The Opera Tattler

William Kentridge's SIBYL at Cal Performances

* Notes * 
William Kentridge's SIBYL (scene from Part 2 pictured, photograph by Stella Olivier) had a US premiere at Cal Performances this weekend. The music composed by performer Nhlanhla Mahlangu and pianist Kyle Shephard was nothing short of mesmerizing.

The presentation started with a short 22-minute film by Kentridge entitled The Moment Has Gone with a male chorus (four singers) lead by Mahlangu and Shephard playing the piano. The work showcases charcoal drawings of Kentridge's alter ego Soho Eckstein and has many images of an art museum and of a mining area. A meditation on time, everything eventually collapses and dissolves, the artworks in the museum, various items made from what came from the mines such as a metal coffee pot, and even the museum itself. The chorus sang syllables that were certainly not English or Afrikaans, but I was not sure if these were words in Zulu or another Southern Bantu language, as my skills beyond Indo-European or Sino-Tibetan languages are sadly lacking. There were sections that were entirely clicks, and there were some beautiful and startling harmonies along with the percussiveness of the aforementioned consonants.

The second part of the performance was the chamber opera Waiting for the Sibyl, which premiered at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in 2019. Again, the music pulled everything together, Shephard played piano and nine other performers either sang or danced or both in the case of Mahlangu and Xolisile Bongwana. The six scenes reveal the story of the Cumaean Sibyl, who I remeber best from Ovid's Metamorphoses and T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, but also shows up in Virgil's Aeneid where she writes her prophecies on oak leaves and in Raphael's fresco in Santa Maria della Pace.

The action never stops, the music continues throughout the scene changes as the front curtain drops and projections continue. The work with shadows, whether made by the bodies of the dancers, by props, or by the videos, are all artful. Sometimes the shadows seemed to take on a solid quality and be three-dimensional.

It was unclear if the vocalizations were in Zulu or were based on the sounds of that language, and there were no translations, but there were plenty of English words written on leaves of books. There was much leaf imagery, books and trees. The some of the sayings were more serious than whimsical. "But no place will resist destruction," "Tie every guilt to your ankle," and "I no longer believe what I once believed" all were dark, though "Resist the third cup of coffee/ the third martini" and the like definitely garnered laughs. The vibrancy of this work that deals with mortality and futility is both very jarring and beautiful.

* Tattling * 
There was not much electronic noise, perhaps it was drowned out by the performance, but it was really nice to be able to focus in on this music. There was some light talking, which I totally did not understand as the performance clock in just over an hour total plus the 20-minute intermission, and there was always so much going on whether it was visual or aural.

William Kentridge's Ursonate at Cal Performances

* Notes * 
William Kentridge performed the Dadaist sound poem Ursonate (ovation pictured) at Cal Performances last Friday in Berkeley as part of his UC Berkeley residency this school year. The piece involves Kentridge intoning Kurt Schwitters' nonsense words at a podium as images flash in the background on a large piece of paper. The effect is almost meditative, at least until Kentridge was joined by soprano Ariadne Greif, trombone player Danny Lubin-Laden, and musical saw player David Coulter toward the end of the performance.

Ursonate or "Primeval Sonata" is a poem written by the German artist Kurt Schwitter from 1922 to 1932. It has movements, as with a piece of music, and there are recurrent sound patterns such as "fümmsböwö" or "rakete." As the parent of small children, it reminded me of the insectile language in the 2016 picture book Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis. 

Kentridge's version, which premiered at the Performa 17 festival at the Harlem Parish, features his art, there are images of dancers, soldiers, and even Kentridge himself walking over a chair. There are the words of the piece projected and also the odd sayings that often appear in Kentridge's work. Most of these seem to be projected over various book pages, sometimes we see the pages of a book flipped through from cover to cover.

In the finale soprano Greif and trombonist Lubin-Laden enter from the audience, Greif seems to converse or even argue with Kentridge using the same syllables from Schwitters' libretto. The saw player Coulter enters later, from upstage, it was fun to see him play the saw with a drum stick and a bow.

* Tattling * 
The audience did not talk, but there were two ringtones noted from unsilenced mobile phones, one in the middle of the 45 minute piece that seemed based on "Bad to the Bone" and one closer to the end.

The performance was sold-out and was performed in the intimate Zellerbach Playhouse, which only has 400 seats.

Mells' Symphony No.1 in D Minor

* Notes *
One Found Sound, a musician-run orchestra without a conductor, launched its Herbert Franklin Mells Project with a premiere of his Symphony No. 1 in D minor last Saturday night at Heron Arts in San Francisco. Dr. Mells (1908-1953) was prevented from publishing his work in his lifetime, despite the fact that he received a Ph.D. in composition with a focus on orchestral music, the first black man to do so.

