Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Gregory Henkel was recently appointed Director of Artistic Administration at San Francisco Opera. Mr. Henkel is leaving his position as artistic planning manager at Los Angeles Opera, and is replacing Shane Gasbarra, who left SF Opera in March.
Press Release [PDF] | San Francisco Opera
January 24- February 4 2009: Tosca
February 14-22 2009: Don Quixote
March 28- April 8 2009: Rigoletto
April 18-26 2009: Peter Grimes
May 9-20 2009: Madama Butterfly
Perhaps I should take my mother to the Madama Butterfly in San Diego next year, instead of the Los Angeles production this Fall, as the stage direction will undoubtedly be more conservative. Patricia Racette is singing Butterfly in San Diego. Anthony Dean Griffey is singing the title role of Peter Grimes, as he did at the Met. Marina Domashenko, who was great as Carmen at San Francisco Opera, was to Dulcinea in Don Quixote. She has decided not to add the role to her repertoire, and will be replaced by Denyce Graves.
* Notes *
The West Coast premiere of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince was last night in Berkeley. Portman’s music is benign enough, quite light and pretty. The strongest point was the end of Act I, the lamplighter ensemble. It is not surprising the composer won an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1996 for the film Emma. The libretto, by Nicholas Wright, included much text not from the book, which was disorienting at first. The novella sits a bit awkwardly as an opera, though the latter is both whimsical and cute, it is also somewhat trite. Directed by Francesca Zambello, the staging was well done, Maria Bjørnson’s artful set and costumes worked nicely. The baobabs were hilarious, and the costumes were no small part of this.
The cast was a veritable showcase of the Adler Fellowship Program, nearly all were former or current Adler Fellows. Two of the latter, Kenneth Kellogg and Andrew Bidlack, both sounded great as the King and the Lamplighter, respectively. Tamara Wapinsky sang prettily as the Water, though in some of the ensembles she was easy to pick out, because of her volume and vibrato. Ji Young Yang’s diction has improved, her liquids are clearly distinguished, but her vowels could use more work. Her voice remains exceedingly bright and lovely. Marie Lenormand was charming as the Fox, her movement was good, her voice nice, and her diction nearly perfect. Thomas Glenn was fantastic as the Vain Man, his volume was good and he was very funny. As the Snake he had a few moments of being overwhelmed by the orchestra. Tovi Wayne was an adorable Little Prince, his voice certainly has an otherworldly beauty. At times Wayne’s intonation was not pitch perfect, and he was very loud, so I suspect he was amplified. The Pilot, baritone Eugene Brancoveanu, was wonderful. At worst, some of his vowels were slightly off, but his voice is warm and resonant and his acting was fine.
Sara Jobin conducted well, the musicians were together, and for the most part, also with the singers. There was a weak moment with the Hunters, but it was brief and will likely be sorted out in the coming performances. The San Francisco Girls Chorus and the San Francisco Boys Chorus both did a fine job. There were a few distractions with props not working exactly as they should, but the children’s voices were splendid.
* Tattling *
The part of the Little Prince is shared between two boys, but I don’t know if I can muster up the enthusiasm to see this opera again. It will be the first time in five years that I haven’t seen a San Francisco Opera production more than once. The audience did not include as many children as one would expect, but perhaps it was because it was opening night. One girl behind me pressed her legs quite vigorously against the back of my seat. Certainly this is one way of not falling asleep. The woman next to me on the orchestra level, in Row O Seat 107, keeps her opera glasses in a plastic bag. Of course, she arrived too late to take them out of her purse before the music. She spent at least one minute fumbling around, trying to extract the plastic bag from her tiny beaded purse, and the glasses from the plastic bag. Later on, her purse emitted a loud beep, which prompted her to drink some water, but not to turn off whatever electronic device made this sound. Perhaps it was a reminder to take medication. In any case, she and her date did not return after intermission.
Two years ago, Ondrej Macek found the score for Vivaldi’s lost opera Argippo in Regensburg, Germany. The opera premiered in 1730 in Prague, and will be performed there again tomorrow by the Baroque Music Ensemble Hofmusici.
July 3- August 29 2009: La Traviata
July 4- August 28 2009: L'Elisir d'Amore
July 18- August 27 2009: Don Giovanni
July 25- August 18 2009: The Letter
August 1-19 2009: Alceste
The 2009 season at Santa Fe Opera opens with La Traviata with Natalie Dessay singing Violetta. Elza van den Heever has her Santa Fe Opera debut as Donna Anna, and Lucas Meachem sings the title role. The season also includes the world premiere of Paul Moravec's The Letter, with Patricia Racette in the role of Leslie Crosbie. The Baroque opera this year is Gluck, with Christine Brewer as Alceste and Paul Groves making his Santa Fe Opera debut as Admete.
