Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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Reviews of San Francisco Opera’s Andrea Chénier (Act II pictured left with Yonghoon Lee in the title role, photograph by Cory Weaver) are mixed so far.
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Charles Workman (pictured left) replaces Scott Quinn as Albert Gregor in San Francisco Opera's The Makropulos Case, which opens October 14, 2016. Tenor Vincenzo Costanzo will make his United States opera debut as Lt. B. F. Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly replacing Maxim Aksenov. Butterfly opens November 6, 2016. Both Quinn and Aksenov are withdrawing for personal reasons.
The Makropulos Case | Madama Butterfly | San Francisco Opera Press Release
* Notes *
My review of Opera San José's Lucia di Lammermoor is up on San Francisco Classical Voice.
* Tattling *
There were a ton of cellular phone rings and watch alarms at the Sunday matinée performance on September 18.
* Notes *
Opera San José's latest season started with a solid production of Lucia di Lammermoor last weekend. The cast, especially Lucia (Sylvia Lee as Lucia pictured left; photograph by Pat Kirk), was very strong and the orchestra sounded fine.
Ms. Lee has just started in Opera San José's resident company, and based on her performance Sunday afternoon, she is a welcome addition. Her voice isn't huge, but is bright enough to cut through the orchestra, and is consistent throughout her range. Her mad scene was completely convincing and it was remarkable how frightening she was, even though she is a tiny woman.
Resident tenor Kirk Dougherty sounded perfectly nice as Edgardo, though it does always look like he is putting in a lot of effort. His final aria was good, and it really was terrible that someone's cellular phone rang during a quiet part of the piece. Baritone Matthew Hanscom likewise performed well, and is suited to the big brother role of Enrico, it seemed more natural to him than some of the others he's had in recent memory.
In the smaller parts, tenor Michael Mendelsohn (Arturo) stood out as a scene stealer in Act II Scene 2. He was very funny, which isn't the usual way the character is handled but it worked anyway. Bass Colin Ramsey was a reedy Raimondo, while Anna Yelizarova (Alisa) and Yungbae Yang (Normanno) rounded out the cast with sympathetic ease.
Ming Luke kept the orchestra together, his tempi were appropriate and the woodwinds sounded especially pretty. The chorus also was fairly synchronized and cohesive.
There was very little surprising about Benjamin Spierman's production besides the comic Arturo and the fact that it was difficult to keep sharp objects away from Lucia. She kept grabbing knives and swords, menacing men much larger than herself.
Tattling *
There was a hearing aid that was quite noisy during the whole performance.
Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang's Dream of the Red Chamber had a world premiere at San Francisco Opera on Saturday night. The music was upstaged by the breathtaking stagecraft (pictured in Act I, photograph by Cory Weaver), and marred by an ungainly libretto.
Based on the Qing Dynasty epic by Cao Xueqin, frame story concerns a stone and a flower asking to be reincarnated as humans, the stone becomes Bao Yu, male heir of the Jia family, and the flower becomes Dai Yu, his cousin. The opera must condense the 2,000 page novel into less than three hours, and thus the plot is stripped down to essentials, a love triangle between Bao Yu, delicate and artistic Dai Yu, and worldly beauty Bao Chai with the backdrop of court intrigue and aristocratic life.
This is a perfect scenario for opera, and the art direction from Tim Yip is spot on. His sets are light and dreamy, easily changing scenes with the use of platforms, screens, projections, and layers and layers of ornate fabric. Director Stan Lai uses all these elements to stunning effect and the theater of the piece comes out very clearly in the visual aspect, especially in Dai Yu's last scene, which includes the very simple use of blue cloth to represent water, but is both incredibly beautiful and moving.
Sheng's music isn't bad, there's some interesting chromaticism, bending of notes, and percussion, some soaring lyricism that eschews blatant sentimentality. The only additions to a pretty standard orchestra are in the percussion (if you are going to use a gong, this is the right place) and the qin, a seven stringed plucked instrument that is similar to a very quiet guitar. The qin, played by Zhao Yi, had to be amplified, which was done tastefully and well. The orchestra, conducted by George Manahan, sounded clear and together.
The weak link, as with many contemporary operas, is the libretto, co-written by the composer and famed playwright Hwang. Performed in English to make the story more immediate to the San Francisco audience, the words could be painfully awkward, as in Act I, Scene 4, after a gorgeous ballet dream sequence. There was too much telling rather than showing, we don't need to hear Bao Yu sing that "aroused" by his erotic dream, it should be apparent in the music. There were definitely moments when I tried to focus on the action and the singing rather than the words. On the other hand, the framing of the story with a narrator, in this case a monk played by actor Randall Nakano, was poignant.