The piece, from 1938, is tuneful and comic. Things start off neatly with a Moderato, showing a sense of humor from the beginning. The Adagio that follows is pretty, though I was distracted a bit by the unfocused brass, the space, an art gallery, makes the instruments both very loud and diffuse. I enjoyed the amusing Scherzo, that had lots of pizzicato. The final Allegro was bright. The woodwind and string soli all were strong, I particularly liked hearing the first cello. The orchestra has a great sense of fun and playfulness. It certainly piques one's curiosity, and it's worth the effort to hear Mells' other works in the coming years.

The parts for the orchestra were put together by Dr. R. James Whipple, professor of music theory at Carnegie Mellon University and his students, and they will be published, along with recordings of this piece and future ones as part of this project.

The orchestra also played Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, which was played with both drama and urgency and Quinn Mason's Reflection On A Memorial, which was contemplative and viola-heavy, always of interest to this former violist.

The venue lent the performance a more informal and intimate feel than most classical music settings, we were on the same floor as the standing musicians, and there were almost as many people "on stage" as off. There was paper sculptures on the walls by Zai Divecha, the current exhibition at Heron Arts. One Found Sound also had projections above the orchestra and on the sides, mostly of candle flames for the Mason, and a painting of Mells for his symphony.

* Tattling *
We were encouraged to respond as moved to by Sarah Bonomo, co-founder and clarinetist of the orchestra. So laughing, clapping, taking pictures or video were all allowed.

Dr. Mells' grandson, bass-baritone Eugene Perry, was in attendance, as were other members of the family including a daughter of the composer and a granddaughter. Perry addressed the audience and gave us an introduction to the piece.

Kitka's BABA

* Notes *
Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble gave the world premiere of Karmina Šilec's opera BABA: The Life and Death of Stana (Act I pictured, photograph by Peter Ruocco) last weekend at Z Space in San Francisco. The opera is based on the lives of women who live as men after taking vows of chastity and celibacy in the Balkans, known as "sworn virgins" or virdžina in Serbo-Croatian and burrnesha in Albanian.

This tech-heavy production involved many projections and recorded sounds, but also live accordion and the human voices of the ensemble. There was much speaking and dancing as well, and it was a very full theatrical experience. I must say, I really didn't know exactly what was going on, but I couldn't look away and I certainly was not bored. I always get drawn into the complex rhythms of Balkan music and the interesting sliding notes and harmonizations.

The piece is rather abstract, there isn't really a narrative, but we hear a lot about Stana Cerović, one of the last known "sworn virgins" of Montenegro. The opera begins with Kelly Atkins enunciating many sentences about Cerović at different points of his biography, alternating pronouns and jumping around in time. An example would be something like "Stana is 45 and says he is happy." We do get to hear some startling singing, the various vocal techniques from these talented performers could be both ethereal and disturbing.

There were snippets of stories, Act I has a disquieting depiction of a woman giving birth to triplets outside in the cold as to not wake the rest of the household. One of the babies, a girl, is snatched away by a dog. When told about this, the husband of the woman is heartless, misogyny on full display, unconcerned by the loss. There's also a whole scene that involves Stana training to be a man with Erin Lashnits Herman undressing, binding her breasts, and putting on a suit. She later dresses Maclovia Quintana as a bride and they end the act by playing a game of calling out body parts and doing choreography based on this.

The second half (pictured, photograph by Peter Ruocco) was shorter, and had ten white skirts standing up by themselves on the stage that were projected on and anchored the choreography. Again, much of the focus was on Stana, but were heard a bit about other "sworn virgins," or at least, explore some imagined stories about them. At the end we hear one last song from Herzegovina, "Otkad, seke nismo zapjevale," the only one not in English as sentences flash on a screen above.

Tattling *
For the most part it seemed that the audience was very engaged in the piece, nearly every seat looked taken. There was not much whispering and the only electronic noise I heard was from a person on the aisle of the right section taking pictures of the skirts in Act II as the music was happening.

They did open the house rather close to curtain, and since there was not assigned seating, only general and premium sections, there was a lot of confusion on which seats were free or not. It was a bit of a mad rush, but everyone did get seated and things only went over the billed 2 hours and 15 minutes by another 15 minutes.

