Innocence

SF Opera's Innocence (Again)

IMG_6846* 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 quietly everything was placed as the massive set was spinning. I noticed this time around that the set mostly goes clockwise, but did also spin counterclockwise. There definitely were times when things did stop or speed up, and it is truly a feat.

Maestro Clément Mao-Takacs has the orchestra sounding very clear, there is lovely shimmering punctuated with pops of percussion, and I look forward to hearing this up in balcony standing room. Mao-Takacs high-fived all the principal singers when he came to the stage for the ovation (pictured, photograph by author) and he seemed to have a strong rapport with the musicians.

Again I loved hearing soprano Vilma Jää as Markéta , but was able to get a better handle on the other voices this time. Soprano Lucy Shelton (Teacher) almost screams, I felt like her voice was reaching inside of me, it was very disturbing. Soprano Claire de Sévigné (Mother-in-Law) can sound bird-like and crystalline, while soprano Lilian Farahani (Bride) has a touch more warmth and heft to her tone. Soprano Beate Mordal has a certain sweetness as Lilly, one of the students who survives, and soprano Marina Dumont was sympathetic as Alexia, another surviving student.

Julie Hega is menacing as Iris, the shooter's friend, her slow, deliberateness and deep voice are striking. It is also clear that the character has been abused and is in pain, so again, there is nuance. Tenor Miles Mykkanen has a bright quality to his voice. Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose sang the role of Tereza, the Waitress, with a lot of passion, conveying the text with clarity in both her voice and her acting.

* Tattling *
There were some inappropriate giggles when Tereza confronts Patricia, the Mother-in-Law. Perhaps the person in question was just uncomfortable witnessing these mothers and their pain.

I did see the fog this time, it is right near the end and was to far upstage for me to see from Box B.

The original language supertitles to the sides of the stage did not appear during the June 7 performance, which was too bad, as I had found them very helpful to understand what language the opera was being sung in at any given moment.


SF Opera's Innocence

Innocence2-sfopera-2024* 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 a very difficult topic. Sofi Okansen's original Finnish libretto, which was made into the nine-language final version by Aleksi Barriere, deals with a school shooting and its aftermath a decade later. The way the story unwinds, starting at a wedding reception in Helsinki and gradually taking us into the international school where the shooting takes place is very effective. The story is nuanced, there are many characters, but we are able to understand that nothing is black and white, nothing is simple.

The enormous set has two levels (pictured, photographs by Cory Weaver) and is basically looks like a modernist building. It revolves the entire 108 minutes of the opera, which has no intermission, and the scenes are changed when rooms are out of view. The crew members did an incredible job, and having rooms change from a reception hall into a classroom, which seemed to happen undetectably, pulled the audience into the world of this opera. 

Innocence1-sfopera-2024Saariaho's music is, however, the beating heart of this piece. The eerie textures of the orchestra had much color and shape under the baton of Maestro Clément Mao-Takacs. There wasn't a moment when my attention flagged, the intensity of focus from the orchestra pit was palpable. There were particularly beautiful soli from the bassoon, oboe, and harp. The brass and strings all sounded clear and clean.

The singers had microphones, which is characteristic of Sariaaho's work. This piece has a lot of speech singing (Sprechgesang) and the amplification made for good intelligibility, I could definitely understand the English, German, and Spanish without looking at the supertitles, which were provided in English above and in whichever language the words were in, which was so helpful. I really appreciated seeing the text, so that at a glance I could tell what language we were hearing.

There are a lot of principal singers for this opera, 21 in total. Soprano Vilma Jää was a standout, her portrayal of Student #1 (Markéta) was otherworldly. Her vocal technique comes from Finnish folk music, and her part was written for her. While it wasn't what one normally hears at the opera, it felt very much in place for this performance. Soprano Lucy Shelton as the Teacher was also very strong, she very much appeared to be a shattered person, it was clear in her singing. 

Baritone Rod Gilfry sang the Father-in-Law with warmth and subtlety, while soprano Claire de Sévigné gave an icy, almost frightening contrast as the Mother-in-Law. Tenor Miles Mykkanen has a pretty sound as the Bridegroom, but was able to effortlessly convey the different emotions of the opera. Soprano Lilian Farahani was a fine counterpoint as the Bride, her character is not in the community when the school shooting happened. She is perhaps easiest to identify with in the story, as what happens is unfolding to her as well. Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose (Waitress) is the most devastating though, her pain felt very real to me, and her rich, powerful voice showed the anguish of losing a child.

* Tattling *
There were light whispers in Box A, but Box B (which included librettist Okansen, who had to scurry out to take her ovation) was exceedingly quiet. I did not hear or see anyone's cellular phone.

The advisory for this opera warned us of "FOG" in large letters, but of the gun violence in much smaller type below. I did not even detect this fog, but perhaps I was too fixated on other aspects of the performance. Cake is thrown out of anger and frustration, for example, which I really was not expecting.