Houston Grand Opera‘s 2003 production of The Little Prince opens tomorrow at Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. The opera, by Rachel Portman, is in English, and the production is the work of Francesca Zambello. There are also two other operas based on Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, Nikolaus Schapfl’s Der Kleine Prinz (2003) and a 1964 Russian version from Lev Knipper.
Initially I felt quite skeptical about an operatic version of Le Petit Prince. I first read the book as an 8th grader, because it was assigned to my best friend in French class, and was attracted to the charming pictures and to the word baobab. Since then I’ve re-read the novella a dozen times, and as for so many people, it is one of my favorites.
The opera in Berkeley looks much like the book, and also features a very fine baritone, Eugene Brancoveanu, as the pilot. Two children share the role of the Prince, Tovi Wayne and Tyler Polen. Tenor Thomas Glenn sings the Snake and the Vain Man and Marie Lenormand is the Fox. The other two parts are taken by current Adler Fellows Ji Young Yang (the Rose) and Tamara Wapinsky (the Water).
September 6 2008: Angela Gheorghiu, soprano
September 21 2008: Rudolf Buchbinder, piano
September 25-28 2008: Mark Morris Dance Group
October 1 2008: Alexander McCall Smith
October 5 2008: Richard Goode, piano
October 7 2008: Seymour Hersh
October 8-12 2008: Druid Theatre Company
October 9-10 2008: Cesária Évora
October 11 2008: Haruki Murakami
October 14-19 2008: Kirov Ballet
October 19 2008: Piotr Anderszewski, piano
October 24-25 2008: Laurie Anderson, Homeland
October 26 2008: Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
October 29 2008: Ang Lee & James Schamus
November 1 2008: Milton Nascimento & The Jobim Trio
November 2 2008: Conrad Tao, piano
November 7-8 2008: Merce Cunningham Dance Company
November 9 2008: Vadim Repin, violin & Nikolai Lugansky, piano
November 14-15 2008: Merce Cunningham Dance Company
November 23-24 2008: Peter Sellars's Kafka Fragments with Dawn Upshaw
November 28-30 2008: Golden Dragon Acrobats
December 5-6 2008: Ballet Flamenco José Porcel
December 11-14 2008: Jake Heggie's Three Decembers starring Frederica von Stade
December 20 2008: Pomegranates & Figs: A Feast of Jewish Music
December 21 2008: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
January 10 2009: Salvatore Licitra, tenor
January 15 2009: Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary Tour
January 17-18 2009: National Acrobats of China
January 18 2009: Sergey Khachatryan, violin with Lusine Khachatryan, piano
January 23-24 2009: Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca
January 25 2009: Sarah Cahill, piano
January 30-31 2009: Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre
February 1 2009: Kronos Quartet
February 5-8 2009: Circus Oz 30th Birthday Bash!
February 8 2009: Danielle de Niese, soprano
February 14 2009: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
February 15 2009: Takács Quartet with Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
February 19-20 2009: Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me!
February 22 2009: Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano
February 25 2009: Afro-Cuban All Stars
February 27-28 2009: Le Concert des Nations
March 1 2009: Nicole Cabell, soprano
March 3-8 2009: Alvin Ailey with Sweet Honey in the Rock (Mar 3-4)
March 8 2009: Takács Quartet with Peter Wyrick, cello
March 12 2009: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
March 13 2009: Brentano String Quartet with Peter Serkin & Richard Lalli
March 17 2009: Simon Shaheen
March 19 2009: Murray Perahia, piano
March 21 2009: Chick Corea, John McLaughlin & Christian McBride
March 28 2009: Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu
March 28 2009: The Tallis Scholars
March 29 2009: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Joyce Yang, piano
April 3 2009: Habib Koité & Bamada
April 4 2009: David Rakoff
April 5 2009: American String Quartet with Menahem Pressler, piano
April 19 2009: Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo-soprano
April 22 2009: Quatuor Mosaïques
April 24 2009: Krystian Zimerman, piano
April 25 2009: Dianne Reeves
April 26 2009: Australian Chamber Orchestra with Andreas Scholl, countertenor
May 1-3 2009: Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg
May 3 2009: Cypress String Quartet
May 15 2009: Yo-Yo Ma, cello
May 29-31 2009: Mark Morris Dance Group (L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato)
June 4-7 2009: Bolshoi Ballet
June 9-13 2009: Ex Machina
Cal Performances just announced their next season, and though I already have tickets for all the co-productions with San Francisco Opera, I might subscribe anyway. Highlights include the Kirov Ballet, Cecilia Bartoli, Angelika Kirchschlager, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring Andreas Scholl as a soloist.