LA Opera's Le nozze di Figaro

* Notes * 
Los Angeles Opera is nearly done with a run of a new Le nozze di Figaro, with a final performance this Sunday. The charming co-production with Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra national de Lorraine, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Opéra de Lausanne features a ladder into the orchestra pit and ramps on either side of the stage so that many entrances and exits happen right next to the audience.

The staging, directed by James Gray, has a great immediacy to it, the physicality of all the singers is impressive, everyone was very believable in their roles. The singing was especially good in the ensembles and I like how distinct the voices were. Last night's performance was the first opera I've gone to outside of the Bay Area since 2019, and I questioned myself why I was there until Maestro James Conlon started up the overture. It was so lovely to hear this music played by a fine orchestra, there were some breathtaking tempi but everything seemed well in hand and controlled too.

Soprano Janai Brugger is a sweet sounding Susanna, her voice is warm and round. Her face and body are both expressive, she did a rather lot of hitting, especially of Figaro when he pretends he thinks she is the Countess. Soprano Ana María Martínez (Countess) is the perfect contrast to Brugger, with an icy, incisive tone that is unmistakable. She has the appropriate gravity for this role and while her "Dove sono" wasn't the most beautiful I've heard, it was very moving.

Bass-baritone Craig Colclough is winsome as Figaro, his voice has power and grit. His Act IV "Aprite un po' quegli occhi" was heartfelt. Baritone Lucas Meachem did well, his smooth, strong sound suited the Count and it was hilarious when he tried using a crowbar to open the Countess' closet in Act II. He looked so uncomfortable and inept, the staging was really done perfectly. I was shocked when Meachem tried to hit Cherubino with a bottle in Act IV but struck Figaro instead, shattering glass on the stage. It was funny when he gingerly threw the neck of the bottle into some plants.

Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb is a wonderfully breathless Cherubino, terribly in love with love. Chaieb has an especially good physical presence, boyishly imitating the Count and committing fully to the various sight gags she was assigned. It was amusing to see that the Barbarina here was the Cherubino up at Opera San José last fall, mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny. Her full, pretty sound is resonant, and she sang her mournful "L'ho perduta, me meschina" was touching. She didn't seem to have any problems singing the role, even though it is normally cast with a soprano.

Soprano Marie McLaughlin made for an almost over-the-top Marcellina, and got a lot of laughs, as did the flamboyant Don Basilio played by tenor Rodell Aure Rosel. He missed most of Act III, as the Count doesn't let him make an entrance at the beginning. It was a good way to make the transition to Act IV, Basilio comes back onstage and realizes the festivities are over, which gives the audience a bit of narrative to watch as the set is changed. Bass Kristinn Sigmundsson was also amusing as Dr. Bartolo.

* Tattling * 
I got an aisle seat in the first row of the Dorothy Chandler, so I was right at one of the ramps onto the stage. Everyone around me was very quiet and I did not hear any talking or electronic noise near me. I was glad that the person behind me asked if I would deal with my unruly puffer coat before the music started, it really did impinge on his personal space and I need to remember to fold it away properly next time.

Just before the second half started, a man realized he had come in the wrong door and ran up a ramp and across the stage to get to his seat. He got light applause for this feat and the staff seemed concerned he might have gone backstage.

The Met 2023-2024 Season

September 26- October 21 2023: Dead Man Walking
September 28 2023- January 26 2024: Nabucco
October 10 2023- January 13 2024: La Bohème
October 20- November 18 2023: Un Ballo in Maschera
November 3- December 2 2023: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
November 16- December 14 2023: Florencia en el Amazonas
November 30-December 23 2023: Tannhäuser
December 8-30 2023: The Magic Flute
December 31 2023- May 25 2024: Carmen
January 11- May 11 2024: Madama Butterfly
February 26- March 29 2024: La Forza del Destino
February 28- June 7 2024: Turandot
March 7-30 2024: Roméo et Juliette
March 26- April 20 2024: La Rondine
April 8- May 2 2024: Fire Shut Up in My Bones
April 23- May 17 2024: El Niño
May 5-31 2024: The Hours
May 16- June 8 2024: Orfeo ed Euridice

The Met announced the 2023-2024 season, which includes new productions of Carmen, Dead Man Walking, Florencia en el Amazonas, La Forza del Destino, El Niño, and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Press Release | Official Site

Opera San José's Falstaff

* Notes *
A 2013 production of Falstaff (Act II pictured, photograph by David Allen) set in a wine cask returned to Opera San José last weekend. There was much lovely singing and comedic physicality.

Based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes that Falstaff appears in from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, this work has a lot of fat jokes, which I found alienating.

