Cal Performances opens the 2010-2011 season with an impressive array of free performances next Sunday, September 26th. Our beloved San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Leah Crocetto, Sara Gartland, Brian Jagde, and Tamara Sanikidze are participating. Other performers include Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Melody of China, the John Santos Sextet, the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, the Word for Word Theater Company, Teslim with Kaila Flexer and Gari Hegedus, the Diamano Couras West African Dance Company, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Ensemble, classical guitarist Marc Teicholz, singer/musician Melanie DeMore, and the UC Jazz Ensembles. The Opera Tattler is quite sad to miss this, but will be out of town.
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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* Notes *
Werther, in a brand new production, opened yesterday evening at San Francisco Opera. The set, designed by Louis Désiré, involves a rather large platform with a grove of telephone poles meant to be trees, lots of stairs, a mountain of luggage, and a creepy basement downstage where Werther lives. Periodically one of two large rectangles would come down, suspended from the ceiling, to indicate the seasons. They seemed to be covered in cheap leaf-motive wallpaper or some chintzy seasonal cotton print. However, the lighting design, from Duane Schuler, pulled all these elements together. The overall effect was both curiously elegant and nightmarish. Francisco Negrin‘s direction seemed to concentrate on the psychology of Werther himself. The use of live video capture was restrained, and the doubles for Werther were intriguing. One appreciated that there were no projections or other distractions during the overtures.Emmanuel Villaume conducted the orchestra, which sounded shimmery and full. The strings and harp glimmered, and the brass was warm. It was startling to hear the alto saxophone, but probably only because one is not accustomed to hearing it in opera. The design of the set may have caused the balance to be off on the ground level, and instead of being supported by the instruments, the singers were often overwhelmed. Perhaps it sounded better in the balcony.
Adlers Susannah Biller (Kätchen) and Austin Kness (Brühlmann) looked and sounded lovely in their small roles. Robert MacNeil and Bojan Kneževiċ were charming as Schmidt and Johann. Christian Van Horn, as Charlotte’s father, the bailiff, sounded clear. Brian Mulligan was robust as Albert. Heidi Stober (Sophie) chirped and fluttered nicely. Alice Coote made for a vaguely boyish Charlotte, perhaps because of the way she carries her shoulders and neck. Coote has a pleasant, warm tone. Ramón Vargas likewise has a pretty sound, though I did find him more sympathetic in a role like Nemorino than the melodramatic Werther.
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I had the pleasure of greeting the San Francisco Opera Music Director at intermission, and also managed to find many friends in the press room. The audience was fairly subdued. There was at least one watch alarm at 9pm, and some squeaking from either microphones or hearing aids. Several people commented about how weird the production was, mostly in a negative way. The production team was booed.Leave a Reply
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The Last Chinese Unicorn wrote up this piece about this recent event in the Littlefield Intermezzo Lounge of the War Memorial Opera House, pictured left, photo from Cory Weaver and San Francisco Opera.* Notes *
Tonight is the opening of Massenet's Werther (pronounced Vair-tair). This past Saturday before the final dress rehearsal, the Opera Tattler and I attended the first book club meeting organized by the SF Opera for its Medallion Society members to discuss Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers), the epistolary novel upon which the opera is based. We were surprised and delighted by the great turnout. Though most were grey-haired opera lovers, we did spot a few young people in their 20s. There was also a Goethe scholar in the mix who made some valuable contributions to the discussion. With this particular opera, because it is more of a psychological drama without an intricate plot, I found it very useful to revisit the literary text before watching the performance. It certainly helped make sense of the video element of the production. Here are some of the topics that we covered in the meeting:* Albert (rational, responsible, stable) being the antithesis of Werther (emotional, maudlin, reckless)
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Romanticism
* Parallels between Werther and Faust
* Werther's descent into madness
* Werther fever and copycat suicides
* The role of Nature in the novelAs for the production itself…stay tuned for the Opera Tattler's review of the opening night show. My lips are tightly sealed!