Official Site | Press Release [PDF]
* Notes *
Calixto Bieito's production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Komische Oper was absolutely the worst opera experience I have ever had. Perhaps I am just hopelessly prudish, but watching 135 minutes of violence, which for the most part was directed against females, was not what I had in mind. Things started off humorously enough, the set revolved and consisted of a few glass boxes covered with advertising targeted at women. There were two boxes downstage left and right that looked just like they had come from Amsterdam's red light district, and scrolling signs with various messages about services offered. Above these particular boxes were four television screens showing a video of a woman at her toilette, and this turned out to be what I watched the most, as it was the least offensive.
The nature of Bassa Selim was entirely changed for this production. Instead of turning out to be an enlightened leader, he is merely a monster who has been living a life beyond consequence. We were treated to rape and torture scenes. Constanze is put in a cage and also lead by leash. Before "Marten Alle Arten," Osmin cuts one of the women and kills her in front of Constanze. It would be one thing if these disturbing images seemed like they were being critical, but their graphic sadism was simply gratuitous. Sure, at the end, the "good" guys kill the "bad" guys, but they also kill all the women in the harem except Blonde and Constanze. It was a simplification message, eye for an eye rather than turn the other cheek.
After watching about half of the opera, I just became utterly bored. The singing wasn't that great, the half-naked girls were cute but not exciting, people yelled a lot and were mean to one another, and the second-rate trapeze artist only performed during the overture. After I had read all the messages on the scrolling signs (with choice statements like "I just turned 18!"), I was reduced to watching Rebecca Ringst's video-film of Jeanette Höldtke putting on her makeup, painting her toe-nails, and trying to open a package of pantyhose.
Jens Larsen (Osmin) began singing stark naked in the shower in Act I, he proceeded to come out of the shower and dry off, but still managed to jump up and down on the bed without putting any clothes on. Larsen's voice was strongest of the cast, full and resonant, but he was off from the orchestra when he sang "Erst geköpft, dann gehangen." Christoph Späth was weak as Pedrillo, this was particularly evident when Larsen and Späth sang together in "Vivat Bacchus, Bacchus Lebe" in Act II. Likewise, tenor Edgaras Montvidas (Belmonte) lacked volume. He did look fairly good in a dress though. Karolina Andersson was still recovering from illness, so her Blonde was rather quiet, but her intonation was good. Brigitte Geller replaced an indisposed Brigitte Christensen, and Geller was audible but also shrill and occasionally off key. She also did not look like much competition for all the tall skinny supernumeraries who were part of Bassa Selim's harem, as she was rather short and squat.
* Tattling *
The audience was very sparse and booed during the performance and also at the end. There was no intermission, as many people would have left, one imagines. The performance was recommended for those over 18, but there was no warning about how many shots were fired. There were several during the second half, and they were deafeningly loud.
* Notes *
Intendant Peter Mussbach's production of Don Giovanni currently at Staatsoper Unter den Linden is muddled. It is difficult to believe Mussbach is a neurologist, given how brainless this co-production with La Scala was. There was quite a lot of ineffectual choreography, every person on stage falls to the ground at some point, usually for no particular reason. There was also a lot of spinning around and staggering, sometimes this was well motivated, and sometimes seemed random. People exited at strange times, in the middle of the other singers' arias, or in many different directions. The set is much too loud, the three walls that were pushed all around the stage creaked, and since they were moving during the music, it was often distracting. The set changed even when scene changes were not necessary. There were at least a hundred pieces of tape on the stage to mark where walls or people needed to be, all clearly visible from the balconies. Perhaps if one requires that much tape, the staging is too complicated. It was reminiscent of a monolithic rat maze, and I'm sure that was intentional. There were only a few props, these included two swords, one knife, a white Vespa, an umbrella, a revolver, a pheasant leg, a bottle, and one chair. Absurdly, Masetto is made to mime having a musket in Act II, but produces the revolver from his pocket. Andrea Schmidt-Futterer's costumes were nice to look at, but the female dancers wore high heels and sounded like a herd of elephants. This was absolutely horrible during "Fin ch'han dal vino" and at the end of Act I, as these dancers ran around and drowned the singing. Also, the Commendatore looked like one of those living statue buskers one sees at Fisherman's Wharf, as he had his face painted silver and donned silver clothing.
