November 7 2009: Esther
November 8 2009: Don Giovanni
March 18 2010: L'Étoile
March 19 2010: Madama Butterfly
April 3 2010: Partenope
New York City Opera announced their 2009-2010 Season yesterday.
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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In his Latin Quarter garret, Rodolfo contrives to hold the hand of Mimì. This is from Act I of La Bohème, naturally.
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September 8-27 2009: Semele
October 20- November 3 2009: The Rake's Progress
December 1-22 2009: Iphigénie en Aulide
December 1-22 2009: Iphigénie en Tauride
January 19- February 4 2010: Elektra
March 15-20 2010: Ismène
March 16- April 3 2010: Idomeneo
April 11-13 2010: Medea
May 4-16 2010: Don Quichotte
June 11-30 2010: MacbethDe Munt (La Monnaie) seems have a bit of an Ancient Greek theme next season, at least for seven of ten operas. One cannot help but be jealous that they will have not one but two Gluck works. The Rake's Progress is the Lepage production seen here in San Francisco last season. One can read more about De Munt's season on Summer is Coming In.
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* Notes *
András Schiff performed his penultimate recital in his two-year cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas yesterday evening at Davies Hall. He played with a great intensity, with a beautiful legato without being overly luxuriant. By the time he got to his two encores, Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor and Mozart's Gigue in G Major, one could hardly make coherent observation, so gripping was the performance up until that point. It was clear that Schiff played Bach and Mozart rather differently than the Beethoven, and distinctly from one another as well. He seemed equally engaged with all of the works.* Tattling *
The audience in the Second Tier was more ill-behaved than ever, though at the very least, no cellular phones rang. Someone seemed to either have a dress made of cellophane or a boundless need for candies. There was rampant whispering, and a squealing hearing device.The Hammerklavier was particularly moving, though all the noise was distracting. When near tears at one point, yet another wrapper was crumpled, and I burst into what I hope were silent giggles.
Before the performance an usher in GG loudly barked that there was not to be any photography. I was terribly confused as I had not observed anyone with a camera. My bewilderment must have been evident to said usher as he repeated himself slowly and loudly several times as if I did not understand English.
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* Notes *
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performed in Berkeley yesterday afternoon as the final concert in a tour of the United States. The rather large orchestra, conducted by Eri Klas, displayed a fine control during Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten. Likewise, the quiet parts of Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 in D major were played with sensitivity. The trombones did have a bit of an anuran sound.* Tattling *
The audience was well-behaved. We skipped out on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, with Joyce Yang as the soloist, as it was a beautiful day.The two encores were the Trepak from the Nutcracker and an Estonian piece. Klas was quite charming when he addressed the audience.
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* Notes *
The Tallis Scholars performed an incredible concert at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley an last night. Lead by Peter Phillips, the 10 singers produced a pure but almost palpable sound. Their volume was strong, though it helps that the venue has such good acoustics.The program featured composers of the Renaissance polyphony, from Jean Mouton (c. 1459-1522) to Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629). The latter's work, Magnificat IV, was certainly a highlight of the evening, as was Lassus' Missa Bel' Amfitrit' altera. Purcell's Hear My Prayer was the encore to this fine performance.
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The audience whispered, but was relatively quiet, there was one watch alarm at 9pm whilst they were singing O clap your hands from Orlando Gibbons. No one clapped at the end of the first piece, Palestrina's Surge, illuminare (part I), but there was applause for the Gloria of the Lassus.During the intermission, one of the noisier patrons was loudly speaking about Los Baños, explaining it was "the Baths." He carefully drew out the name so it could be understood, but used an alveolar nasal rather than the appropriate palatal sound in Spanish. In all likelihood the place is actually spoken this way, but the pronunciation just never occurred to me on my drives up and down Interstate 5.
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* Notes *
Philharmonia Baroque gave an excellent concert last night in San Francisco. Their sound tends toward the clean and fastidious. The evening began with Francesco Maria Veracini's light, elegant Overture No. 6 in G minor followed by the jaunty Concerto a più instrumenti, Op. 5, No. 3 from Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco. Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor was played very well, the violinists, Elizabeth Blumenstock and Lisa Weiss were incredible. Less coherent was the Suite for Zephyr, involving pieces by Rameau, Marin Marais, and Jean-Féry Rebel. The works had an effusiveness, and at one point the piccolo came in and the sound was so bright that it was startling.The second half of the concert started with Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. The playing was lovely, though the trumpet sounded out of tune from the other instruments in the third movement. The part is very difficult, of course. Telemann's "Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth" was the finale, and was played beautifully.
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The audience was only slightly chatty, but a person behind me in the orchestra section certainly fell asleep, I could hear loud breathing, and perhaps a few snores. The same person and his companion found the opening appeal for donations from the President of the Board of Directors to be very articulate, especially considering he did not use notes.Leave a comment
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* Notes *
Countertenor David Daniels is currently on tour with the English Concert, to promote his latest recording with that ensemble. The first half of evening was devoted to Bach, starting off with Harry Bicket leading the English Concert in the Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major. They played primly, but not dispassionately. Daniels sang a potpourri of arias from Cantatas 170 and 82, Mass in B minor, and Saint Matthew Passion. In the middle of this was a break in which the ensemble played the Sinfonia from Cantata 42, the lack of unison in the woodwinds for their first entrance was distracting. Daniels has a pretty voice, with good volume, though at times his voice does have a cooing quality that is a bit columbid.The second half of the performance featured Händel, and the English Concert played his Concerto Grosso No. 11 very beautifully. Daniels sang arias from Radamisto, Partenope, and Orlando. He seemed more engaged with these opera numbers than with the Bach. His encore, "Qual nave smarrita," from Radamisto, was lovely. One imagines he must be very good in this role.
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There was a fair amount of whispering and talking during the music, but no electronic noise.Leave a comment
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Merolina Amanda Majeski, current Adler Heidi Melton, and former Adler Sean Panikkar have each received the George London Award this year.
Official Site | SF Opera Press Release [PDF]
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* Notes *
Last night Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of Steven Gerber's Music in Dark Times. The piece was commissioned by Ashkenazy and also dedicated to him.The fanfares of the first and last movements did not show off the brass to their best advantage, though the woodwinds sounded beautiful in the second movement. I was most drawn to the third movement, as it was a tarantella, and the various rhythms were of interest. The fifth movement "Elegy for Strings" was played with subtlety.The main draw of the evening was likely Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. The soloist, Yevgeny Sudbin, played in an almost ridiculously tasteful manner, with such restraint. He was able to find a percussiveness as well when necessary. There was a particular fineness in the strings, a precariousness. There were, however, two times in which the viola and the cello were a bit strident. Oddly, though the concerto did not come off, and by the end, I had the very strange physiological impression being stabbed in the forehead with a fork.
The second half of the concert brought us Belshazzar's Feast of Walton. Though the music was more akin to a film score than an oratorio, the chorus sounded lovely. Bass-baritone John Relyea gave a strong but perhaps unnuanced performance.
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The composer Gerber was in attendance, and he ran from the audience to the stage in a very adorable way. One imagines he was quite excited.The audience was perfectly terrible. A cellular phone rang four times in the Upper Orchestra during the quietest part of the Beethoven, in the second movement. Hot on the heels of this was a veritable chorus of watch alarms at 9pm.
If you happened to be distracted by some girl in the center of the fifth row who entirely lost her composure at the beginning of the Walton, I apologise.
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The Opera Tattler 
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