The Opera Tattler

Merola's Home for the Holidays

* Notes *
San Francisco Opera's training program, Merola, held another virtual recital for the holidays via Vimeo with pianist James Harp, soprano Amber R. Monroe, tenor Edward Graves, and bass Kevin Thompson. I watched right when it was released last Sunday with my small children and it proved to be the perfect bit of Christmas cheer.

The recital was held at National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., and it was nice that this year the performers, at least, were together. The evening began with Graves singing "Comfort Ye / Ev'ry Valley" from Händel's Messiah. His voice is clear and warm, and has a certain lovely yearning to it. Graves is a new Adler for next year, and it will be exciting to hear him more soon. Later in the performance he sang "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'Amore, and this seemed to be exactly in his wheelhouse, as was the plaintive "Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz" from Das Land des Lächelns by Lehár.

Monroe sang "Quando me’n vo" from La bohème and it is obvious that she'd be a charming Musetta with her soaring, icy notes. She also sang a dramatic "Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiß" from Giuditta by Lehár.

My children liked Thompson most, I think they are overly fond of Kern's Showboat, and were pleased to hear him sing "Ol' Man River." My 4-year-old daughter also thought his rendition of  "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was very funny. Personally I preferred "Ecco il mondo" from Boito's Mefistofele, it showed off the range of his voice.

The performance ended with a very pretty version of "O Holy Night" that featured all the singers accompanied by the pianist.

*Tattling * 
Virtual recitals have come far in the last year, and there was little to tattle about.

SF Opera Chorus Celebrates Ian Robertson

* Notes * 
The San Francisco Opera Chorus is sending off its Chorus Director Ian Robertson (pictured with the chorus, photograph by Matthew Washburn) with two sold-out concerts at the Atrium Theater this weekend. Robertson is ending his distinguished 35-season tenure with these performances, which he is conducting.

Saturday evening's performance began with Associate Chorus Master Fabrizio Corona playing a processional on the piano as the chorus members filed in and took their places. The first half of the concert included much from the standard choral repertoire beginning with selections from Charpentier's Te Deum.

It was downright impressive and even somewhat alarming being in such an intimate space with this accomplished chorus. The amount of sound the singers produce has such a visceral effect, and having them front and center is a joy. Robertson introduced pieces as we went along, he's personable and his reflections on the works was most welcome.

I loved hearing Bach's "Wohl mir, daß ich Jesum habe," the chorale from Cantata BWV 147 sung so harmoniously, a far cry from what the piece sounded like when I played it in my high school orchestra. This was followed by "Endless Pleasure" from Händel's Semele, Mozart's "Placido è il mar" from Idomeneo, and Mozart's "Heil sie euch Geweihten" from Die Zauberflöte. All of this was truly gorgeous, some of my favorites, and the soloists from the chorus are incredible. Lots of nice clean singing.

Next we heard choruses from operas by Donizetti, Puccini, and of course Verdi. The agility of the singers is striking, so fleet and light for Donizetti, meditative for Puccini's Humming Chorus, and pure and resonant for Verdi's "Va, pensiero."

The second half of the night showcased more unusual pieces, starting with some funny selections from Offenbach's La belle Hélène. "Marche de l'oie" ("March of the goose") was particularly delightful. Low voices were highlighted in Jennifer Higdon's Act II Chorus for the Dead Soldiers from Cold Mountain, while higher voices were in the foreground for Two Mountain Songs by Gabriela Lena Frank. I'm quite curious to hear Higdon's complete opera someday, this chorus is really lovely and Frank's layered, evocative work is also intriguing. "Envuelto por el Viento" has a section of singers humming, another doing whispery echoes, and the last third actually singing.

There was even a world premiere commissioned by San Francisco Opera in honor of Robertson, entitled Invitation to Love by Oakland-based artist Cava Menzies. The text is a poem from Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the piece showed off how cohesive the ensemble is.

The performance ended (ovation pictured, photograph by Matthew Washburn) with the optimistic "Make our garden grow" from Bernstein's Candide, a very cheerful and pleasant finale indeed.

* Tattling * 
The first rows of the Atrium Theater were blocked off, presumably as part of Covid safety protocols. The venue only holds 320 people at most, so this definitely made tickets hard to come by.

There was some quiet commentary behind me, but mostly reactions to the singing, so it didn't bother me much. A person in this same row reacted very badly (and somewhat more loudly) however to the woman next to him trying to take a picture of Ian Robertson during the performance, and he was able to switch seats after intermission.

Adler Fellows 2022

The incoming 2022 Adler Fellows are soprano Mikayla Sager, mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag, tenors Victor Cardamone and Edward Graves; and apprentice coach Marika Yasuda. They join current Adlers sopranos Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Elisa Sunshine, and Esther Tonea; mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, baritone Timothy Murray, bass Stefan Egerstrom, and pianist Andrew King. The outgoing 2021 Adler Fellows (pictured, photograph by Cheshire Issacs) are mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, tenors Christopher Colmenero, Christopher Oglesby and Zhengyi Bai; and pianist Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad.

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