The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

SF Opera’s 2009-2010 Season

September 11- October 6 2009: Il Trovatore
September 15- October 3 2009: Il Trittico
September 23- October 23 2009: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
October 13-31 2009: La Fille du Régiment
October 18- November 1 2009: Salome
November 8- December 2 2009: Otello
June 5- July 1 2010: Faust
June 9- July 2 2010: La Fanciulla del West
June 10-30 2010: Die Walküre

Sondra Radvanovsky, Stephanie Blythe, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing in Il Trovatore, with Marco Berti in the title-role. Diana Damrau makes her SF Opera debut in La Fille du Régiment with Juan Diego Flórez. Patricia Racette returns in Il Trittico, singing opposite Paolo Gavanelli in Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi, and Ewa Podleś in Suor Angelica. Racette also sings in Gounod's Faust with Stefano Secco and John Relyea. Deborah Voigt and Salvatore Licitra star in La Fanciulla del West. Janina Baechle has her San Francisco Opera debut as Fricka in Die Walküre.

Press Release [PDF] | Official Site

Posted in , , ,

29 responses to “SF Opera’s 2009-2010 Season”

  1. Matthew Travisano Avatar
    Matthew Travisano

    Considering the economic climate, this is a very strong season with ample star-power and some much-anticipated productions new to SF:
    We in SF will finally get to hear Diana Damrau, Salvatore Licitra, and Sondra Radvanovsky for the first time, all acknowledged leaders in their respective areas and all singing in projects well-suited to their talents.
    Stephanie Blythe will finally make a shockingly overdue mainstage debut in one of the greatest verismo mezzo roles.
    We’ll get to see the much-talked-about Laurent Pelly “Fille du Regiment” with the welcome return of Juan Diego Florez (he may get the encore on “Ah mes amis” just because we San Franciscans will want to compete with New Yorkers in the encore sweepstakes, but encores never, ever happen here…).
    And there are some welcome Puccini rarities in “Il trittico” and “La fanciulla del West” both out of the rotation for years and years. Kudos to David Gockley for programming these unjustly lesser-known works by the master.
    Even the warhorses on the schedule have been in the stable for a long time. SF hasn’t presented “Salome” in over a decade and it’s been even longer since the last “Faust.”
    And our “Ring” will continue after a year hiatus with “Die Walkure.” I’m not crazy about this particular production so far (looks rather cheap to me), but the musical values of “Rheingold” were outstanding so I expect as much in the second installment.
    I look forward to a season without a “Tosca” or “Traviata.” Though it was sad to lose the new “Peter Grimes” that had to be scrapped because of cost. Hopefully it will be back soon along with some world premieres (already in the planning stages, apparently).
    The one ho-hummer is a new “Seraglio.” I guess it’s a palette cleanser between the Italian blood-and-guts of “Trittico” and “Trovatore” and the Germanic blood-and-guts of “Salome.” It’s smart programming and boasts a pleasant cast, but seems out of place. Curiously, the SFO’s own production is a very good one, I wonder why the new one…?
    All in all, David Gockley is bringing the big voices back to SF and in some noteworthy productions. And he’s made some canny programming choices. It’s great to have a general director who has both pragmatism and good taste working in his favor.

    Like

    Reply
  2. mj Avatar
    mj

    I am sad not to see these two rumored operas on the schedule:
    The Makropoulos Case with Karita Mattila
    Mefistofele directed by William Friedkin with René Pape.
    Hopefully they haven’t been canceled and will turn up in a later season.
    I am most excited for Juan Diego Florez in Fille, the Walkuere and Luisotti’s conducting. Also looking forward to hearing Stephanie Blythe and Sondra Radvanovsky in the the Trovatore and Patricia Racette in the Trittico.
    I think this season and a lot of the casting looks pretty dull (Botha as Otello, Voigt as Minnie…zzzz). I hope to be proved wrong about this, but…
    I wonder why they are doing Abduction again when they just did it a few years ago? I wish they would do Clemenza di Tito and some of the more obscure Mozart operas instead.
    Has anyone heard if Opera in the Park has been cut? It’s not listed on the September calendar on the opera website.

    Like

    Reply
  3. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m pleased we are getting some operas I don’t know that well, even if I’m not a great fan of Donizetti, Puccini, or Gounod. I am looking forward to Abduction, even though I don’t understand why we’d get a new production of it either.

    Like

    Reply
  4. mj Avatar
    mj

    Oh, they are doing Opera in the Park. Yay! It is included in the press release put out by the Opera.

    Like

    Reply
  5. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m right there with you, I really would like to hear Mattila or Pape here in San Francisco.
    Haven’t heard anything about Opera in the Park, I bet they’ve just not updated the calendar yet.

