The Opera Tattler

* Notes * 
San Francisco Opera presented Tosca (Adrianne Pieczonka in the title role and Lado Ataneli as Scarpia, photograph by Cory Weaver) at Fort Mason Flix last weekend. The 2009 performance is not the latest production, but the previous one from 1997 for the War Memorial's reopening.

The orchestra, conducted by Marco Armiliato, sounded vivid. Lado Ataneli is quite an evil Scarpia, his voice has a nice heft to it. Tenor Carlo Ventre is an appealing Cavaradossi, he seems less delicate in the filmed version of this performance but the reedy quality of his voice is apparent. His "E lucevan le stelle" was lovely. Adrianne Pieczonka is a creamy-voiced and powerful Tosca. Her "Vissi d'arte" had me in tears.

This recording includes a lot of shots of the audience in the War Memorial Opera House. It was a little difficult to watch, not only because it is hard to imagine being that close to people inside without masks after all these months, but also because live performance seems so remote at this point and I, for one, sure do miss it.

* Tattling * 
I was lightly teased by a staff member of Fort Mason Flix about seeing this opera by myself, which made me laugh, since I've basically been around my children and husband constantly for 335 days. I considered bringing my almost seven-year old to the screening but decided I wasn't ready to have to explain Scarpia to him just yet.

We were not supposed to leave our vehicles except to use the restrooms, and there were no concessions on the premises. I brought blueberries, apples, cashews, and cheese to snack on. Some cars had trouble keeping their headlights off, I was glad to see the staff had signs to indicate this to the offending patrons.

There is still a lot of daylight at 5pm when the screening I saw started, so it was a little difficult to see what was happening in some of the early scenes of the opera. It was very funny to see seagulls fly past the screen, after hearing them so much in the nearby Cowell Theater for years.

San Francisco Opera has rescheduled Puccini's Tosca on February 12 and 13 at the Fort Mason Flix Drive-In. The 2009 production starring Adrianne Pieczonka (pictured with Carlo Ventri as Cavaradossi and Joel Sorensen as Spoletta, photograph by Cory Weaver) in the title role was orignally set for December 11 and 12 but was cancelled because of the Stay at Home order that ended on Monday.

Press Release | Official Site

San Francisco Opera continues its streaming program Opera Is On with Verdi's La Traviata (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) from 2014 this weekend on January 30 to 31. From this production tenor Stephen Costello, soprano Nicole Cabell, and assistant stage director Shawna Lucey will be interviewed live on Friday, January 29 at 1pm. One can register for this Zoom event here.

In February, the weekends will bring Wagner's Lohengrin, Mozart's Così fan tutte, Puccini's La Rondine, and Verdi's Falstaff.

Press Release | Opera Is On

San Francisco Opera presents Puccini's La Bohème on November 20 and 22 at the Fort Mason Flix Drive-In, followed by Tosca on December 11 and 12. The 2008 production of Bohème stars Piotr Beczala and Angela Gheorghiu as Rodolfo and Mimì, the Tosca is from 2009 and stars Adrianne Pieczonka.

Press Release | Official Site

* Notes *
San Francisco Opera held a drive-in event (pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) at Fort Mason Flix yesterday evening. The opera screened was Lucia di Lammermoor from 2008 with soprano Natalie Dessay  in the title role. She is an incredible Lucia, and the filmed version captures this well. It was also flattering to the rest of the production.

The drive-in was orderly, the staff let each car in, first scanning tickets, then explaining which FM station to tune into to get the sound, and lastly leading each car to a space to allow for good sight lines. I was very pleased to see much of the house staff from the War Memorial, and glad to be in the third row near the middle in my compact hybrid.

There was strong enforcement of no lights from cars, drivers were admonished before the show began. Unfortunately, there were times when headlights and brake lights would turn on (including my own at least once) as cars would automatically shut off to conserve battery power.

Otherwise, the format is engaging, I preferred this to watching streams at home, it felt more like a real opera. It was nice to be in my own enclosed space without the normal distractions of small children or other ill-behaved audience members. It was noticeable how many coughs were carefully recorded in the audio when the orchestra was playing quietly.

Graham Vick's direction and Paul Brown's sets are suitably dramatic on the big screen. Dessay is both vulnerable and viscerally disturbing in her mad scene, it's clear how she's giving her all the the performance. Everyone sounded fine, better than I remembered live. Mezzo-soprano Cybele-Teresa Gouverneur didn't seem underpowered as Alisa, tenor Giuseppe Filianoti was only strained at times, and was always audible. The sextet was beautiful. It was lovely to hear the chorus and orchestra, they were consistent and powerful.

* Tattling * 
It was very strange for me to be somewhat "out and about" doing something at least adjacent to what I would normally do before shelter-in-place. I felt extremely uncomfortable and could not bring myself to leave my car for concessions or the restrooms. It was good to see how many people wore masks outside of their cars but compliance was not perfect.

San Francisco Opera continues its streaming program Opera Is On with Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor on October 31 to November 1. The production is the one to be shown as a drive-in movie next Sunday.

Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) from 2014 will be presented on November 7-8, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov from 2008 on November 14–15, Verdi's Rigoletto from 2012 on November 21–22, and Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore from 2008 on November 28–29.

Press Release | Opera Is On

San Francisco Opera presents Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (pictured left, photograph by Terrence McCarthy) on October 25 at 6pm at Fort Mason Flix Drive-In. The production is from 2008 and stars Natalie Dessay.

98 cars with pre-purchased tickets will be admitted starting at 5pm and social distancing enforced. Guests must remain in their cars during the opera and wear a mask when leaving to visit concessions or restrooms.

Press Release | Official Site