Obviously this is because of the source material and what Arrigo Boito chose for the libretto, but the director, José Maria Condemi, seems to simply go with this without question. Falstaff is vain, gluttonous, and lustful, and not self-aware, every reference to his big belly and fatness garnered laughter in the audience, even if it was not yet sung and just in the supertitles. For me this was unsettling, are we really still in a place in the culture where it's acceptable to laugh at the shape of people's bodies? It highlighted for me how deeply entrenched anti-fatness is in our society and how old it is, even in opera, which famously features many people in larger bodies.

The production does have a lot of entertaining physical comedy, which the singers are very adept at, especially our title character, baritone Darren Drone (pictured with Chanáe Curtis as Alice Ford, photograph by David Allen). All his movements were clear and he was, indeed, very funny. He was pompous yet remained lovable. His voice has warmth and depth. Tenor Marc Molomot as Bardolfo and bass-baritone Andrew Allan Hiers as Pistola expertly played off of Drone, and all were able to nicely blend their voices together.

Contralto Megan Esther Grey was a sprightly Dame Quickly, and my curiosity was again piqued, I would love to hear her in a meatier role.  Mezzo-soprano Shanley Horvitz (Meg Page) and tenor Zhengyi Bai (Dr. Caius) supported the other voices well.

Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu was a delight as the jealous, conniving Ford, his sound rich and robust. He definitely found his match in soprano Chanáe Curtis (Alice Ford), her voice is hefty, she can reach some effortless soaring notes but sounds grounded at the same time. They were a pleasing contrast to the young lovers, tenor Jonghyun Park as Fenton and soprano Natalia Santaliz as Nannetta, whose light, bright voices are sweet and pleasant.

The set, designed by Steven C. Kemp, is charming, the round arches make it obvious that we are inside a barrel. The shorter scene changes with the curtain up between Act I Scene 1 and 2 and Act III Scenes 1 and 2 were more successful than the two longer changes with the curtain down before and in the middle of Act II. People lose interest quickly and start talking when they have nothing to watch, and often that conversation doesn't end when the music starts again.

The orchestra, lead by Maestro Joseph Marcheso, had some lucid soli in the brass and woodwind sections. The music was rollicking and fun, and seemed on the verge of spilling over into utter chaos without actually doing so.

*Tattling *
The scene change in Act II had a title that updated us on the Super Bowl, stating that the game had not yet started.

There was light talking from the audience but most egregious was a cell phone that rang in Act III, Scene 1 when Falstaff was singing. The phone rang a full three times and someone loudly protested, asking the person with the offending phone turn it off.

Opera Parallèle's Everest

* Notes *
Back in 2021, still deep in the pandemic, Opera Parallèle created an animated film version of Joby Talbot's 2015 one-act opera Everest, which was released online by Dallas Opera. The work is based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Last night an installation of this film (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) opened at Z Space in San Francisco. Billed as "an immersive experience," it certainly was a full and arresting piece of theater.

Conductor Nicole Paiement usually is the star of an Opera Parallèle production, but here the music was recorded. Director Brian Staufenbiel was at the forefront of this ambitious production, and it all felt very real despite the fact that it is not a live performance in the usual sense. Sound engineer Miles Lassi did a lot of the heavy lifting here to surround us with sound. It was very effective in creating the ambiance, I liked feeling the music in the floor, it very much felt like we were inside a world. It was much more interesting than watching at home, something that truly I could not get into, even when it was the only option for performances until pretty recently.

The set, designed by Jacquelyn Scott, is on all sides, made up of 9 projectors on various surfaces, some flat and some that look more like mountains. The audience was asked to either wear white or cover up with white ponchos, I very much enjoy a directive like this and kept thinking to myself that "I am snow!" The graphic novel aesthetic provided by illustrator Mark Simmons is pleasing, even the supertitles are done in lettering that looks like it is from a comic strip. The production makes use of motion capture to animate the faces of the singers, and this works well, though occasionally things do feel a little creepy. Sometimes the eyes are too unwavering, the lack of blinking unnerving somehow. The Projection Designer and Director of Photography David Murakami did a good job making sure everything was as seamless as possible.

The opera focuses on three climbers caught in a blizzard on Mount Everest on May 10 and 11, 1996. Joby Talbot's atmospheric and ghostly music did not make a huge impact on me, though usually I am more interested in this aspect of opera, this one very much was more about the drama of the narrative. Librettist Gene Scheer's words involved a lot of numbers, there were many references to what time of day it was exactly.

