Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Cinemark Century 16 Cedar Hills Crossing
3200 SW Hocken Avenue
Beaverton, OR 97005
Regal Old Mill 16
680 SW Powerhouse Drive
Bend, OR 97702
Cinemark Tinseltown USA
651 Medford Center
Medford, OR 97501
Regal Lloyd Center 10 Cinema
1510 NE Multnomah Street
Portland, OR 97232
Cinemark 17
2900 Gateway
Springfield, OR 97477
* Notes *
Yesterday Michael Tilson Thomas conducted San Francisco Symphony in a program of Knussen's Symphony No. 3, Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder, Barber's Andromache's Farewell, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4. Soprano Deborah Voigt returned to San Francisco Symphony as the soloist for the Strauss and Barber, a performance she will reprise with MTT at Carnegie Hall in March.
These performances mark a premiere of Oliver Knussen's Symphony No. 3, Opus 18 at San Francisco Symphony. The piece, inspired by Ophelia from Hamlet, is quite short, only about 15 minutes long. The work has a strong percussive element, as the orchestration requires 28 percussion instruments divided among six musicians. The woodwinds and brass seemed to come out more than the strings, the overall effect was eerily metallic. The flutes parts were particularly disturbing, and I had a visceral reaction, it pained my intestines.
The Last Four Songs of Richard Strauss were written between 1946 and 1948. The first by composition, "Der Abendrot," is set to a poem by Joseph Eichendorff, and the three others are poems by Hermann Hesse. The music is lush and rather romantic, somewhat melancholic at first but ultimately tranquil. Deborah Voigt sounded tentative in "Frühling," but sang the other three songs wonderfully. Some of the syllables at ends of phrases were lost, I could barely hear the "Ruh" in "September" or the end of the word "verirren" in "Im Abendrot." Otherwise, Ms. Voigt's diction was clear, she pronounced the German accurately. She has fine control of her vibrato and her breathing and was not shrill in the least. As for the orchestra, the violin solos were strong, as were the piccolos in "Im Abendrot." My favorite moment was in "September" when Voigt's voice dissolved into the horn solo.
Samuel Barber's Andromache's Farewell had its first performance at SF Symphony last night as well. The text is John Patrick Creagh's translation of The Trojan Women. In the play, Talthybius has come to tell Andromache that her son, Astyanax, is to be thrown from the walls of Troy by the Greeks. Barber's piece is Andromache's farewell to her son. The subject appeals to me, but the music, sadly, did not. Voigt sang well, and her diction was quite clear in English.
The evening ended with a vivacious performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Opus 60.
* Tattling *
The performance was not full, and the audience was well-behaved, no watch alarms or cell phones went off. Some young ladies came in at the last second for the Knussen, in the middle of the First Tier. They did not seem to enjoy the music, and one of them aggressively turned the pages of her program. They whispered, but were not audible. They left after the piece, not waiting to hear Deborah Voigt at all.
The lights did not come up in time for the beginning of the Strauss, even though the poems and translations were printed in the program. Someone rustled a plastic bag during the words "Falling! Falling!" in Andromache. There was some muttering during the Barber, but most were silent for Beethoven, except for when MTT hopped off his podium during the 3rd movement, which made some laugh.
Michael Tilson Thomas had a question and answer segment after the performance. It was easy to hear why he has his own radio show, he is entertaining, saying that most conductors were "control freaks" and explaining his style was more like a director of actors. He considers music a wrestling match between instinct and intelligence. Amusingly, he also compared himself to the catcher in a flying trapeze act and mentioned that Wagner should not have written his own words.
Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles had its Sri Lankan premiere yesterday at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo. Benjamin Levy conducted Patricia Panton's production. The opera will be performed again tomorrow.
It is a bit odd that there are no locations in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, or Imperial counties. I suppose for Santa Barbara, Ventura is only about half an hour away. But El Centro (the county seat of Imperial County) is 114 miles from San Diego. If one lives in San Luis Obispo one could go all the way to Bakersfield (122.2 miles, 2 hours 37 minutes) or Ventura (132.8 miles, 2 hours 48 minutes). Since most of the performances start at 10 in the morning, it means one would have to be up somewhat early for a Saturday.
Ventura County:
