Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
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So far, the reviews of San Francisco Opera's Dolores Claiborne (Patricia Racette as Dolores Claiborne on the Little Tall Island ferry pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) are not impressive.
Performance Reviews: Financial Times | Los Angeles Times | New York Times | San Francisco Chronicle (Racette) | San Francisco Chronicle (Cook) | San Francisco Classical Voice | San Francisco Examiner
* Notes *
Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne (Act I Scene 3 pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) had a world premiere at San Francisco Opera on Wednesday night. The opera is compelling. The narrative, based on Stephen King’s novel, is rather dark. Picker’s music is ornate, there are many twists and turns in the musical line, and many duets, trios, and ensembles. Though the music is lyrical, it eschews sentimentality. J.D. McClatchy’s libretto is neither cloying nor awkward, and has a refreshing directness. The tiered set is cinematic, the many scenes flow easily, and though there are projections, they do not dominate the production.
George Manahan kept the orchestra together. The singers were all able to float above the sound of the orchestra. The chorus sounded characteristically good.
The opera features many female voices. Patricia Racette was fairly strong, though much of the singing seemed a bit lower in her tessitura than we are accustomed to hearing. Susannah Biller sounded clear and bright as Selena St. George. Elizabeth Futral sounded harsh and shrill as Vera Donovan, which was extremely effective for this role.
Wayne Tigges was an utterly alarming Joe St. George, his voice is pretty but his music is disquieting. Jacqueline Piccolino, Nikki Einfeld, Marina Harris, Laura Krumm, and Renée Rapier did a fine job as Vera Donovan’s other maids. Robert Watson, Hadleigh Adams, and A.J. Glueckert were amusing as Cox, Fox, and Knox.
There were some opening night difficulties, which are sure to be ironed out in the coming weeks. Some of the singing did not seem precisely together. At one point in the ferry scene (Act I Scene 5) Selena angrily asks her mother to let her go, but Racette had not yet grabbed on to Biller’s arm.
* Tattling *
There was lot of clapping between scenes, even if music was clearly still being played.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was Mr. Picker’s guest. Her security detail sat at the very back of the orchestra level and the railing behind them was cordoned off from standees.
* Notes *
The final dress rehearsal of San Francisco Opera‘s Dolores Claiborne (Patricia Racette as Dolores Claiborne pictured left, photograph by Scott Wall) was held this afternoon at the War Memorial Opera House. The pacing of Tobias Picker’s music is good, the drama does not lag, and J.D. McClatchy’s libretto is much less clumsy than other recent contemporary commissions by San Francisco Opera. The orchestra sounds fine, as do the singers. The staging is particularly impressive as well. Catherine Cook sang the title role, while Patricia Racette did all of the acting on stage. This was a little surreal, especially when the assistant stage director was visible, carefully watching Racette’s every move and giving her notes.
* Tattling *
Arriving two hours before curtain was overkill and I was alone by the north doors for a very long time.
San Francisco Opera has some new staff members, including Human Resources Director Randy Kyle, Chief Information Officer Jarrod Bell, Technical Director Erik Walstad, Resident Lighting Designer Gary Marder, and Assistant Technical Director Ryan O’Steen.
* Notes *
Robert Carsen’s 1989 production of Mefistofele (Act II pictured left with Ildar Abdrazakov as Mefistofele and the San Francisco Opera Chorus, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened the 91st season of San Francisco Opera last night. The opera is rather droll, and Carsen’s treatment is bursting with color and activity. The scenes do not flow nicely into each other, and the curtain is brought down for several uncomfortable pauses as the set is rearranged. This encourages restlessness, and Music Director Nicola Luisotti was visibly and vocally annoyed at one point, as the audience was not quiet enough to begin Act III.
Luisotti conducted a bright and vibrant orchestra. The brass was clear save for perhaps one stray note in Act I Scene 1. The two harps were played beautifully. In the beginning the chorus was occasionally off from the orchestra, but sounded more cohesive as the performance progressed.
Patricia Racette sounded as robust as ever as Margherita and Elena. At times her wobbling is pronounced, but this is effective in Act III, when the imprisoned Margherita dies. Her duet as Elena with Pantalis (Renée Rapier) was lovely. In contrast, Ramón Vargas (Faust) was sounding particularly thin and reedy. This was especially noticeable in his first scene with Chuanyue Wang as Wagner, as Wang has a fresh, rich sound. Ildar Abdrazakov is a convincing Mefistofele, his physicality is appropriate for the role. His singing is perfectly fine with some warmth and good volume, but his voice is not exceptionally impressive.
* Tattling *
As is customary for Opening Night, the proceedings started a bit late and began with a slightly less awkward than usual welcome from the General Director, President, and Chairman of the Board. Photographs were taken during the performance, and there were the usual talking and electronic disturbances.
Lotfi Mansouri, San Francisco Opera’s fourth general director and a leading opera stage director, has passed away after a brief illness with pancreatic cancer at his San Francisco home. Mansouri made his San Francisco Opera debut in the 1963 season directing productions of Dialogues des Carmélites, Die Walküre, La Sonnambula, La Traviata, Mefistofele, and Samson et Dalila. He directed more than seventy-five productions with the Company. Mansouri was General Director of San Francisco Opera from 1988 until 2001.
Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick has withdrawn from the world premiere Dolores Claiborne, which opens on September 18, 2013 at San Francisco Opera. Zajick found the title-role of this new opera too challenging given her ongoing knee problems. Patricia Racette is to sing the first four performances of the opera instead, and Catherine Cook will sing the final two performances.
