The Opera Tattler

Merola's Don Giovanni

* Notes *
Patricia Racette's production of Don Giovanni (end of Act I pictured left, photograph by Kristen Loken) opened at Merola Opera Program last night in San Francisco. There was lots of very strong singing and the direction felt very human and sensible.

Set in 1950s Rome, the stage featured lots of screens and levels that could be accessed by stairs. The staging made it so that people could easily hide or exit, making everything flow very naturally. The costumes were all very attractive and the opera does work perfectly fine in this new setting. I was a bit confused what happened at the end of Act I, it seems that Don Giovanni and Leporello were surrounded and beaten and it is unclear how they escaped.

Stefano Sarzani seemed to have a lot of problems keeping the orchestra together, the musicians are very exposed in this music. It make me feel a little seasick. On the plus side, the orchestra hardly ever overwhelmed the very loud and powerful singing.

Soprano Moriah Berry and bass-baritone Justice Yates make for a very adorable Zerlina and Masetto. Berry has some interesting texture to her voice, which is robust and seems to emanate very clearly  from her face rather than her chest. Yates  is likewise at a high volume, I liked how his low notes and high notes all seemed to resonate equally. Bass-baritone Benjamin R. Sokol seemed also sturdy as the Commendatore, he did seem to be backstage for his vocal appearances in Act II, so it wasn't always easy to gauge the quality of his sound. Bass-baritone Donghoon Kang makes for a funny and pleasant Leporello, he was great in the Catelogue aria, very endearing.

Tenor Michael John Butler is plaintive as  Don Ottavio, his "Dalla sua Pace" very sweet. He did not sing "Il mio tesoro." Soprano Lydia Grindatto has a metallic but dark sound as Donna Anna, that has a roundness that is never harsh. Soprano Viviana Aurelia Goodwin was more incisive as Donna Elvira, but not shrill either. Her "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata" was beautiful. Baritone Hyungjin Son is a charming Don Giovanni, he ingratiates himself in a convincing way. His voice is resonant from top to bottom, he sounded great in the Champagne aria and in the duet "Là ci darem la mano."

* Tattling *
There was little to no electronic noise, nor was there much talking or whispering. However, someone in the center section distinctly sang along with the tenor aria in Act I.

Pelléas et Mélisande at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
A new production of Pelléas et Mélisande (Act II, Scene 1 pictured, photograph by Wilfried Hösl) opened as part of the Münchner Opernfestspiele opened earlier this month. Last night's performance had some very nice singing, but the production did not elucidate this dreamy, strange piece.

Maestro Hannu Lintu presided over a glittery orchestra, the music had a lot of color, but perhaps the phrasing could have a bit more nuance. The music certainly was very loud in the tiny Prinzregententheater, and could be felt as much as heard.

This co-production with Dallas Opera, directed by Jetske Mijnssen, is not very sensible. So many of the scenes simply go against the text, as when in Act III Scene 1 where Pelléas says he cannot reach Mélisande's hand while he's right next to her and indeed holding her hand. Ben Baur's narrow stage over water is nice and clean, it's very pleasing to watch the rain fall behind it before the opera, and the little strip of water downstage was a good effect. However, it probably was extremely confusing for those who do not know this opera, the forest in the first scene seems to be in a ballroom, the cave in Act II is under a dining table. The background of Act V has "C'était un pauvre petit être mystérieux comme tout le monde" on it, which Arkel sings at the end.

Everyone was cast perfectly for their roles. The child from the Tölzer Knabenchor who played Yniold was eerily clear, and acted very naturally even in this stilted production. Bass Franz-Josef Selig was slightly creaky at first but conveyed care and sympathy in the last scene. Baritone Christian Gerhaher is a terrifying Golaud, you never feel like Mélisande is being irrational for loving his half-brother rather than him. Gerhaher does angry very well, but he showed a more tender side at times when needed.

Tenor Ben Bliss is an ideal Pelléas, he is sweet and light and certainly brings a boyishness to the role. Soprano Sabine Devieilhe is also convincing as Mélisande, very ethereal but easily soars over the instrumentation. Her "Mes longs cheveux" was lovely. The love scene in Act IV was also very strong.

* Tattling *
Before the performance there was an altercation in English between two people in the center section in Row 25 or so. Someone yelled "Shut up" and the other person responded with yelling about how one shouldn't be "so rude." There was only light whispering during the music and no electronic noise.

My opera companion did not like Debussy's music or the production. She left at intermission, but was only one of a few who did so.

Tannhäuser at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
Bayerische Staatsoper's 2017 Tannhäuser (ovation pictured, photograph by author) returned to the Münchner Opernfestspiele last night. The performance was absolutely transcendent in its beauty, with grand playing from the orchestra and wonderful singing.

The orchestra sounded full and together under Maestro Sebastian Weigle. The trumpets, bassoons, and harp were particularly fine.

This staging, from director Romeo Castellucci, is very busy. There are many supernumeraries, in various states of undress, doing all kinds of choreography all the time. For example, the overture was accompanied by perhaps two dozen archers, all of whom appeared to be young ladies with their chests bared. They shot at a large circle with a projection of an eye on it. It was very impressive how well they shot the arrows and how perfectly everything was coordinated. But we also had blood splattered loudly on this same round object, and had a count up in German of time from one second to many billions of years. I did really enjoy the dancing that happened from seated or lying down, the dancers were able to move as one entity, it seemed.