The cast has many fine singers, and that much was very evident. There is a vocal quartet that acts as a chorus on a smaller scale and includes soprano Shawnette Sulker, mezzo soprano Whitney Steele, tenor Kevin Gino, and bass Matt Boehler (who also plays guides Mike Groom and Guy Cotter). It was great to hear Charlotte Fanvu sing as the daughter of one of the climbers, as she appeared in a non-singing role in Sophia's Forest last year.

Baritone Hadleigh Adams gave a heartfelt performance as Doug Hansen, a postal worker and amateur mountain climber. Bass Kevin Burdette sang Beck Weathers, another client on this Everest expedition, with much warmth. As the expedition leader Rob Hall, tenor Nathan Granner was very sympathetic and sang well with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who played his wife Jan Arnold. Cooke's voice is beautifully clean, it isn't a surprise to learn she created this role in the 2015 live production of this opera in Dallas.

Tattling *
This performance was proceeded by Nepalese appetizers that included momo (dumplings), chow mein, and samosas. Kheer (rice pudding) was served afterwards.

There was a land acknowledgement not only to the Ramaytush Ohlone (the indigenous people of the San Francisco peninsula), but also to the Sherpa people, who are native to the Himalayas, where the opera takes place.

The audience was entirely quiet and engaged during the performance. Perhaps being part of the opera and inside of it made people behave well.

Midori at SF Performances

* Notes *
Violinist Midori (pictured, photograph by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) played a solo performance of Bach, Thierry Escaich, and Annie Gosfield at Herbst Theatre Friday night at SF Performances. She plays another program of Bach, Jessie Montgomery, and John Zorn on Sunday, and I'm horribly tempted to attend, as Midori is such a singular talent.

The evening began with Bach's Sonata No. 2 in A Minor for Unaccompanied Violin, BMV 1003, Midori seemed so vulnerable as she started with the Grave. Her playing is not flashy, very precise but still nuanced and expressive. The quiet passages of the Fuga were lovely and it was impressive how she made the violin simply sing, as if the sound was simply emanating from the instrument. The double-stops in the Andante were incredible, so smooth and effortless with nary the hint of a crunch. The Allegro was rapid without being breathless.

Next was Escaich's Nun Komm, a piece less than 5 minutes long but obviously very difficult. It sounded rather buzzy and frenetic to me, and it was dumbfounding how Midori managed to pluck and bow the violin at the same time.

The first half of the show came to an end with Bach's Sonata No. 3 in C Major for Unaccompanied Violin, BMV 1005. The contrasts in dynamics were delightful, and Adagio, Fuga, and Largo all were smooth and sedate, and the final Allegro assai felt light and effortless.

After the intermission came Gosfield's Long Waves and Random Pulses, which was very descriptive of what we heard. I found the high notes to be screechy and bone chilling, and found the slides up and down to be rather fun, as were some of the percussive bits that showed up toward the end of the piece. It had a good sense of playfulness.

Bach's Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1004 was truly wonderful. I know this piece well but in Midori's hands it was entirely engaging and fresh. She never seems to run out of bow, she's always moving and playing clearly. It was humbling to be in the presence of such mastery, and it was hard to take any notes about what was happening, I just wanted to stay in the moment of hearing Bach's music.

* Tattling *
For the most part, the audience was very attentive to the Bach. There was some sort of electronic disturbance during the first piece in the center section of the orchestra level, Row H. There was a loud bang from Row B or C during the third piece that didn't register with Midori at all, she seemed completely in her own universe. Otherwise it was mostly sniffles and coughs, people did seem restless for the contemporary pieces in particular.

SF Opera's 2023-2024 Season

September 8 2023: Opera Ball: Concert with Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, and Eun Sun Kim
September 12–October 1 2023: Il Trovatore
September 22–October 7 2023: Mason Bates' The Revolution of Steve Jobs
October 15– November 1 2023: Lohengrin
November 5–21 2023: Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels' Omar
November 19–December 9 2023: L'elisir d'amore
May 30–June 30 2024: Die Zauberflöte
June 1–21 2024: Kaija Saariaho's Innocence
June 15–28 2024: Partenope

Today General Director Matthew Shilvock announced San Francisco Opera's 101st season, which includes three contemporary operas.

Press Release | Official Site

SF Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice with Anne-Marie MacIntosh

* Notes * 
The last performance of Orfeo ed Euridice (Act III pictured, photograph by Matthew Washburn) this season at San Francisco Opera had soprano Anne-Marie MacIntosh filling in as Euridice, as Meigui Zhang was indisposed. The December 1st performance was full and standing room in the balcony was rife with latecomers who were unable to be seated for this opera held without an intermission.

