Heidi Stober as Mary
Mary, Queen of Scots, Thea Musgrave (1977)
Photo: Matthew Washburn, courtesy of San Francisco Opera
Thea Musgrave's 1977 opera Mary, Queen of Scots, opened on Thursday, Sept. 24, at San Francisco Opera. The first performance was supposed to be on the 20th, but it was delayed by the SF Opera Orchestra strike. Mary only lost one performance; Simon Boccanegra lost three, alas.
I raved about it in the SF Chronicle. I think the score is terrific, with great orchestration, and it's dramatically very effective. The performers are all brilliant, and the most brilliant of all is Heidi Stober's magnificently sung and acted Mary. Holy cow, what a singer she is. This was the second time I've raved about her this year, following the Seattle Daphne.
Go see it if you can! Several performances to go, including tonight's.
You can't read my feature about Thea Musgrave right now, because the SFCV website is down, but Hugh Morris covered some of the same ground in the NY Times. My article includes comments from Heidi Stober, Ashley Putnam (creator of the title role, who can be heard on the recording), and director Stewart Liang. Grateful thanks to all of them for chatting with me.
Round-up (more links to follow....):
- Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle (gift link) / SFCV
- Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle
- Charlise Tiee, Opera Tattler
- Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center
- Gary Kamiya, Kamiya Unlimited
- Lisa Hirsch, SFCV, feature about Thea Musgrave and the opera; note that the website is down as I post this. I interviewed Thea and conductor Peter Mark, her husband, about her career and the opera. She was a total hoot to talk with!
- Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle, SFO preview of Mary and Simon
- Hugh Morris, NY Times feature (gift link)
- San Francisco Opera program for Mary, with many informative articles
Previously:
- Andrew Porter, The New Yorker
- Nicholas Kenyon, The New Yorker
- Harold C. Schonberg, NY Times
- Stephen Wadsworth interviews Ashley Putnam, NY Times
