Dashon Burton as Araspe standing over the sleeping Seleuce (Lauren Snouffer) while her husband Tolomeo (Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen) looks on (photograph by Kristen Loken, from the SF Classical Voice article about the Philharmonia Baroque performance of Handel’s opera Tolomeo)
This morning I read Michael Zwiebach’s account for SF Classical Voice of the production of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 25 opera Tolomeo, re d’Egitto performed by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. (I had written my own account this past Friday.) The title he chose was: “Can a Smaller Bay Area Orchestra Outshine SF Opera? This Tolomeo Says Yes.” Personally, I do my best to avoid using one production as a cudgel to beat another. However, it left me wondering just how much Zwiebach knew about productions of Handel by the San Francisco Opera (SFO).
To be fair, it has been a while since SFO last staged a Handel opera; but that “while” is shorter than Zwiebach might have realized. It was only a little over two years ago that the company revived its production of Partenope (Handel’s HWV 27), given a staging by Christopher Alden that can only be described as “slapstick.” Since that revival was as engaging as the first time around, I would challenge anyone to claim that it could be “outshined!”
Reading Zwiebach’s article reminded me that it is important to take every performance on its own terms, rather than deciding on whether or not it rates “top ten” ranking. To be fair, when I encounter a revival, I usually try to provide some sort of then-and-now account; but I also do my best to present the “now” on its own terms. Productions should not be “ranked” as if they were contestants in a beauty pageant. This definitely applies to ensembles performing full-length operas!
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