Matthew Shilvock has been appointed Associate General Director of San Francisco Opera.
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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Michael Tilson Thomas is amidst conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Stravinsky, Villa-Lobos, and Ravel. However, the main attraction of last night's performance was clearly pianist Yuja Wang. The evening began with MTT and Yuja playing Poulenc's Sonata for Piano Four Hands. The piece came off a bit acridly, Wang has a ruthlessness that is impressive. The symphony took the stage for Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. The principal violin and cello sounded strong, and Wang's playing was unyielding. She makes one understand the piano as a percussive instrument, and the contrast between her and the strings was shown in high relief. The soloist got a break during the Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9, a very beautiful piece, and beautifully played. Wang returned for Ravel's Concerto in D major for the Left Hand for Piano and Orchestra, and she created a great deal of sound, the end was lively and expressive. After the intermission we heard Le Sacre du printemps. This piece certainly was disturbing, even violent. The woodwinds squeaked a little, but were mostly good, and the violas also played well.* Tattling *
There was some talking, mostly during the first half. The women in G 105 and 106 of the orchestra level were rather loud, but since they were utterly excited about both Yuja and SF Symphony, it was hard to be too upset with them. A cellular phone was heard between the Rustique and Final movements of the Poulenc.Leave a comment
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Orpheus hosted an event with Gregory Henkel, San Francisco Opera's Director of Artistic Adminstration yesterday evening at Credo. Henkel certainly has quite a C.V., having worked at Los Angeles Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also was a guest judge at the Met auditions this year.For this talk, he spoke about his job, about how casting comes about, and how we induce singers to come out all the way to San Francisco. We got a first hand account of how Molly Fillmore, currently singing in Die Walküre, flew in from Arizona to fill in for Nadja Michael. Fillmore had never performed the role before, and though she had some rehearsal time before the opera opened in San Francisco, she was, of course, not completely prepared. We also heard about how Andrea Silvestrelli sang for Peter Rose when the latter went to the UK for his father's funeral service. Silvestrelli had to learn all that English dialogue with in a very short period of time.
It was most interesting to hear Henkel's impressions of the best up and coming talent. He praised our current and former Adlers highly, especially Leah Crocetto, David Lomelí, Ryan Belongie, Daveda Karanas, and Heidi Melton. As far as other singers under 40, he mentioned Albina Shagimuratova, Heidi Stober, Stephanie Blythe, Stephen Costello, Brian Mulligan, and Quinn Kelsey, all of whom we will hear in coming seasons. It was mentioned that Costello's wife, Ailyn Pérez, had no rehearsal time with the orchestra before her one Traviata performance last summer.
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The audience was engaged, quietly snacking on fried olives and other hors d'œuvre. After the talk, Henkel mingled with the guests before taking a taxi to the fourth performance of Faust.Leave a comment
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San Francisco Opera's Facebook page has photographs of the contestants for the Ring costume contest that occurred on Sunday. If you "like" San Francisco Opera on Facebook, you may even vote for your favorite costume. Whichever photo gets the most "likes" by Friday at 12 pm will win a production photo from Die Walküre signed by the cast.Leave a comment
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Henry Purcell's "When I am laid in Earth," from Act III of Dido and Aeneas, has been named the UK's favorite aria, based on a BBC poll.
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* Notes *
Michael Tilson Thomas just finished conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Wagner, Berg, and Beethoven. The Overture to The Flying Dutchman sounded lovely, and the brass were fairly clear and sounded nice. The second piece also had to do with opera, and the Suite from Lulu was dense and lush. Soprano Erin Wall made an admirable attempt to be heard over the heavy orchestration, and something about her icy voice does penetrate over the din. It was not very easy to hear which words she was singing, however. The second half of the performance consisted of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, with James Ehnes as the soloist. The orchestra was spirited, the principal cello and viola were particularly fine, as were the woodwinds. The quiet parts of Ehnes playing were exquisite and plaintive.
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There was some quiet talking during Saturday’s performance in San Francisco, but not very much. A cellular phone was heard right before Beethoven.Leave a comment
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San Francisco Opera is holding a costume contest today before the matinée performance of Die Walküre. The contest involves dressing up as characters from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. The judges include David Gockley, Kristina Flanagan, Christopher Verdosci, and Terri Stuart.The potential for utter ridiculousness seems pretty high here. Though sophisticates such as John Marcher and Axel Feldheim are certain not to partake in such silliness, I will be making some sort of attempt to participate.
