent in their roles. Having seen Berti last month in Houston in a stellar performance of Gabriele Adorno in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra”, I looked forward to his Don Jose, and was pleased to see Martinez return to S.
It is occasionally performed even in this century when a tenor, like Neil Shicoff, has the determination to perform the great role of Eleazar and sufficient clout with an opera company to negotiate the opera’s revival. “La Juive”, after Verdi’s “Nabucco”, is the most important 19th century opera whose subject matter presents the struggles of Jewish characters in hostile environments sympathetically. She, after all, has the same surname as one (Ludovic Halevy) of the team of librettists associated with “Carmen” and (rather more important to them at the time they composed Bizet’s libretto) most of the successful operettas composed by Jacques Offenbach.įurthermore, Ludovic’s uncle, Jacques Fromental Halevy, was composer of one of the most successful French operas of the first half of the 19th century – La Juive (the Jewess). The engagement of Halevy, a star of the Israeli Opera, seemed at least symbolically auspicious. The fourth principal, Ana Maria Martinez (Micaela), who had appeared in 2003 as Pamina in Mozart’s “Zauberfloete”, could hardly be considered a major box office draw in San Francisco, despite an estimable international reputation. The scheduled Carmen of the second cast, Israeli mezzo Hadar Halevy, for her San Francisco Opera debut, was shifted to the first cast, joining two other debuting principals Marco Berti (Don Jose) and Kyle Ketelsen (Escamillo). And, the person in the title role of the production’s principal cast (Marina Domashenko), whose only previous appearance in San Francisco had been in this role four seasons prior, canceled all of her 2006 performances a few days before the production’s 2006 opening night. Neither of the announced casts had the stars whose level of public fame was sufficient to assure extraordinary demand for tickets.
On paper, it did not seem inevitable that this “Carmen” would be a sell-out. This is a complete turnaround for a company that only a couple of years ago experienced many nights where rows of empty seats could be seen, despite the availability of abundant $30 “student-senior rush” tickets, many in premium locations, for anyone who had the proper identification. Alternate casts and conductors permitted consecutive day performances on each of three weekends. California’s hottest late November/early December ticket for opera was the San Francisco Opera production of Bizet’s Carmen, whose nine scheduled performances were completely sold out for several weeks.
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