Asher Fisch seemed to have gotten a handle of the orchestra by the third performance I saw last night. The musicians rarely overwhelmed the singers and many of the synchronization issues were corrected. Sylvia Schwartz twittered as Zerlina, she was somewhat quieter than the other two sopranos, but still much louder than her Masetto, Arttu Kataja. The pair looked very nice together and they acted well. Bass Hanno Müller-Brachmann also acted well as Leporello, he was funny and lascivious. His voice was strong, but he was ever so slightly late in his arias. Annette Dasch looked stunning as Donna Elvira and though her voice is somewhat fluttery, it was always in tune and very pretty. Christof Fischesser made a bigger impression on me as the Commendatore than as the Landgraf in Tannhäuser. His volume was strong and his tone full. Jeremy Ovenden was quiet as Don Ottavio, and the orchestra was sensitive to this, they played quietly in his arias. He was completely overwhelmed by his Donna Anna, Anna Samuil. Samuil had some poor intonation, she was flat in "Non mi dir" last Friday, but was closer to being in tune yesterday. Ironically, just after that aria, two of the walls seem to flatten her. In the title role, René Pape sang beautifully, especially "Deh vieni alla finestra." The stage is unlit at this point, as he is supposed to be serenading Donna Elvira's maid at night, and this confused the audience. Pape's Don is more lovable than most, he isn't quite as slimy or mean as he could have been.
* Tattling *
The audience for Don Giovanni was consistently worse than for the other performances at the Staatsoper. People spoke aloud during arias, such as Don Ottavio's "Dalla sua pace." The young German-speaking women in Tier 3, Right Middle Row 4 Seats 16 and 17 were very annoyed that they could not see the supertitles because of the chandelier, and expressed this at full volume during Don Ottavio and Donna Anna's duet "Fuggi, crudele fuggi" in Act I. One of them also had a coughing fit during "Deh vieni alla finestra," which they were compelled to discuss out loud.
Again someone on the left side of the third tier was wearing a watch with an alarm on the hour, which was audible at each hour, though at least at 9pm it was intermission. The school group from Majorca returned, and they must have been exhausted, for they were also at the Röschmann | Kozená | Barenboim concert earlier that day. They did not take flash photographs this time.
* Notes *
Yesterday Tannhäuser had its final performance this season at Staatsoper Unter den Linden. To my great surprise, Harry Kupfer's production was fairly simple and worked well. The lines were clean and Buki Shiff's costumes for the principals were inoffensive, and some of her evening gowns for the chorus were stunning. This is consistent with her work in the David Alden production of Rodelinda in Munich and San Francisco. There was a particular red number with one feathered sleeve that was fetching. The staging was amusing, the bacchanalia ballet was conducted on top of an over-sized white piano. The nude dancers were painted white in most cases, but one was also gold, and for the most part they just held various modern dance poses. The piano reappeared in a black guise for Act II, and the hall was not unlike an opera house. Part of the staging had a supernumerary arriving late and trying to find her seat, which she had great difficulty with, naturally. Another recurrent theme was having Tannhäuser supine on ground, which was where he started the opera and where he was found by the hunting party. Best of all, he threw himself into this position before the Pope after singing "Nach Rom!" at the end of Act II.
Musically there were a few rough starts, the hunting horns at the end of Act I Scene 3 were clearly flat at times and Anne Schwanewilms (Elisabeth) was not great in her first aria, "Dich, teure Halle." For the most part the orchestra sounded good, Philippe Jordan kept the musicians together and reigned them in so that the singers were never completely overwhelmed. Soprano Schwanewilms sounded quite beautiful after she was warmed up, she only cracked slightly on the word auch when she protected Tannhäuser after the song contest. Michaela Schuster sang well as Venus, her dark tones in fine contrast with Schwanewilms' brilliance. Robert Dean Smith was convincing as Tannhäuser, his pretty voice did sound heroic and tragic when necessary. He was a bit quiet, though not as weak as Roman Trekel (Wolfram). Trekel lacked resonance and volume, and his "O du, mein holder Abendstern" was the only moment in the opera that was truly disappointing. Nonetheless, this performance was the best I have witnessed at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the end was absolutely transcendent.
* Tattling *
There was a small fire somewhere in the opera house during Act II Scene 3 and one could smell the smoke in the third tier. As the Landgraf and Elisabeth sang, the audience stood up and some people started to exit. The singers looked rather confused, and someone came out to explain that the fire had been extinguished and that there was no danger. Then we stood around for a bit, and someone else came out and said we would take a 15 minute intermission to wait for the smoke to clear.
Someone on the left side of the third tier was wearing a watch with an alarm on the hour, which I heard at least three times. Additionally, somehow I sat amidst a school group from Majorca, pianists from the ages of 12-20. They did not understand German terribly well, and the three on the right of center made us get up about 10 times during the intermissions so that they could get from one side of the theater to another. These children had to be hushed multiple times, which they found entertaining. However, they did quiet down, and whispered instead of speaking aloud. They also took a half dozen flash photographs during the performance. I believe they will also be at the performance of Don Giovanni tonight.
The Opera Tattler 
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