On the other hand, the singing was fantastic. Soprano Pureum Jo has an ideal voice for Dai Yu, and sounded utterly ethereal. Tenor Yijie Shi was plaintive and bright as Bao Yu. Mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts (Bao Chai) radiated sophistication and touching vulnerability, while mezzo Hyona Kim (Lady Wang) sang with rich power and clarity.
The cast has many high principal voices, so it was nice to hear the fine chorus, which is prominent in the piece.
* Tattling *
While there were only six people in the standing room line by 10am, there were quite a few more people when we lined up to get in at 6:20pm, as there were no tickets for seats left.
Many audience members wore Chinese-themed clothing to the performance, and red silk brocade seemed most popular.
* Notes *
The 94th season of San Francisco Opera opened last night with Andrea Chénier, Umberto Giordano’s concise verismo piece about the poet killed in the French Revolution. The opera has a number of gorgeous arias, and the cast assembled (pictured in Act I, photograph by Cory Weaver) was certainly up to the task.
Especially impressive were the titular character and his beloved, both debuts at San Francisco Opera. Tenor Yonghoon Lee is a dapper Chenier and has an expansive, bright sound. His “Un dì all’azzurro spazio” in Act I was showed much promise, and he really did soar with his Act IV aria ” Come un bel dì di maggio.” Vocally, soprano Anna Pirozzi (Maddalena) matched Lee, her voice is clear and flexible. Her high notes do not have the slightest hint of strain. Pirozzi’s “La mamma morta” in Act III was a show stopper, incredibly wrenching and lovely.
Top to bottom, the cast was strong. Other notable debuts on the War Memorial stage included baritone George Gagnidze as Carlo Gérard, a former servant and revolutionary leader, who of course loves Maddalena, and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as Bersi, Maddalena’s mulatto servant girl. Gagnidze gave a nuanced turn as the conflicted Gérard while Bridges sang with much power.
The lucid orchestra, conducted by Maestro Nicola Luisotti, was supportive of the singing, and only rarely got ahead. The volume of the musicians never overwhelmed the singers. The chorus was together and sturdy.
David McVicar’s production is straightforward. The sets, from Robert Jones, are attractive but sadly take quite a long time to change. Jenny Tiramani’s costumes are very pretty.
* Tattling *
There was no one in the standing room line besides myself until after 9am.
We heard from San Francisco Opera’s new General Director for his first opening night in the role. The Chairman of Board of Directors seemed to have momentarily forgotten the Music Director’s name. Again, the audience was restrained this year, and cheered Nancy Pelosi when she was acknowledged.
* Notes *
My Fall guide of performing arts for children in the Bay Area is up on KQED Arts.
* Tattling *
My son (pictured with San Francisco Opera's Magic Flute shirt and Fafner stuffed animal, photograph by Scott Grieder) really won't stop listening to Cecilia Bartoli's Mozart Arias CD from 1991. It might be an improvement to his obsession with the second act of Philip Glass' Satyagraha. He really did hear seven Wagner operas in nine days at Bayreuth in utero. Plus Einstein on the Beach at Los Angeles Opera. Poor thing!
* Notes *
My preview of San Francisco Opera's Dream of the Red Chamber up on KQED Arts. The opera, by Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang, premieres on Saturday.
* Tattling *
Co-chairwoman of the committee for the world premiere Doreen Woo Ho (pictured left at a press event with designer Tim Yip, General Director of SF Opera Matthew Shilvock, composer Bright Sheng, and director Stan Lai) hopes the opera will be as big as Hamilton. Sheng joked that he has a long way to go before he is Verdi, given that this is only his second full-length opera.
THE DO LIST
By Charlise Tiee Sept 8, 2016 | Updated Jan 11, 2024
Tim Yip, Bright Sheng and Stan Lai: Three of the key creatives behind SF Opera’s new world premiere ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ (Photo: Scott Wall)
Why has Asia — and China in particular — held such a fascination for western opera composers and companies? The “Exotic East” is the backdrop for many classic operas, from Vivaldi’s obscure Teuzzone of 1719 to Puccini’s famous Turandot that premiered in 1926, each featuring complicated love plots set in the Chinese court.
China continues to provide a framework for contemporary American operas. We’ve seen a rash of them over the past decade, including recent revivals of John Adams’ Nixon in China in San Francisco, New York, and San Diego, and the world premieres of several Chinese-themed works, such as Tan Dun’s First Emperor (2006) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Zhou Long’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Madame White Snake of 2010 at the defunct Opera Boston.