    Like

    Reply
  6. Doug Gary Avatar
    Doug Gary

    Yawn! I feel like we’re headed into season #2 and counting of what looks to be a pretty boring set of productions. Poor economy doesn’t need to yield poor vision. I guess I just have to accept that the Gockley years aren’t meant for me. That said, Opera Tattler always has all the news fit to print. Thanks OT!

    Like

    Reply
  7. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m more excited about this season than the last, at least. You are most welcome, of course!

    Like

    Reply
  8. ned Avatar
    ned

    Does anyone know what happened to the Makropoulis Case – was Mattila under contract and bought out? That was the only thing I was really looking forward to! Much of what remains is pretty disappointing. Way too much Racette, a mediocrity if ever there was one. And Damrau is very overrated.

    Like

    Reply
  9. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    So, is David Gockley taking programming tips from Placido Domingo now? Two Verdi and two Puccini operas? Seriously? When the most modern piece (musically) is “Salome”, conducted by a man with no history in the German rep (I believe), that’s really pitiful. It’s the same old bunch of singers who do the international circuit and a conductor with a limited repertoire, to say the least, leading them.
    Pass. Come back Lotfi Mansouri, all is forgiven.

    Like

    Reply
  10. Matthew Travisano Avatar
    Matthew Travisano

    True, the season is conservative. Can’t argue that. Two Verdis, two Puccinis, Gounod, Donizetti, Mozart. Only two operas written in the twentieth century and none after written after 1918.
    But SFO is far more adventurous than any other American company (Seattle Opera is doing three Verdis out of four total operas next season, for goodness’ sake).
    At least we’re getting a few lesser-done warhorses, and the true warhorses are strongly cast.
    It’s definitely sad we haven’t seen such promised productions as “Les Troyens,” “Der Freischutz,” “Le Coq d’Or,” “The Makropolous Case.” But they’ll come around soon I suspect.
    Besides, SF Opera’s area for improvement was never programming, it was getting the quality voices. Neither Lotfi Mansouri nor Pamela Rosenberg could get consistently good voices.
    I’m glad that at least Mr. Gockley is signing up good singers. Under Mansouri and Rosenberg, the quality of singing was simply not good. And added to the poor singing we were forced to sit through dowdy borrowed productions or ridiculous new ones.
    If David Gockley is sacrificing adventurous programming and using the money to buy good singers, it’s a price I’ll pay in these lean times. And I get the sense he’d love to be more adventurous with the season planning.
    As someone who is a co-director of a theatre company, I can appreciate the delicate balance between shows we’d LIKE to do and shows we MUST do to survive.
    Gockley still has my support, so to speak, however much I agree that the tyranny of 19th century warhorses should be an aberration, not a habit.

    Like

    Reply
  11. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I wonder about that too, will keep an ear out. As for singers, I’m most excited about Radvanovsky, Podleś, and Gavanelli. Racette tends to be wobbly and out of tune, but I have found she has her moments too.

    Like

    Reply
  12. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Two Puccini operas a season is par for the course, Gockley has been doing that since he’s been here. At least it isn’t Butterfly, Boheme, or Tosca again.
    Goodness! Yearning for Mansouri to come back, even.

    Like

    Reply
  13. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Seattle’s next season is quite dull, that is true. I find LA Opera’s next season more interesting than SF’s, though I’m a little scared of hearing Domingo in the Handel.
    Gockley gets some of the big names, but not necessarily my favorite singers. Though at least we are getting audible tenors now.

    Like

    Reply
  14. Matthew Travisano Avatar
    Matthew Travisano

    Yes, Handel and Domingo isn’t a combo that readily springs to mind. But I do like the term “audible tenor.” I think that should be a specific type. Lyric tenor, heldentendor, audible tenor. SFO has never exactly been a tenor magnet, but at least we should have no trouble hearing Johan Botha or Juan Diego Florez.
    I am pleased that Gockley hires singers in their general specialties. Previous administrations had the frustrating habit of putting singers in the wrong repertoire or engaging singers in repertoire that is long in their vocal past. While that’ll always happen because singers are engaged years in advance, I don’t get the sense it’s as prevalent under Gockley.
    Sadly, I think Patricia Racette’s casting is the most dubious of the season. I think Angelica is too high and Marguerite too lyrical. I love her as a singing actress (easily one of the best around) but I worry…
    But here’s to the audible tenors…

    Like

    Reply
  15. J. Marcher Avatar
    J. Marcher

    I am really starting to miss the programming of the Rosenberg era.
    While I agree to a certain extent with some of the “audible tenor” comments, there were plenty of great singers who took to the stage during that era (including Florez, Stemme, Aiken, Brewer, DiDonato & Didyk for the first time).
    During those years SFO had a level of excitement and creativity that has seemingly vanished (with the exception of Appommatox). Is there anything being presented this year that is challenging, exciting or new? Anthing that is going to expand our ideas or understanding of the art form?
    No.
    I only hope this season turns out to be an aberration driven by economic necessity rather than what the future holds for SFO.