Cinemark Century Stadium 16
2875 Elba Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Los Angeles County:
Regal Edwards Renaissance Stadium 14
One East Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
AMC Burbank 16
125 East Palm Ave
Burbank, CA 91502
National Amusements The Bridge
6081 Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045
The Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre
3507 Trousdale Pkwy.
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cinemark 22
2600 West Avenue I
Lancaster, CA 93534
Cinemark Antelope Valley Mall
1475 West Avenue P
Palmdale, CA 93551
Regal Edwards Valencia 12
24435 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
AMC Promenade 16
21801 Oxnard Street
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
San Bernardino County:
AMC Ontario Mills 30
4549 Mills Circle
Ontario, CA 91764
Cinemark 16 Victorville
14470 Bear Valley Road
Victorville, CA 92392
Orange County:
Cinemark Century 20 Bella Terra in Huntington Beach
7777 Edinger Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Regal Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 & IMAX
65 Fortune Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Cinemark Century Stadium 25
1701 W. Katella Avenue
Orange, CA 92868
AMC 30 at The Block
20 City Blvd. West, Bldg. E
Orange, CA 91764
Riverside County:
Cinemark Century Theatres at The River
71800 Highway 111
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
San Diego County:
AMC La Jolla Village 12
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
Regal UA Horton Plaza 14
475 Horton Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101
Regal Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 & IMAX
10733 Westview Parkway
San Diego, CA 92126
AMC Mission Valley 20
1640 Camino Del Rio, North
San Diego, CA 92108
There are a mere nine locations for those who live in the Central Valley of California to watch and hear the Met Opera – Live in HD performances. The Sacramento Metropolitan area is well covered, which makes sense given that it is the most highly populated in the Central Valley. Fresno and Bakersfield have one theater each, and Stockton and Modesto are reasonably close to Tracy, which is a rather smaller city than either of those two. But if one happens to live in Visalia, the nearest location is 45.78 miles north in Fresno. The nearest location to Merced is also Fresno, 49.41 miles south.
North Sacramento Valley:
Cinemark Chico
801 East Avenue
Chico, CA 95926
Cinemark Movies 10
980 Old Alturas Road
Redding, CA 96003
Sacramento Metro:
Cinemark Roseville 14
1555 Eureka Road
Roseville, CA 95661
Cinemark Downtown Plaza
445 Downtown Plaza
Sacramento, CA 95814
Regal Natomas Marketplace Stadium 16
3561 Truxel Road
Sacramento, CA 95834
Cinemark Sacramento Stadium 14
1590 Ethan Way
Sacramento, CA 95825
North San Joaquin:
Cinemark Movies 14
3300 N. Naglee Road
Tracy, CA 95376
South San Joaquin:
Regal Bakersfield Stadium 14
9000 Ming Avenue, Suite G
Bakersfield, CA 93307
Regal Fresno Stadium 22 & IMAX
250 Paseo del Centro
Fresno, CA 93720
San Francisco:
Cinemark Century San Francisco Centre 9
835 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
North Bay:
The Lark Theater
549 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939
Cinemark Century Northgate 15
7000 Northgate Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903
Rialto Cinemas Lakeside
551 Summerfield Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
The Peninsula:
Cinemark Century 20 Daly City
1901 Junipero Serra Blvd.
Daly City, CA 94015
Cinemark Century 20 Downtown Redwood City
825 Middlefield Road
Redwood City, CA 94063
Cinemark Century 12 Downtown San Mateo
320 East 2nd Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
East Bay:
Regal Hacienda Crossings Stadium 21 & IMAX
5000 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568
AMC Bay Street 16
5614 Bay Street Ste 220
Emeryville, CA 94608
Cinemark Century 16 Downtown Pleasant Hill
125 Crescent Drive
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Cinemark Century 25 Union City
32100 Union Landing
Union City, CA 94587
Cinemark Century 14 Downtown Walnut Creek
1201 Locust Street
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
South Bay:
Cinemark Century 20 Great Mall
1010 Great Mall Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
Cinemark Century Cinemas 16
1500 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Cinemark CinéArts at Santana Row
3088 Olsen Drive
San Jose, CA 95128
AMC Eastridge 15
2190 Eastridge Loop
San Jose, CA 95122
Cinemark Century 20 Oakridge
925 Blossom Hill Road
San Jose, CA 95123
Monterey:
Cinemark Century Cinemas at Del Monte Center
1700 Del Monte Center
Monterey, CA 93940
Tenor Tito Beltrán goes on trial this Friday. Interestingly this article says that the singer performs regularly at San Francisco Opera, and I don't remember him at all. As it happens, I have heard him, at one of the six performances of L'Elisir d'Amore at SF Opera in 2000, as Nemorino. He also sang seven performances in 1997 as Rodolfo in La Bohème, three performances in 1997 as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and four performances in 1999 as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor.
Ruth Nott was appointed Director of Education at San Francisco Opera. Ms. Nott is leaving her position as director of programs at the Metropolitan Opera Guild.
Press Release [PDF] | San Francisco Opera
August 2-23 2008: Aida
August 16 2008: International Wagner Competition
October 18- November 1 2008: Elektra
January 10-24 2009: Les Pêcheurs de Perles
February 21- March 7 2009: Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung
May 2-16 2009: Le Nozze di Figaro
I may avoid Aida, as Andrea Gruber is in the title role, and her vibrato is overwhelming. I am not terribly fond of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, but William Burden will sing Nadir, so I might just go, considering it is also during the San Francisco Opera hiatus. I am most interested in hearing Bluebeard's Castle, as I missed this in Los Angeles. John Relyea is singing the title role in Seattle. Mariusz Kwiecien is singing the Count in Figaro, but the rest of the cast may not be up to his level.
The Opera Tattler 
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