| by Charles Osborne "As readers of OPERA will hardley need to be
told, San Diego Opera is a lively, first-rate company which performs in that city's
well-equipped civic theatre. Martha Hart, whose initial art training was in theatrical
design, is a photographer and an opera enthusiast based in San Diego. This handsome
volume, consisting of more than 350 stunning black-and-white photographs with accompanying
text, represents [ML Hart's] personal view of the company's work throughout the 1996 and
1997 seasons. No aspect of the performances, or their preparation, has escaped her.
Principal singers, directors, chorus, extras, musical staff, wrardrobe personnel,
stagehands and orchestra are caught in photographs of extraordinarily vivid immediacy, and
her text describes everything that goes on at San Diego Opera, from backstage preparation
through to first-night excitement.
"Even the company's administration
and its education activities -- and, indeed, its audience -- are covered in this
fascinating volume. The ten operas documented in detail range from perennial favourites
such as Aida and Carmen to Carlisle Floyd's The Passion of Jonathan
Wade and Myron Fink's The Conquistador (a premiere by the company). Among
the artists captured at odd moments of rehearsal, performance or relaxation are Placido
Domingo, Richard Leech, Richard Bonynge and Michele Crider. The volume also contains a
complete chronology of San Diego Opera's performances since it was founded in 1952, as
well as a history of the company, which for the last 15 years has been at its peak of
achievement under the general directorship of Ian Campbell."
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all material (c) 1998 by Charles
Osborne and Opera Magazine
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