Headlines From West Edge

San Francisco Classical Voice

"No matter how many productions you might have seen of Mozart’s Magic Flute, almost certainly none was like what West Edge Opera is serving up March 4–11. It’s the famously “different” David Scott Marley’s new English adaptation in Japanese manga (comics/cartoons) style..."

"...'It’s my fantasia on a theme by Mozart,' Marley said. 'In my adaptations, what I’m concerned with is to bring out the qualities in a work that’ve been neglected by translating them to modern-day equivalents.' To that end, Marley turned to Manga, the Japanese comic book and animated film style."

San Jose Mercury News

"MEZZO-SOPRANO Paula Rasmussen is thrilled to step into the title role in Berkeley West Edge Opera's upcoming production of Handel's "Xerxes" -- but she's not going to quit her day job..."

San Francisco Chronicle

"Doesn't matter how good you are at something, nobody appreciates being pigeonholed. Baritone Richard Paul Fink, one of today's leading interpreters of Wagnerian villains, will confirm the point..."

San Francisco Chronicle

"When a baritone goes "cold" and forgets a line, Jonathan Khuner is there. When a soprano gets lost in her character and sings ahead of the beat, Khuner reins her in. He's the prompter at the San Francisco Opera, "the first line of defense," he says, against a singer's potential humiliation..."

El Cerrito Patch

"El Cerrito wasn't the first place that sprang to mind when the Berkeley Opera learned in 2009 that it had to find a new venue..."