And now comes the latest world premiere from San Francisco Opera (SF Opera) — Dream of the Red Chamber. The work, sung in English with Chinese supertitles and based on an epic 18th century novel by Cao Xueqin, tells the story of a courtly love triangle between an aristocratic young man and two very different women against the backdrop of a crumbling dynasty.
Dream is SF Opera’s second Chinese-themed world premiere in less than a decade. The first, in 2008, was Bonesetter’s Daughter, based on Amy Tan’s bestselling novel of the same name and composed by Stewart Wallace. “The Chinese-inspired works in recent years speak in part to the rich literary and cultural heritage of China,” says SF Opera’s general director Matthew Shilvock of the trend among major American opera companies for chinoiserie. “Stories like Dream of the Red Chamber are incredible epics of humanity that speak to us with the power of the Norse legends behind Wagner’s Ring, and the European literary traditions of authors from Euripides to Victor Hugo and beyond.”
But “great stories” are only part of the equation. The company’s programming choices are also being driven by commercial considerations. Bonesetter’s Daughter attracted near-capacity audiences throughout its run, so it’s no surprise that the company is looking to replicate and extend its box office mojo with Dream, particularly among the growing Asian opera audience, half of which identify as Chinese. Over the past couple of years, SF Opera has seen the size of that audience grow, from 11% to 12.5%.
Strong talent pipeline
An important part of capturing those potential new customers means highlighting actual Asian talent. This, as opposed to putting a bunch of white performers in “yellowface” in works written, staged and designed by predominantly or entirely caucasian creative teams, as has been overwhelmingly the case throughout opera history. “Asian Americans are very used to seeing white people cast in Asian and Asian American roles,” says Rachel Lem, a board member for The Bravo! Club, SF Opera’s young people’s association. “Not only does this decrease opportunities for people of color, it also tends to result in offensive yellowface. I hesitate to attend productions of Madama Butterfly or The Mikado, as I don’t wish to sit through hours of white actors in “Asian” makeup and wigs.”
That’s why SF Opera has assembled a star-studded Asian production crew and cast for this project — albeit one that extends beyond China: The man behind the music is acclaimed Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng; Tony Award-winning dramatist David Henry Hwang co-wrote the libretto with the composer; sets and costumes are the handiwork of Tim Yip, who designed the hit movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; and Stan Lai, a world-class Taiwanese director, is staging the show.
The work also gives SF Opera the opportunity to hire Asian opera singers. Key performers in Dream include Korean soprano Pureum Jo, a Juilliard and Houston Grand Opera alum, and Chinese tenor Yijie Shi, who has sung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Thankfully the pipeline of singers is particularly strong these days — though American companies tend to cast a sweeping net that encompasses performers from many different Asian ethnicities when it comes to hiring singers for specifically Chinese-themed operas. “In the last 15 years, there has been an incredible increase in the number of Asian singers participating in U.S. training programs and appearing on US stages,” Shilvock says. “It used to be the case that Asian artists would first come to a U.S. master’s or doctoral program. Now we are inviting a number of singers each year into our programs directly from Asia as operatic performances, teaching and activity has seen a huge increase, particularly in China.”
Fertile ground for cross-pollination
It’s not just opera education that’s blossoming in China. “What is exciting at the moment is the huge growth of operatic activity within China,” Shilvock says. “The building of so many incredible opera houses and the development of a rich tradition of performance that integrates western repertoire with Chinese opera.”
Western operas have long had a following among Chinese audiences, a trend that began with European opera troupes that visited Shanghai back in the late 1800s. In recent years, opera houses designed by internationally renowned architects have been springing up in many major Chinese cities, such as the Guangzhou Opera House, designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, and the Harbin Opera House, designed by the Beijing-headquartered firm, MAD Studio. And the appetite for European warhorses abounds in these venues; the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing regularly schedules works by the likes of Bizet, Verdi, and Wagner.
With all of this activity, a certain amount of cross-pollination is natural — and operas that attempt to fuse eastern and western traditions aren’t only being seen on U.S. stages. The Chinese began writing their own hybrid western-style operas as early as 1940s with Yan Jinxuan’s The White Haired Girl. And Chinese-American pieces have been known to cross the Pacific, like Zhou Long’s English-language Madame White Snake, which was performed in Beijing after its run in Boston. That opera, based on an ancient folktale, has even outlived its opera company, and returns to Boston this weekend in a run at Emerson College.
Dream itself is going on to a staging at the 45th annual Hong Kong Arts Festival next year and is being translated into mandarin to ready it for further international exposure beyond 2017. This is an accomplishment for any new opera, since it’s always a challenge for a contemporary work to receive additional productions after its world premiere. And it’s big win for SF Opera, which has put on eight new operas in the last decade, but only this one and Philip Glass’ Appomattox have so far gone on to the possibility of a second life after its world premiere.
