Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
The Berlin Philharmonic is to play in Flughafen Tempelhof tonight. Sir Simon Rattle conducts Berlioz’s La Mort de Cléopâtre and Symphonie fantastique, with Susan Graham as the soloist for the former.
The damage to the Philharmonic’s building last week was not as bad as feared, and the Grosser Saal was not harmed.
December 4 2008- January 15 2009: Don Carlo
January 16- February 3 2009: The Makropoulos Case
February 5-25 2009: Tristan und Isolde
March 10-27 2009: Alcina
March 24- April 4 2009: I Due Foscari
April 7- May 10 2009: Il Viaggio a Reims
April 24- May 17 2009: The Rake's Progress
May 22- June 12 2009: Assassino nella Cattedrale
June 6-17 2009: A Midsummer Night's Dream
June 20- July 8 2009: Aida
July 13-17 2009: Eugene Onegin (Bolshoi)
September 19- October 6 2009: Orfeo
October 15-30 2009: Idomeneo
La Scala announced their 2008-2009 season today. Dolora Zajick is singing Eboli in Don Carlo. Waltraud Meier sings Isolde, with Daniel Barenboim conducting. Barenboim also conducts Aida next season. Salvatore Licitra shares the role of Radames (Aida) with Walter Fraccaro.The production of The Rake's Progress is the same Lepage one inspired by Giant we had in San Francisco this season. David Daniels sings opposite of Rosemary Joshua in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Press Release (In Italian) | Calendar
In case one may have forgotten, San Francisco Opera's season returns next week to the War Memorial Opera House. They've put up new banners and posters, and are sponsoring public radio again. I've looked at my schedule for June 2nd through July 6th, and even if I only hear Das Rheingold and Lucia twice apiece, I still will go to 18 SF Opera or Merola events. This is opera escalation if I've ever seen it, and I do feel concerned. Speaking of which, last week I saw a poster for Das Rheingold at my local burrito shop. Summer madness, indeed.
Dominique Meyer, Vienna State Opera's director designate, finds tenor Johan Botha "too fat."
Read More from Mostly Opera… | OE24 Article (in German)
Botha with Nina Stemme in Vienna State Opera's Die Walküre (2007):
October 2008: Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat
May 2009: Mary Watkin's Dark River
October 2009: Cornelius Boots' An American Faust
* Notes *
Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie closes this afternoon at Oakland Opera Theater. The unfinished work was arranged and orchestrated by Marc Bolin and the libretto completed by Tommy Shepherd. The opera was extremely charming, especially the first half, which takes place in Harlem. The sets looked great, especially the city scene back drops. The costumes were comely, and included many fancy hats, gloves, and belts. Queen Pie's platinum blond wig was not convincing, but was not terribly distracting. The dancing was strong, and Tania Johnson was particularly fabulous in this regard, as the Lady Reporter. Kathleen Antonia was perfect as Queenie Pie's rival, Café Olay, completely committed to the choreography and quite self-possessed. Her voice started off slightly shaky but was entirely lovely. Amanda King's voice was also beautiful, rich and pleasant. For the most part, her acting as Queenie Pie was good, though a few words were jumbled in Act II. The rest of the cast was less even, though all the singing was pretty, some were a bit quiet when not right up at one of the many microphones.
Act II was slightly less focused than Act I, when Queenie goes off to some unnamed island in search of a magical amulet. The quartet of sailors sang some cute drinking songs and the three moon trees sounded wonderfully ethereal. Queenie ends up shipwrecked on a tropical isle with a distinctly tiki bar aesthetic, complete with grass skirts and exotic drinks. Seaon Bristol was utterly hilarious as the Crown Prince, and was a good foil for the rather more serious King, William Tull. The ending was darkly humorous.
* Tattling *
The house was entirely full, and the audience was enthusiastic, though they talked a bit too much during the music. The seats at are still pretty uncomfortable at Oakland Opera Theater, but at least they have real restrooms now. Though all very attractive, some of the costumes were not the most flattering, a bit of upper arm cellulite was on view. Some of the dresses also looked like they could use a once over with a garment steamer. However, it was a fine performance with a lot of heart, and I only wish I could have gone earlier in the run, so that I could catch it again.
* Notes *
Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony end a 3-week long Brahms Festival tonight. The chorus was in fine form during Friday's performance, the singers were very much together, in tune, and their German diction was fairly clear. The first half of the performance included Geistliches Lied, Opus 30 and Gesänge für Frauenchor mit Begleitung von zwei Hörner und Harfe, Opus 17. The organist for Geistliches Lied played well. The first of the Songs for Women's Chorus, "Es Tönt ein voller Harfenklang," was a bit cloying, though it was no fault of the harpist, horn players, or singers. The music for "Lied von Shakespeare" was quite pretty, and it was interesting to hear one of Feste's songs from Twelfth Night sung in August Wilhelm Schlegel's translation. The somber "Gesang aus Fingal," with a translated text from Fingal: An Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books by James Macpherson, was lovely.
The performance ended with the very grand Ein deutsches Requiem, Opus 45. Baritone Matthias Goerne sang "Herr, lehre doch mich" beautifully, his voice is rather light, but was always audible. I did not, however, care for soprano Laura Claycomb. I remember her Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at San Francisco Opera as being well-acted but difficult to hear. This time I had no trouble hearing her during "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit," but rather wished I did, as I found her vibrato unpleasant.
I am not sure how I arrived at the notion, but the sentimentality of Brahms inevitably reminds me of green meadows and cows at pasture. I suspect I must have formed this opinion early in life, which goes to show that early exposure to culture and high art are not an unqualified boon. In any case, such thoughts made "Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras" particularly memorable. However, there were some beautiful moments in which I was able to forget my absurdity, especially during "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen" and "Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt." Brahms nearly had me in the latter, the sixth movement, but the effect was ruined by the mawkish strains of harp in the seventh and final movement.
* Tattling *
Laura Claycomb's jewel-toned purple gown was becoming, the color enhanced the paleness of her skin and her pretty red hair. There was some speaking during the music, and premature applause after the third song of Gesänge für Frauenchor. Most distracting were the watch alarms marking the hour during the second and seventh movements of Ein deutsches Requiem.
* Notes *
Krazzy 4 was a bit of a disappointment, it wasn't quite as fun as it could have been and then was also strangely moralizing (society is crazy, not crazy people). It was no fault of the actors: Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, Irfan Khan, Suresh Menon were all charming as the quartet of mental patients mentioned the title. The music was not bad, but the dancing was particularly amusing, especially Shahrukh Khan's item number, "Break Free." Certainly my favorite was "O Re Lakad," as the dance moves were just so fun to imitate. Also, goats were featured in this part of the film, which made the trip to Fremont worth the effort.
* Tattling *
Not much to say on the tattling front, the theater was close to empty, as the movie has been out for over a month. There was some giggling and dancing along.
October 7- November 28 2008: Il Matrimonio Segreto
October 10-17 2008: The Two Widows
October 30- November 29 2008: La Traviata
April 29- June 27 2009: Così fan tutte
May 20- June 24 2009: Manon
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