I was only able to watch Ms. MacIntosh's aria, "Che fiero momento," as I could tell I would be very much annoyed by the unwitting standees and chose instead to read the score in the back for the rest of the performance. Her voice was rather distinct from Ms. Zhang's and I could absolutely tell the voices apart from the first note of the recitative at the beginning of Act III. MacIntosh's sound is sweet and warm, she definitely seemed more distressed than Zhang when asking why Orfeo won't even look at her.

Though I missed most of MacIntosh's choreography, what I did see looked fine. She seemed comfortable with the movements in her aria and it wasn't noticeable that she had stepped in at the last minute. It was not obvious to me whether or not the choreography was simplified in this case, as the more complicated dancing does not happen during her biggest moment vocally.

I heard that some of the members of the chorus also took ill, but the choral parts of the opera sounded full and together anyway. Act II was impressive, I had the music of the furies and Elysium in my ears for several days afterward. I still very much enjoyed how much soprano Nicole Heaston (Amore) conveyed in her voice, even if I couldn't see her. Jakub Józef Orliński sounded as strong as ever, if anything he is even easier to hear at the back of the house. The orchestra was also clear and the horns were especially lucid.

* Tattling * 
General Director Matthew Shilvock announced the substitution from the stage before the evening began. We started late, but even still there were dozens of latecomers who were not seated in the balcony, as there were very few free seats, unlike the Sunday, November 26th performance. I felt particularly bad for a person that had arrived early for standing room but had a young woman wedge herself between this person and her companion. I could tell that if he gave her the space she wanted, he would probably be unable to see the stage, as the views in the balcony are easily obstructed by audience members that lean forward.

The woman that took my spot at the railing occasionally would sit down next to me on the bench as I read the score. She had quite a time looking for something in her purse and spent nearly 5 whole minutes zipping and unzipping the various compartments of her bag. I had to (silently) laugh, thinking to myself that I had not seen "Zipper" in the score.

SF Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice

* Notes * 
Matthew Ozawa's beautiful new production of Orfeo ed Euridice (Act III pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera last week. I attended the second performance last night, and the debuts of Maestro Peter Whelan and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński as Orfeo were both impressive.

The musicians were laid out in quite an interesting way, with the horns next to the bassoons in the last row close to the prompter's box. The flutes and oboes were just ahead of them, and the clarinet was off to the side, where the basses usually are. Whelan's conducting was crisp but not metronomic. The woodwinds and harp were especially lovely.

The unfussy set, designed by Alexander V. Nichols, was essentially a turntable with projections, which are apparently of brain images. There are swings, making good use of the vertical space without having to take any pauses to switch the scenes. There are also 3 pairs of dancers, meant to represent the title couple in different stages of their life together. Rena Butler's choreography felt comfortingly familiar to me, it was sculptural without being static, and there was athleticism and acrobatics but also elegance. Jessica Jahn's costumes in warm shades for Orfeo and cool tones for Euridice were likewise tasteful, in keeping with the classical plot.

The chorus sounded powerful and together throughout the piece, they supported the principals without overwhelming them and negotiated the spinning set with ease. The principals are all clearly talented. I very much enjoyed the humor-infused performance of soprano Nicole Heaston (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) as Amore. Heaston sang with rich warmth and was charming.

The icier sound of soprano Meigui Zhang was suitable for Euridice. Her voice is clean and graceful, though perhaps not very distinctive, it did contrast with both of the others. Zhang did well with the dancing and did not look out of place among the dancers.

The same could be said of Orliński, the piece opens with him doing handstands and leaps during the overture. I was a little shocked to hear his voice, I had thought he was one of the dancers. His sound is strong and clear, very smooth throughout his range. His "Che farò senza Euridice?" was filled with pathos and very moving.

* Tattling * 
This was part of my subscription, and I loved peering at the orchestra from Box X. I was a bit concerned about the trio of chatty young men in Box Y, but they were very much into the opera and didn't say a word during the 90 minute performance.

In fact, I had such a nice experience, without talking, coughing, mobile phones, or watch alarms, that I'm a bit hesitant to attend this opera again, I'd like to hold on to this pleasant memory. But I will be there at least twice more, as this opera is rare and San Francisco Opera has only performed it in one other season.

Opera San José's Cinderella

* Notes *
Alma Deutscher's Cinderella (Act IV pictured, photograph by David Allen) returned to Opera San José last weekend with the seventeen-year-old composer in the pit in her international conducting debut. I brought my Kindergartner to the delightful Sunday matinée as her very first opera.