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Two young ladies with interesting head accessories came strolling in late. One even had the audacity to march up front and sit right next to the moderator. What a shameless lass!Leave a Reply
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Though the Opera Tattler may have secured an audience with Danielle De Niese, Marco Vratogna, and Nicola Luisotti, we are wondering who you, gentle readers, would like us to interview next. It may be easiest if we limit this to those who are here in San Francisco now for the opera. Below are some suggestions, feel free to pick these or others.
Aida: Micaela Carosi | Dolora Zajick | Marcello Giordani | Christian Van Horn | Leah Crocetto
Werther: Emmanuel Villaume | Ramón Vargas | Alice Coote | Heidi Stober | Brian Mulligan
Figaro: Luca Pisaroni | Ellie Dehn | Michèle Losier | Lucas Meachem
Previous Interviews: Zandra Rhodes | David Lomelí | John Copley
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* Notes *
San Francisco Opera's 37th Opera in the Park event was Nicola Luisotti's second as music director. The performance is entertaining every year, and this was no exception. The afternoon began with the overture to Le Nozze di Figaro, and gave us a preview of how this will sound when the latest revival opens on Tuesday September 21st. In keeping with this, Michèle Losier sang Cherubino's "Non so più," followed by Luca Pisaroni in "Non più andrai," and Danielle de Niese in "Giunse alfin il momento…Deh, vieni, non tardar." Dolora Zajick sang "La luce langue" from Macbeth stridently and Brian Mulligan sang "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Faust sweetly. Marco Vratogna sang the Act III aria "Nemico della Patria" from Andrea Chénier, which David Gockley says we will hear soon enough at the War Memorial. "Pourquoi me réveiller" from Werther was sung by Ramón Vargas, and this opera opens for the first time in perhaps 25 years at SF Opera on Wednesday. The first half closed with David Lomelí, Leah Crocetto, Heidi Stober, and Brian Mulligan singing the famous quartet from Rigoletto, "Un di se ben rammentomi…Bella figlia dell'amore."I had to leave at intermission, but I did hear the rehearsal of this performance earlier in the day. The second half started with the overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia, followed by Lucas Meachem in the famous "Largo al factotum." One does look forward to his Count in Le Nozze di Figaro and his fellow cast members Luca Pisaroni and Danielle de Niese, who sang "Là ci darem la mano." David Lomelí performed "La donna è mobile." Then there was much Puccini with Micaela Carosi singing "Vissi d'Arte," Leah Crocetto and Brian Jadge "Bimba, dagli occhi pieni," and Marcello Giordani in "Nessun Dorma." The performance ended with the usual "Libiamo ne'lieti calici" from La Traviata. I believe the encore must have been "O Sole Mio," sung by David Lomelí, Brian Jadge, Ramón Vargas, and Marcello Giordani.
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The day started off rather foggy and cold, and the Maestro wore his white sweater instead of having it draped in his normal fashion. The Maestro sang a respectable "Non più andrai," whilst rehearsing the orchestra. The sun did come out, and I was able to convince Axel Feldheim to come to the park and sing the National Anthem with me for the second time in 24 hours.General Director David Gockley was in his usual spot on stage much of the time and introduced groups of pieces. He inadvertently skipped over the two Mozart pieces after Cherubino's aria, and Luisotti teasingly said that Gockley "didn't know the season."