It’s notable that Dream is having its Asian premiere next year in Hong Kong alongside famed Czech composer Leos Janáček’s The Makropulos Case. That work, a staple of western opera houses, is only now being seen by audiences on the other side of the Pacific — nearly a century since it made its debut in Brno in what is now the Czech Republic. That it will only take Dreamsix months to travel from San Francisco to Hong Kong speaks to how much this classic story resonates with Chinese audiences as well as the international bankability of the production team.
San Francisco audiences are equally excited about Dream. “It is such a significant work of world literature and they are terrific artists” says Wei Ming Dariotis, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University. “Chinese American culture is part of our heritage and a rich source of inspiration.”
San Francisco Opera’s Dream of the Red Chamber plays Saturday, Sep.10 – Thursday, Sep. 29 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.
This article was originally published on https://www.kqed.org/arts/12036897/whats-behind-sf-operas-chinese-opera-kick
ARTS & CULTURE
By Charlise Tiee Sept 8, 2016 | Updated Sept 19, 2024
Opera Parallèle’s Hands-on-Opera program works with elementary schools to produce children’s operas. In 2013, Opera Parallèle’s Hands-on-Opera program produced ‘The Spider’s Revenge’ with Daniel Webster Elementary. (Photo: Courtesy of Opera Parallèle)
A few weeks ago my 2-and-a-half-year-old son asked to go to the opera, and he’s repeated that every couple of days since then. To me, it’s a sign that all that prenatal Wagner (7 operas in 9 days) affected him, and I needed to support this interest in a medium I love. Doing a little research, I found that the San Francisco Operaoffers programming for 3 to 5 year olds, gave a Magic Flute workshop back in March, and plans to do the same with Hansel and Gretel and The Little Prince in the coming months.
I also found plenty of other events that will satisfy any child bit by the theater/Opera bug, and here are seven that are sure to please.
This acrobatic troupe makes stops at UC Berkeley and Sonoma State as part of a US tour. Featuring more than a hundred performers, this two-hour spectacle is sure to be colorful and includes aerial silks, unicyclists, hoop-diving and juggling. Considered “For Families” by Cal Performances, tickets are half price for those 16-and-under. Children 2 and under do not require a ticket at Green Music Center but must sit on the lap of an adult.
This free annual event is part of San Francisco Opera’s opening festivities, so it’s very likely you’ll hear some of the stars in Andrea Chénier and Dream of the Red Chamber sing arias in a relaxed setting. The performance begins at a nap unfriendly time, but you can always show up in the morning around 10am and hear the rehearsal. If your kid ends up hating opera music, you can easily retreat to the nearby Children’s Quarter, one of the nicest playgrounds in the city.
Bay Area Children’s Theater (BACT) presents Seussical, a musical based on various stories by Dr. Seuss, hosted by none other than The Cat in the Hat. Featuring characters from Horton Hears a Who!, Horton Hatches the Egg, and Miss Gertrude McFuzz, this colorful work comes from Tony-winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. BACT opted for the young audiences version of the piece, which runs 75 minutes — perfect for kids 3 and up.
Stanford Live celebrates its 125th anniversary with an all ages open house of live performance. Featured acts include electric harp, percussion, and cello trio StringQuake, African-themed performing arts group Oriki Theater, and Cardinal Calypso, Stanford’s steel pan band. The afternoon also includes audience participation and crafts.
Cal Performances presents LA Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra conducted by superstar Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. The 80 young musicians range from 12 to 18 years old, and come from underserved communities throughout Los Angeles. Playing works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Bernstein, and John Williams, the general admission tickets for the 45 minute event are only $5.
This annual family-friendly event celebrates Latino culture with live music, dancing, and crafts in the lobby of Davies an hour before a concert on the stage. Featured artists include bands La Santa Cecilia and Mariachi Flor de Toloache, theater group Círculo Cultural, and the Women of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Adult tickets start at $20 and tickets for kids (recommended for those 7 and up) are half price.
Opera Parallèle (OP) is partnering with Alvarado Elementary School’s 3rd grade Spanish immersion program to bring Xochitl and the Flowers by composer Christopher Pratoriusto life. Based on Jorge Argueta‘s bilingual book of the same name, with a libretto by Roma Olvera, the story is based on real events in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, focusing on the Salvadoran immigrant experience. This fourth foray into children’s opera for the fearless opera company follows last year’s Amazing Grace, which featured a children’s chorus made of 4th and 5th grade students from St. Martin de Porres Catholic School.
This article was originally published as part of the ARTS FALL PREVIEW on https://www.kqed.org/arts/11972383/curtain-call-for-screens-7-kid-friendly-theater-events
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