Press Release [PDF] | San Francisco Opera | WSNC
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* Notes *
The only Berkeley Festival and Exposition event I could attend this year was a harpsichord recital played by Eugene Petrushansky. The afternoon performance began with Bach's Toccata in F#, BMV 110, which I missed entirely due to my tardiness. I managed to hear all of the Suite in B Minor from Matthias Weckmann, which sounded clear and passionate. This was followed by two Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, K 133 in C Major and K 175 in A Minor. The first had an almost circus-like aspect, the second had an appealing percussive quality. Petrushansky made a good case for Froberger, playing Suite in C Major and a miniature suite. The constrasts in tempi were particularly fine.* Tattling *
The audience was quiet and attentive. I believe I was the least well-behaved person there, given that I was late.Leave a comment
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* Notes *
Die Walküre had a stunning opening last night at San Francisco Opera. There was never a dull moment from the orchestra pit, and Donald Runnicles kept the tempi apace, and rarely overwhelmed the singers. There were some notes that were out of tune or not perfectly clear from the brass, but for the most part, the sound was warm and full. The singing was intensely beautiful. The Walküren included many current and former Adlers and Merolini: Maya Lahyani (Siegrune), Tamara Wapinsky (Helmwige), Wendy Bryn Harmer (Gerhilde), Daveda Karanas (Waltraute), Suzanne Hendrix (Schwertleite). Joined by Priti Gandhi (Rossweise), Pamela Dillard (Grimgerde), and Molly Fillmore (Ortlinde), they sounded hearty.
Raymond Aceto was a mean little bully as Hunding, perfectly appropriate for the role, he did not sound heroic at all and was very believable. Janina Baechle likewise filled the role of Fricka rather perfectly. Mark Delavan did well as Wotan, his voice is pretty, though perhaps slightly light. Christopher Ventris sang Siegmund with conviction, and sounded lovely with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. Ventris sounded somewhat ragged by the end of Act I, but sang Act II gorgeously. Westbroek had a lot of power, and very little strain. Nina Stemme was also incredible, she has a wonderful control of her voice, and her timbre is pleasing.
Francesca Zambello‘s production, on the other hand, was at best inoffensive. The projections, designed by Jan Hartley, started off with a watery screen saver and then took a turn toward The Blair Witch Project. The repeated use of lightning was painfully cliché. The sets, from Michael Yeargan, are serviceable enough. The first scene was exceedingly predictable, one could see right away that the front of the house would lift up and the sides would come apart. The second half of Act II looked very familiar, I believe Bayreuth’s current Ring has a freeway scene as well. The third act was a crowd pleaser, and while I enjoyed the absurdity and theatrics of parachuting Walküren, it did not seem appropriate to distract from the orchestra at this point in the music.
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The audience was fairly attentive, though the women in Row T Seats 5 and 7 of the Orchestra Level spoke at two points during Act II, both times when the orchestra was playing. They did not return for Act III. There were some watch alarms at each hour, but they were not close to me, and I could barely hear them. There was an electronic sound, either a phone, watch, or hearing aid, that intoned a noise as Siegmund sang about the circumstances of how he lost his weapons. There were also shrill noises during when Siegmund sings about Sieglinde (“Ist es der Blick der blühenden Frau”). I could not tell if they were coming from the stage or behind it.
John Marcher was kind enough to take me to this performance, and we happened to sit next to Lisa Hirsch, who has, charmingly enough, tattled on herself. SFMike was seen at the intermissions, as were many others.
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* Notes *
San Francisco Opera‘s latest production of La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) opened last night. The production, directed by Lorenzo Mariani and with sets from Maurizio Balò, is cute without being busy or cluttered. The male chorus sounded fine and the ensemble cast did well. The waltz in Act I was particularly lovely. Current Adlers Brian Jagde (Joe), David Lomelí (Harry), Austin Kness (Handsome), and Maya Lahyani (Wowkle) all had respectable appearances. Nicola Luisotti held the orchestra together, creating a luxuriant sound.
Timothy Mix was tender and vunerable as Sonora and Roberto Frontali threatening as Sheriff Jack Rance. Salvatore Licitra’s voice was very sweet and warm as Ramerrez. A few of his highest, loudest notes showed some strain, but for the most part he had a nice ease. Deborah Voigt’s Minnie was spunky and full of spirit. She has a bit of a tinselly quality, lacking the warm creaminess she had in former years, but overall she was quite winsome.
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The press department did end up giving me tickets for this performance. The volunteer usher in front of us in Row L Seat 23 used her cellular phone as a flashlight to read the program during Act I. After the first intermission, an audience member was sitting in that seat, and the usher insisted on seeing the ticket. The audience member could not produce it and stormed off. It was not clear exactly what transpired, but the usher did not return to L 23, and the audience member sat in K 17 with her friends instead.
Though not constant, there was too much talking during the music and the singing.
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