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The incoming 2011 Adler Fellows are Nadine Sierra, Daniel Montenegro, Ao Li, Ryan Kuster, and David Hanlon. They join current Adlers Leah Crocetto, Susannah Biller, Sara Gartland, Maya Lahyani, Ryan Belongie, Brian Jadge, and Tamara Sanikidze. Outgoing 2010 Adler Fellows are tenor David Lomelí, baritone Austin Kness, and apprentice coach Allen Perriello.Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
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Production Web Site | Press Photographs
Final Dress: Not for Fun Only | The Opera Tattler
Performance Reviews: Civic Center | Iron Tongue of Midnight | MusicalCriticism.com | oboeinsight | The Opera Tattler | San Francisco Chronicle | SFCV | San Francisco Examiner | SFist
Opera in the Ballpark: Civic Center | Lies Like Truth | oboeinsight
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* Notes *
The 27th season of Opera San José opened with the West Coast premiere of David Carlson’s Anna Karenina yesterday evening. The libretto, written by Colin Graham, packed a lot of narrative into less than three hours. It felt a bit like hearing the Cliff Notes to Tolstoy’s novel set to music as we moved through key plot points at breakneck speed. Perhaps the librettist and composer wanted to stay so true to Tolstoy’s story they may have lost sight of the dramatic aspects of the operatic form. The music itself was pretty, constantly in motion, evoking waves or other watery imagery and textures. There was much repetition, and the music was consistent regardless of the text, with the exception of Anna’s death. The orchestra, under the baton of Stewart Robertson, played with clarity and never overwhelmed the singers.The singing was uniformly fine. Kindra Scharich stood out in the small role of Countess Lydia Ivanova, her voice is warm and lovely. Christopher Bengochea (Stiva Oblonsky) and Michael Dailey (Konstantin Levin) also offered strong performances. Krassen Karagiozov was not quite dashing enough as Vronsky, but he did sing nicely. Jasmina Halimic made a pretty Anna, and she did sound very sweet. There were a few times when she gasped or cracked slightly. Karenin seemed the most fleshed out character, his motivations were clear, and Kirk Eichelberger portrayed him beautifully.
Brad Dalton’s production is impressive. Everything came together perfectly, and without looking overworked or effortful. The choreography, from Lise La Cour, was smooth and looked natural on all the singers, dancers, and supernumeraries. Steven C. Kemp’s sets are sleek, simple, but still descriptive, and were lit elegantly by Kent Dorsey. Some of the painted backdrops were particularly gorgeous. Elizabeth Pointdexter’s costumes looked in keeping with the novel, as did the wigs and makeup from Jeanna Parham.
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On the whole, the patrons of Opera San José were excited and supportive. There was some light talking, and some quiet snoring. Both were easy to overlook. The opera received a standing ovation.Leave a Reply
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* Notes *
The 88th season of San Francisco Opera opened in gaudy splendor with Aida last night. The ostentatious production, designed by Zandra Rhodes and directed by Jo Davies, did not fail to delight. The backstage noise of moving the sets was audible to the audience, and the flow of the masses of people was not always well-motivated. However, the dancing children in the first scene of Act II, and the gymnasts and cloth elephant in the scene that followed were absolutely wonderful. Nicola Luisotti conducted with passion. The low strings had some beautiful moments, specifically, the cello solo in "Ritorna vincitor," the violas during the ballet, and the basses near the end of the opera. The woodwinds were pretty, and the trumpets sounded clear. There were a few synchronization problems with the orchestra and singers, especially in the ensembles. Unsurprisingly, the chorus held together best when they did not have to move and sing at the same time. Adlers David Lomelí and Leah Crocetto both made fine contributions as the Messenger and Priestess, respectively. Crocetto's creamy yet metallic voice cut through from backstage with an eerie effectiveness.Christian Van Horn (King of Egypt), Hao Jiang Tian (Ramfis), and Marco Vratogna (Amonasro) all were appropriate for their roles, both in acting and singing. Vratogna was almost beast-like, his voice is sturdy and he certainly seemed dangerous. On the other hand, Micaela Carosi was rather wooden in the title role. Her voice, while warm and resonant in her lower register, is not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard when she pushes too hard for the top notes. Marcello Giordani was infuriating in the same way, his "Celeste Aida" began ravishingly, but the higher, sustained notes, while powerful, lacked beauty. He also showed fatigue during his duet with Aida in Act III, but pulled it together for the very end, which was lovely. Dolora Zajick dominated the second half of the show, her Amneris was incandescent in Act IV.
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The opening night crowd was ill-behaved. Three young women in ZZ 112-116 would not stop talking, or posting photographs to Facebook on their mobile devices. Three Francophones behind me in standing room also felt it necessary to talk during the first half of the opera, though managed to be silent for the second half. Rather annoyingly enough, my hairdo disrupted Act II Scene 1, somehow I did not secure it properly and a cascade of flowers fell from my head. I could not stop myself from laughing, out of embarrassment, one imagines.Leave a Reply
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