Adler Fellows Shine a Bright Light on Opera’s Future

San Francisco Classical Voice

In a pair of knockout arias, bass baritone Christian Pursell carved out richly drawn, lustrously sung musical portraits. Unfurling a voice of remarkable solidity and mobility from top to bottom, he closed out the first half of the program with the title character’s probing cavatina from Rachmaninoff’s Aleko. Pursell dug into the Russian lyrics and gave them a ripe, mournfully agitated cast. He returned after intermission as a preening soldier in Ambroise Thomas’s Le Caïd (The Qaid). Speeding through the pattering French lines, Pursell fused razor-sharp diction and wittily detailed moves into a second feat of operatic alchemy. STEVEN WINN

In Review: Billy Budd

Opera News

BILLY BUDD, the second offering of San Francisco Opera’s 2019-20 season, exceeded all expectations (seen Sept. 7). Intensely theatrical, brilliantly musical and insightfully staged, Benjamin Britten’s seafaring drama returned to the War Memorial Opera House in an unforgettable performance. […] Philip Horst (Redburn), Wayne Tigges (Flint), and Christian Pursell (Ratcliffe) were well-matched as the officers serving under Vere.

Opera Theatre Announces 2020 Season Repertory

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Sarah Mesko, who makes her Opera Theatre debut in the 2019 season as Ottavia in The Coronation of Poppea, sings the title role. In their OTSL debuts, Adam Smith and Christian Pursell will sing the roles of Don José and Escamillo, Carmen’s rival admirers. Former Gerdine Young Artist Erica Petrocelli sings her first principal role, Micaëla. Director Rodula Gaitanou and conductor Timothy Myers both make their OTSL premieres interpreting Bizet’s lush opera.

Schwabacher Recital Series Closes in Triumph

San Francisco Classical Voice

Second-year Adler Fellow Pursell, who has already appeared in four S.F. Opera productions — including as Sir Walter Raleigh in Roberto Devereux — had both his fellow singers and the audience enthralled, and at times in stitches, from Wolf’s “The Hunter” to Barber’s “Church Bell at Night” and hilarious “The Monk and His Cat.” JANOS GEREBEN