The Opera Tattler

Opera San José's The Magic Flute

* Notes * 
A delightful revival of The Magic Flute (Act II pictured, photograph by David Allen) opened at Opera San José about a week ago, but I attended yesterday's matinée. The production is cute, the singing is great, and the conducting from Maestra Alma Deutscher was strong.

The stage within a stage production designed by Ryan McGettigan and directed by Brad Dalton is very charming. The singers all did a fine job and there were a lot of laughs for the Three Ladies, Papageno, Monostatos, and Papagena. The children dancing from Antara Asthaayi Dance were adorable and funny.

The biggest issue was switching from sung German to spoken English, I do wish they had just picked one language, it's very confusing to go back and forth.

The conductor, 19-year-old Deutscher, got a good sound out of the strings and had the orchestra sounding more cohesive and focused than usual. There were a few moments when things did seem to fall apart, but Mozart's music is very unforgiving, and the orchestra did find its way again.

All Three Ladies sounded nice, but especially soprano María Brea as First Lady. Her clarity is pleasing. Bass-baritone Philip Skinner (Speaker) was authoritative, and while bass Younggwang Park has a lovely voice, his Sarastro lacked a certain gravitas. Tenor Nicolas Vasquez-Gerst did the Running Man as Monostatos, and was truly a hoot. His voice is a bit quiet.

On the other hand, baritone Ricardo José Rivera is rather loud, and he gave a hilarious performance as Papageno. His Papagena, soprano Nicole Koh, has a powerful, silvery tone, and I could see her singing Queen of the Night, which she will do on September 29th. She can jump very high, which was impressive. Our Queen of the Night was soprano Emily Misch, who has the appropriate iciness and fine intonation for the role, though her voice is on the thin side.

Soprano Melissa Sondhi makes for a pretty Pamina, she is a little uneven, but at her best her tone is warm and creamy. Tenor WooYoung Yoon was very consistent as Tamino, he has a plaintive, reedy sound with good volume.

* Tattling * 
The audience was enthusiastic. I did hear a lot of electronic noise and talking, but there was a fair amount of hushing from audience members as well.

The Handmaid's Tale at SF Opera

* Notes *
San Francisco Opera gave the West Coast premiere of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale last night. The piece is an impressive theater experience, compressing the more than 300 pages of Margaret Atwood's novel into less than 3 hours.

The co-production was first shown at The Royal Danish Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater)  in 2022. The single unit set (pictured. photograph by Cory Weaver), from Chloe Lamford, is stark and effective. There are lots of scene changes but they all go smoothly with the use of lighting, projections, and scenic elements lowered from above the stage. Lemford also designed the rotating set for last summer's Innocence, which is a tough act to follow, since that was so incredible.

Often times with contemporary opera, time can seem expanded, since it takes so long to sing rather than speak, especially if lines are repeated, as they often are in music. Poul Ruder's work, which dates from 2000, felt quite the opposite, it was engaging and there was so much narrative to be gotten through, it almost felt like there was not a moment to be bored, we were breathlessly racing off to the next thing.  The use of flashback in this opera helps to show the story rather than tell it. Our main character, Offred, has a double and with the projections and context, this makes for potent storytelling. Maestra Karen Kamensek had the orchestra playing together and robustly. There is lots of percussion and brass in this sinister music, and my ears were ringing by the end. The singers and electronic keyboard were amplified.

There are a ton of singers in this opera, 19 principals in fact, and many familiar to the San Francisco Opera audience. I particularly liked hearing mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag as Offred's mother and soprano Rhoslyn Jones as Ofglen, both are former Adlers. Beateag is rich and strong, while Jones has a piercing quality that works for her role. Soprano Sarah Cambidge was very disturbing as Aunt Lydia, her high, powerful voice felt like it was pervading my body. It was unnerving.

Bass-baritone John Relyea (Offred’s Commander) was appropriately gravelly, but also warm. Mezzo-soprano Lindsay Ammann gave a pure-toned performance as Serena Joy, seeming very much to embody this unhappy wife and former television gospel singer.  Mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) has incredible stamina, as Offred, she is in every scene and sang with a lot of unflagging power. Her voice has an interesting icy quality that is distinct from the other mezzos on the stage.

* Tattling *
I read Atwood's book when I was a young adult, in one sitting. It was compelling but I also remember not liking it, finding it hard to relate to and somewhat shrill. I was surprised how much of it I still remembered after a couple of decades.

In this production, the opera is set in the near future of 2030. The 1980s old man names are not realistic in this case, as I hardly know anyone named "Fred" or "Glen" or "Warren."

The audience was mostly fine, but I did hear a few cell phone rungs pretty much any time the music was quieter, so at least 3 times.

Un Ballo in Maschera at SF Opera

* Notes *
San Francisco Opera's latest season opened last night with a beautifully sung Un Ballo in Maschera. The 2016 production from Teatro dell'Opera di Roma was decidedly lackluster.

The orchestra sounded lucid under the baton of Maestra Eun Sun Kim, and I look forward to hearing this again. The playing wasn't completely precise, but Kim clearly has a vision for the shape of the music. The soli were absolutely gorgeous, both English horn soloist Benjamin Brogadir and cello soloist Evan Kahn played well.

The new to San Francisco staging had moments, like ball scene (Act III, Finale pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) with charming dancers and lots of silvery confetti. But for the most part, the scenes were not striking, especially Act II, which takes place on the outskirts of town. There were a bunch of tree remnants and lots of steam, and the lighting would change different colors. It reminded me of a spooky version of the Field of Light in Paso Robles. Two of the three scene changes happened by lowering the curtain and putting up the supertitle about staying at one's seat during the brief pause.

Thankfully the singing was all very lovely. Strongest was Michael Fabiano (pictured in Act I, photograph by Cory Weaver) as Gustavo III. His voice is brilliant and he sings with ease. His Act II aria "Ma se m'è forza perderti" was especially beautiful, and his death scene was touching.

Soprano Lianna Haroutounian was heart-wrenching as Amelia. Baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat was impressive as Renato, his full voice conveys anger without being ugly.

Soprano Mei Gui Zhang was a sparkling, very cute Oscar.in contrast to mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi as Madame Arvidson, who was gritty and dark.

Even the smaller roles were nicely cast, bass-baritone Jongwon Han and bass Adam Lau were convincing as conspirators Count Horn and Count Ribbing. Baritone Samuel Kidd sounded very fresh and pleasant as Cristiano.

The chorus sounded cohesive and robust.

* Tattling *
The evening began late, the opera itself did not start until 8:30pm. There was a video honoring outgoing Chair of the Board John Gunn. Inexplicably this was followed by the overture to Candide and then the National Anthem. The opening night flowers were shaped into red, purple, and gold masks.

There were many electronic noises and a fair amount of speaking from the audience, which was hushed by other audience members.