Ms. Deutscher finished this opera when she was only ten years old, and it premiered here at Opera San José five years ago to great acclaim. The music is neo-Romantic and very pretty, Maestra Deutscher conducted well, she kept things moving and it all sounded clear and synchronized. At 2 hours and 45 minutes (with an intermission), it did feel a bit longer, but perhaps I was on edge as my five-year-old is not as good as sitting still as my eight-year-old was at her age. The overture definitely made me think of Wagner, and there were interpolations of Meistersinger into this piece, as there is a singing competition at the Prince's ball. There were also entertaining bits of Verdi's La Traviata and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte that probably flew over my child's head, but I laughed heartily.

This version of the Cinderella story has the main character and her step-family in an opera house, Cinderella is a burgeoning composer, the step-sisters are singers. The Prince is an aspiring poet but his father wants him to marry and take over the throne, so they throw a masked ball with a singing competition so he can chose a bride. The fairy godmother is disguised as a poor old woman in the woods, and instead of mice and birds, this opera has an elven children's chorus.

Director Brad Dalton's production is sumptuous, a dream come to life. The set, by scenic designer Steven C. Kemp, has lots of layers and the scenes are easily changed. Only the switch from palace back to woods and opera house (between Acts III and IV) had a big pause, and Deutscher talked us through it, which was a good way to set up the scene without losing momentum.

The singing was all very light and sparkling. Soprano Stacey Tappan and mezzo-soprano Julia Dawson were very funny as the step-sisters Grizelda and Zibaldona, and soprano Rena Harms was cartoonishly evil as the step-mother. It was very charming. I was happy to hear Harms again, her Merola performance as Donna Elvira back 2008 has really stayed with me.

The Prince and Cinderella (pictured in Act III, photograph by David Allen) made for an adorable couple. Tenor Joey Hammond-Leppek has a sweet reediness and soprano Natalia Santaliz is a bell-like songbird.

The cast was rounded off by bass-baritone Joshua Hughes as the Minister, contralto Megan Esther Grey as the Fairy, and bass-baritone Ben Brady as the King. They all are fine actors and good enunciators, which was great for my pre-literate daughter. I am very curious to hear Grey again, the depths of her voice are quite appealing.

*Tattling *
I think I must have been utterly discombobulated by the logistics of my trip to San José, as I mistakenly sat on the wrong side of the house in Row F Seat 4 instead of Seat 3. It was pretty embarrassing, and I sincerely apologize to the people whose seats we took for Acts I and II.

There were some cell phone rings noted and some snoring, so again, we seem to be coming out of pandemic times to something more normal.

The audience was full of energy and joy for the performance, and I was glad that my daughter was able to be part of such an engaged group of people. She seemed to like the performance a lot, and enjoyed having time with me without her sibling. She also loved dressing up for the occasion, and was only too glad to make use of the selfie station at the entrance to the theater. She insisted that I switch out my fascinator for a crown.

SF Opera's La Traviata

* Notes * 
A brand new production of Verdi's La Traviata (Act II Scene 2 pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera yesterday evening, kicking off a series of operas by this composer conducted by our new Music Director Eun Sun Kim. The orchestra sounded lovely, but definitely more restrained than in previous outings of this piece in recent memory.

The overture was handled quite well by Maestra Kim, everyone sounded very beautiful, the tempi were not excessively fast. There were moments with the chorus in particular where there were issues with synchrony. The offstage bandas in both Act I and Act III sounded nice and together. The strings were exquisite in Act III, as Violetta dies.

There were six former Merolini in this opera, so a lot of familiar faces and voices. Most notable of these were mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven (2016) as a sympathetic Flora Bervoix and bass-baritone Philip Skinner (1985) as a rather terrifying Baron Dauphol.

For the three most important principals we had three San Francisco Opera debuts. Baritone Simone Piazzola had a lush warmth as Giorgio Germont, the right mixture of sternness and fatherly care. He sang both "Pura siccome un angelo, Iddio mi diè una figlia" and "Di Provenza il mar, il suol chi dal cor ti cancellò?" very well, the latter stuck with me as a highlight of the evening. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman (Alfredo) had a very pretty moment in the Act I duet "Un dì, felice, eterea," but had a tendency to yell his high notes otherwise, he doesn't seem to have perfect control of his volume. Most interesting was the Violetta, soprano Pretty Yende. Her singing in Act I seemed a bit delicate and icily metallic, but she brought incredible pathos to Acts II and III, and the resonances of her voice worked very well for her duets with Germont and Alfredo. I found her "Gran Dio!...morir sì giovane" at the very end particularly arresting.

