* Notes *Hearing Saariaho's Innocence a second time at San Francisco Opera is most gratifying. The music is richly layered and the orchestra sounds great, as do the singers. The whole production is at a very high level, it was even more obvious from the orchestra level how perfectly coordinated the staging was, and how…

* Notes *Kaija Saariaho's Innocence had a U.S. premiere last night at San Francisco Opera, almost exactly a year after her death. The performance was gripping, the music, narrative, and staging all had a relentless intensity. As with Adriana Mater, the opera from Saariaho performed by San Francisco Symphony the previous June, Innocence deals with…