San Francisco Opera Medal

Dale Travis, Philip Skinner, and Catherine Cook

October 30, 2022

Photo by Kristen Loken, courtesy of San Francisco Opera

Here's the kind of event that warms the heart of even a cynic like me: San Francisco Opera has awarded its Opera Medal to Dale Travis (bass baritone), Philip Skinner (bass baritone), and Catherine Cook (mezzo-soprano), three singers who, over the last 30-plus years, have between them appeared in scores of roles in hundreds of performances. They have sung big roles and small; they are all terrific singers and consummate professionals. They have brought honor to the stage (and themselves!) and great joy to everyone who has heard them.

They received the medal after the last performance of Dialogues of the Carmelites, in which Cook had appeared as Mother Jeanne and Travis had appeared as the Marquis de la Force. The three had written a speech that they each read part of it. It was a lovely occasion and the medals well earned.

I've seen them in many many roles over the years. Travis is a perennial in certain roles, such as the Sacristan in Tosca; he was terrific in Dialogues and I remember him fondly in The Makropulos Case (Dr. Kolenaty). I am sorry to have missed Cook's turn in the title role of Dolores Claiborne; she often sings comic roles, and has been a fabulous La Frugola in Il Tabarro and Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress. I have seen Skinner in a wide range of roles at SFO - most recently in Antony and Cleopatra, and farther back as possibly the best Escamillo of my experience. He was an incredibly chilling Edgar Lee Killen in Appomattox, with a big monologue right at the close of the opera, which I remember vividly some 15 years later. He has also been a star of many many productions at Opera Parallele and West Edge Opera.

Wishing these three long life and much more great singing!