A Critical Opinion

Re Martin Bernheimer’s consistently ridiculing and invective reviews of practically every opera that Opera Pacific has presented (specifically “A Troubled ‘Il Trovatore’ at Arts Center,” Calendar Jan. 11):

As for the sets on which he is consistently carping, where does he think Opera Pacific is going to get the funds to commission and build new sets for a limited season? In a time of recession, the expenditure of a million or more dollars to do the same would be unthinkable.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Bernheimer review unless he managed to slip in some snide remarks on the super-titles. The super-titles have opened up the willingness of countless of thousands of people who would be frightened away by the language barrier and never see an opera.

Give us a break! We need to encourage the outreach of the arts, not trash them.

CLARENCE AND

CELIA TURNER

Newport Beach

Martin Bernheimer responds: “I didn’t complain that they borrowed the sets for ‘Il Trovatore,’ only that they borrowed bad ones. And I didn’t complain (this time) that they used super-titles, only that the staging contradicted the super-titles. As for encouraging the arts, pretending that bad is good helps no one, and it isn’t the critic’s job to act as a cheerleader.”