    Like

    Reply
  16. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    I concur with Mark and Henry Holland. The new season is ho-hum… at best. Matthew Travisano: When you say SFO is the most adventurous opera company in the US, I wonder how the heck you measure that. I love your enthusiasm but I can’t really see it. More adventurous than Santa Fe’s commitment to period Handel and Saariaho’s works? More adventurous than what the Met is up to from Satyagraha to Robert Lepage’s Faust to Morris’ Orfeo? More adventurous than what Brooklyn Academy of Music presents? Than LA Opera even? I gotta ask: how do you define adventurous here? I fear that our Gockley has quickly become our very own Schlockley.

    Like

    Reply
  17. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I found most of the women in Das Rheingold to be miscast, so I do hope Walküre is better. Definitely agree with you on Racette.

    Like

    Reply
  18. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I did love Die Tote Stadt, for me, Gockley gets credit for that, though the production was completely not suited to our house. Otherwise, the last production that really got me was Iphigenie, and that was Rosenberg’s programming, so I guess I do miss her.

    Like

    Reply
  19. upstairs tenor Avatar
    upstairs tenor

    Whatever else, I’m excited for Nina Stemme’s Brunnhilde. That is all.

    Like

    Reply
  20. J. Marcher Avatar
    J. Marcher

    Yes, Nina Stemme’s (and Runnicle’s) return is likely to be the highlight of the next season.

    Like

    Reply
  21. Not For Fun Only Avatar
    Not For Fun Only

    I too find the up-coming season to be pretty conservative. I’d be interested in Faust & Trittico, just because I’ve never heard these operas before. The cast for Trovatore looks good, but conversely it’s not an opera I’m particularly interested in. It’s clear that this is a season of repertoire that audiences are pretty sure to like, & I think that Gockley is really into the concept of customer satisfaction.

    Like

    Reply
  22. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Agreed. I’m mostly only interested Faust, Fanciulla, and La Fille du Régiment, as haven’t heard those.

    Like

    Reply
  23. Doug Gary Avatar
    Doug Gary

    OT: That Iphigenie rocked my world. I treasure it as an SFO highlight. I was so bummed to learn that Gockley thought it too dark or some such thing. Still, I LOVED LOVED LOVED it.

    Like

    Reply
  24. Doug Gary Avatar
    Doug Gary

    The La Fille is a wonderful production. Did anyone see the Met HD broadcast of it? What a fun romp of an opera delightfully put together int his production.

    Like

    Reply
  25. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    Yes, at least Lotfi would program stuff like “Lulu” and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and other interesting stuff amidst the 4,000,000th “La Traviata”; it’s more a measure of how middle-brow and safe Gockley is than “OMG! Lotfi RULES!”.

    Like

    Reply
  26. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    Il Travatore is part of the Met’s HD transmissions this season, too, me thinks. Same production, I believe, if you want to catch it not live but up close. I have no doubt that there are plenty of patrons who love what SFO is up to. Still, as a charitable organization, it seems to me that it’s obliged to do more than be merely popular. I’d love to see a bit of a mix so that more challenging stuff happens. I think Appomattox and Lepage’s Rake’s Progress, as examples from recent seasons, qualify. Ok, I’m getting off this high horse. The air is scarce.

    Like

    Reply
  27. Dodaro Avatar
    Dodaro

    Well, you know what I’m going to say…Gavanelli! Though I must prepare myself for the reality that he can’t be as good as he was in Rigoletto.
    I saw a broadcast of Juan Diego Florez in La Fille, perhaps in that PBS Pavarotti “Seven Arias” special. If I recall correctly, the opera was delightful and Florez’ performance was remarkable. In a good way.
    Waaah! No Peter Grimes. They are saving money, but are forcing me to see it in San Diego. Boo.

    Like

    Reply
  28. Dodaro Avatar
    Dodaro

    Well, you know I’m going to say…Gavanelli! Though I must prepare myself for the reality that he probably won’t be as good as he was in Rigoletto. Sigh. And he’s in 2/3 acts? I don’t want 3 stories. I want a full opera with Gavanelli! Gah! Maybe I should start a Gavanelli blog.
    Looking forward to Florez in La Fille. Actually, to hearing quite a few of the singers.
    If there aren’t any interesting risks, at least there aren’t any Bonesetter’s Daughters (aka operas that look like crap from a mile away) on the list.
    Still mourning Peter Grimes.

    Like

    Reply
  29. Dodaro Avatar
    Dodaro

    Duh. This second version stands.
    Hi!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to ned Cancel reply