This started out as a San Francisco Opera wish list, but hey - there are a number of other opera companies in the Bay Area that are capable of staging (or have already staged) works and composers that I have in mind.
- Debussy, Pélleas et Mélisande. San Francisco Opera hasn't done this great masterpiece since the late 1990s, when Simon Keenlyside and Frederica von Stade starred as Debussy's doomed characters. It's sui generis, an elusive and quietly devastating opera without big arias. West Edge Opera took in on and did an excellent job with it, I think in 2018, with a reduced orchestra and some cuts. LA Opera's bring up this past spring was magnificent, with a terrific cast, masterly conducting by James Condon, and a really fine David McVicar production. I'll be seeing it in around two weeks in Santa Fe and have reached a point where I can't get enough of Pélleas.
- Thomas Adés. Locally, only West Edge has produced one his operas, with a great production of Powder Her Face at the Wood Street Train Station in, maybe 2016. The Tempest and the more recent Exterminating Angel would both be great to see locally.
- George Benjamin! His operas Into the Little Hill, Written on Skin, Lessons in Love and Violence, and Picture a Day Like This have all been extremely well received. I saw a broadcast of Lessons in Love and Violence, and wow.
- Harrison Birtwistle. Okay, you knew I'd say this. With the Met allegedly thinking about producing one of his operas....I'm hoping that a local company will get there first. I would advise against producing The Mask of Orpheus, which is incredibly complex and difficult, not to mention that it must be hugely expensive to stage. But Gawain, The Minotaur, and The Second Mrs. Kong all seem feasible.
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