This new staging from director Shawna Lacey looks very much like her Tosca from 2018, and it isn't a surprise that the set designer, Robert Innes Hopkins, is the same. I do wish that they had taken this opportunity to make the scene change in Act II smoother, it really took a lot of time to change the set from Violetta's country house to Flora's party, and the audience did not settle down quickly enough when the music started again. The contrasts between the saturated, almost lurid colors of the party scenes with the others were stark.

The realism of sex, violence, and illness throughout were unsettling. The courtesans do some 19th century version of twerking at Flora's party, the Baron does seem dangerous and scary, and having Violetta cough all throughout the piece was effective. There was some colorful cross dressing in Act II Scene 2 from the Marquis, who wears a pink tutu with his tuxedo tails and from the dancers who had bisected costumes portraying masculine and feminine evening wear on each side. Violetta does look genuinely sick in the last act (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) and this only added to how distressing the end is.

* Tattling * 
The audience was enthusiastic and the fact that this performance was simulcast to the nearby baseball stadium certianly heightened the excitement. I did hear a cellular phone ring house left on the Orchestra Level as Pretty Yende sang "È strano! ... Ah, fors' è lui" in Act I. Also, the person in Row Q Seat 3 kept crinkling a plastic bottle at the beginning of Act II Scene 2. Though I felt annoyed by these disturbances, it is sort of nice that things are so much back to normal.

Ars Minerva's Astianatte

* Notes * 
Ars Minerva was back with a seventh modern world premiere last weekend, this time Leonardo Vinci's 1725 Astianatte at ODC Theater in San Francisco. The Sunday matinée featured lots of beautiful singing from some familiar voices. The plot concerns the aftermath of the Trojan War, specifically focusing on Astyanax (Astianatte in Italian), son of Hector and crown prince of Troy. Interestingly though the proceedings have to do with his life and desired death by the Greeks, this character doesn't sing a note, is is portrayed by a silent child.

The basic outline is that Pyrrhus, King of Epirus and son of Achilles is in love with his captive, Hector's widow Andromache. He is supposed to marry the princess of Sparta, Hermione. Orestes, Prince of Mycenae and son of Agamemnon, comes to the court to demand Astyanax 's death. Orestes, of course, is in love with Hermione, who wants to marry Pyrrhus for her honor, rather than out of true afffection. Antics ensue, but everyone gets sorted out in the end and no one dies.

Another tidbit about this piece is that the role of Andromache (Andromaca) was created by Vittoria Tesi, a biracial Florentine opera singer from the 18th century. In this production the role is sung by contralto Jasmine Johnson (pictured), whose incredible range is nothing short of impressive. Her voice is rich and her arias were all strong. Her ability to switch from searing anger at her captor and poignant love for her son was stunning. The contrast of Johnson's deep tones contrasted well with mezzo-soprano Deborah Martinez Rosengaus as Pirro. The latter has a nice heft to her sound but also a lovely brightness. Their duet at the beginning of Act III was a highlight of the afternoon, they complemented each other.

Likewise, mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz was powerful as Oreste, they have such great flexibility in the characters they can convincingly portray and such nice control. Of the three sopranos in this piece, the largest role is for Aura Veruni as Ermione. Veruni has a wonderful effortlessness to her sound, which is very clean. She was ferocious here, razor-sharp in her singing.

Ars Minerva's Executive Artistic Director Céline Ricci's production started off with each soloist entering unshod and in underclothes, greeting Maestro Matthew Dirst and each other. The first scenes involve getting dressed, and this works well enough. Marina Polakoff's costumes have a steampunk flair, lots of corsetry, vests, and platform shoes. The two masculine presenting leads had lots of spikes, Pirro's jacket reminded me of a goth Bowser from Super Mario. Ermione's outfit looked very swirly and insectile, while Andromaca's recalled palm fronds.

The orchestra, headed by harpsichordist Matthew Dirst, was on the large side for this ensemble, a whole fourteen musicians. They played well, and it was nice to hear trumpets with all the strings, even if the brass was not always perfectly in tune.

* Tattling * 
I got to my seat, Row D Seat 20, a few minutes before curtain and was surprised to see a video camera there. The person running the camera was surprised to see me there, and as I explained that I had purchased this specific ticket, he remembered that he was supposed to have moved the camera for this performance. He had me sit in Row C Seat 20, and was very apologetic and considerate. I was in the seat of a guest of the Executive Director, but this person was kind enough to simply sit next to me.

As with all ODC performances for the past few years, we heard a land acknowledgement, that the theater is on the unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone. I was glad to note that ODC is donating a small portion of each ticket sold to the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone and encouraging us to learn about and donate to this group.