* Notes *
The second cycle of the Frank Castorf’s new Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth ended with Götterdämmerung on Monday. The proceedings were somewhat less nonsensical than the Siegfried, at least there were no gunshots interrupting the music. The turning set included döner kabob and produce stands, two different sets of stairs, a neon sign for “Plaste und Elaste Werk in Schokpau,” and a classical building wrapped up by a very large sheet, which turns out to be the New York Stock Exchange. With so many different venues, one would think it would be possible to knock out the five scenes in the first third of the piece, yet somehow Castorf proves incompetent, and has to bring down the curtain before the Waltraute’s appearance. At least Act I Scene 3 has the sisters singing to one another and acting as human sisters would.
Unfortunately, this does not hold for much of the rest of the staging. A pram filled with potatoes is thrown down a flight of stairs, creating a great deal of noise for no real dramatic reason. The long-suffering supernumerary who has played shopkeeper, bear, and waiter throughout the four operas is punched in the nose early in the Götterdämmerung, appears in a bridal veil and heels in the potato pram scene, and is later run over by the Rheintöchter. The various video clips shown are simply distracting, and after enduring so many hours of this production, I gave up trying to make sense of what was being shown on the screens and stopped looking at them.
Thankfully, Kirill Petrenko conducted a vibrant and buoyant orchestra. Again, the harps sound wonderful, as do the low strings. The principal horn did not sound confident, but the trumpets played remarkably well. The clarity of the orchestra supported the singers and did not overwhelm them. The chorus was also brilliant, the members singing with each other as if they were one being.
Of the three Norns, Christiane Kohl (Third Norn) was weakest, her voice is not adequately supported. Okka von der Damerau was strong as both First Norn and Floßhilde. Claudia Mahnke sounded beautifully legato as both Second Norn and Waltraute. Mirella Hagen (Woglinde) and Julia Rutigliano (Wellgunde) were lovely. Allison Oakes made for a pretty Gutrun and Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester was a fine Gunther. Martin Winkler made for a powerful Alberich. Attila Jun was brash as Hagen. Lance Ryan’s Siegfried again was inconsistent. Sometimes he sounded perfectly good, and other times it was as if he were yodeling. Catherine Foster has nice high notes as Brünnhilde, but her lower range is less resonant.
* Tattling *
The man to my right rolled up the legs of his tuxedo, as it was a bit warm in the house. He fell asleep a few times during Act I. There was some booing at the very end of the ovation, presumably for the production.
* Notes *
The Adler Fellows for 2014 will not be announced for a few months, but Merola just ended, so one may as well speculate on which artists (pictured left in the 2013 Grand Finale, photograph by Kristen Loken) will return to San Francisco. Robert Mollicone will have completed two years as an Adler, so we will get a new collaborative pianist. As for singers, the outgoing Adlers are soprano Marina Harris; mezzo-sopranos Laura Krumm and Renée Rapier; and baritones Joo Won Kang and Ao Li.
This year there were many fine mezzos and tenors. Certainly mezzo-soprano Zanda Švēde was most impressive. Tenors Pene Pati and Issachah Savage are both marvelous. For sopranos, of course Jacqueline Piccolino will be an Adler next year, as she already filled in for Jennifer Cherest this summer. As for another choice, perhaps soprano Maria Valdes or soprano Aviva Fortunata. Valdes is very light, and Fortunata might use a bit more control.
* Tattler Guesses *
Timothy Cheung
Jacqueline Piccolino
Maria Valdes
Zanda Švēde
Pene Pati
Issachah Savage
* Notes *
A second performance of the new Siegfried at Bayreuth was held on Saturday. It seems that Frank Castorf put more time into this opera than the previous two of Der Ring des Nibulungen, and the results are unfortunate. The action is set at Bahnhof Alexanderplatz in Berlin and an alternate version of Mount Rushmore with depictions of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. These settings are very specific, so using them to represent different scenes is problematic. On the positive side, the projections are fairly subdued. Showing backstage before Erda’s entrance is engaging and less irrelevant than much of what we have seen in previously.
None of the characters seem to act in human ways, their movements are rarely motivated by anything in the libretto or on the stage. More than one of the singers climbs the stage right stairs to touch Marx’s mustache. The staging is also very noisy, Siegfried throws lawn furniture and books, Mime cuts carrots as loudly as possible. The worst part is when Siegfried shoots Fafner with a machine gun. This Siegfried is a brutish, violent lout, so it is hard to see why the showgirl Waldvogel is so taken with him, much less Brünnhilde.
Kirill Petrenko continues to conduct the orchestra with a translucency and lightness. The harps sound particularly gorgeous. The horn solo in Act II was strangely vulnerable. The balance between orchestra and singers remained fine.
Mirella Hagen is a charming Waldvogel, gamely flitting about the stage in her clumsily enormous costume. Her voice is markedly bird-like. She is inexplicably eaten by a crocodile at the end of the opera. Nadine Weissmann (Erda) sounded unearthly. Sorin Coliban threatened as Fafner. Martin Winkler’s Alberich has a differentiated sound from Wolfgang Koch’s Der Wanderer. Koch sang with mastery and beauty. Burkhard Ulrich sounded bright as Mime, his German was particularly easy to understand. As Brünnhilde, Catherine Foster floated her opening notes hailing the sun, light, and day. Lance Ryan (Siegfried) was inconsistent and not terribly secure. He did sing the line “So starb meine Mutter an mir?” with particular tenderness.
* Tattling *
There was strong booing for the production at the end of each act and when the principals took a bow on the set after the opera.
The Opera Tattler 
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