The chorus was great, singing with intensity. "Beglückt darf nun dich" was very moving. The rest of the cast was likewise strong. Mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina has a luxuriant, plush sound, perfect for Venus. Soprano Elisabeth Teige also has a dark tone as Elisabeth, but the two women definitely sounded different. Her Act II "Dich, teure Halle, grüss ich wieder" was full of hope and her Act III "Er kehret nicht züruck!" had palpable despair.

Baritone Andrè Schuen was heartbreaking as Wolfram. His voice is velvety and resonant, and his "O du mein holder Abendstern" was simply lovely. Even still, Schuen managed not to upstage tenor Klaus Florian Vogt in the title role. Vogt is bright, warm, and effortless. His Tannhäuser has much appeal and such sweetness.

* Tattling *
It seems that certain audience members simply do not think that the messages in German and English about completely turning off one's cellular phones apply to them. An elderly person on the left side of the Balkon, Reihe 3 Platz 35 had a device that rang many times during the overture, and the couple next to her had to help silence it.

The person next to us in the Balkon, Reihe 1 Platz 17 was roughly in the same demographic, yet was kind enough to take our photograph before the performance and let another eager person know that our seats were taken before the start of Act III. We tried to arrive as late as possible as we were on the aisle and wanted to make it easier for others to get to their seats.

Parsifal at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
An excellent revival of Parsifal (ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened at Münchner Opernfestspiele yesterday evening. Musically, it was the best Parsifal I have heard live, the orchestra sounded splendid and the singers were all great.

Maestro Adam Fischer lead the orchestra with verve, starting off the Vorspiel in a stately manner and building from there. The sound was very full and could be felt in one's whole body. The brass was clear, the timpani ecstatic, and the harps exquisite.

Pierre Audi's 2018 production is serviceable. Act I featured a forest, Act II had a curtain downstage and a cloth backdrop mid-stage with a big gash in the middle, and Act III was the forest upside-down, which was effective. There is a lot of imagery around flaccid, aging bodies, on screens and curtains, and depicted in the chorus, whose members wore padded bodysuits to appear naked in Act I Scene 2 and Act II Scene 2.

The chorus sang beautifully and together. The principal cast was also uniform and strong. Baritone Jochen Schmeckenbecher's Klingsor was menacing, while bass-baritone Gerald Finley conveyed painfully exhaustion as Amfortas. Bass Tareq Nazmi sang a sympathetic and robust Gurnemanz.

Tenor Clay Hilley gave a solid performance as Parsifal, though his stage presence is a bit wooden. His voice cuts through the orchestra and is quite loud. Soprano Nina Stemme makes for an intense Kundry, she seems to really be inside the character, and draws the audience in as well. The resonance of her sound is penetrating but never harsh. Act II was the highlight of the night because of her, to be sure.

* Tattling *
It was a relief to be at a Wagner performance in Germany, as the audience is serious and engaged. Unfortunately two cellular phones rang during the Vorspiel and there was some clapping after Act I.

The person next to us in the Balkon, Reihe 1 Platz 5 was cheerful and joked with us before curtain, but fell asleep during Act I. He had the good sense to leave at the second intermission.

Gerald Finley was named a Bayerischer Kammersänger after the performance and addressed his colleagues and the audience in German. He thanked many people, including his wife and family, and mentioned the wisdom he received from Edita Gruberová about performing on this stage.

Tancredi at Bregenzer Festspiele

* Notes *
Rossini's Tancredi (ovation pictured, photograph by author) premiered at Bregenzer Festspiele last night in the Großer Saal of the Festspielhaus. Based on Voltaire's play, the opera has lots of brilliant music that is a joy to hear.

Set in Syracuse, the production from Jan Philipp Gloger is updated to be set in a Cosa Nostra household. It was a bit on the nose, but the revolving set itself is very attractive. The role of Tancredi is written for a mezzo or contralto en travesti, but for this version the character is a woman with she/her pronouns, but this is only known to her beloved, Amenaide.

The singing was adequate. Mezzo-soprano Laura Polverelli was throaty and emotive as Isaura, who was Amenaide's mom rather than her friend in this production. Bass-baritone Andreas Wolf was perfectly fine as Tancredi's rival Orbazzano. Tenor Antonino Siragusa shouted quite a bit as Amenaide's father Argirio. His voice is bright but not overly plaintive or pretty.

Soprano Mélissa Petit is a lovely Amenaide, her sound is bird-like and she sang very beautifully with mezzo-soprano Anna Goryachova as Tancredi. Goryachova has some wooliness to her lower register, but her high notes have a nice clarity and she definitely is convincing as an androgynous person in both her body-type but more importantly, in her carriage. Her last piece was very sad, not only because of her singing, but because she has been completely abandoned on the stage and is singing for no one.

The orchestra could have been more precise and driven under the baton of Maestra Yi-Chen Lin, though the beauty of the music was evident.

* Tattling *
Again, the Bregenz audience was quite terrible. The two women who moved in from the aisle behind me in Row 23 spoke loudly and said very self-evident things like "Es ist eine Frau...Chinesin" about the conductor when the orchestra was playing. A woman next to us in Row 22 loudly unwrapped a cough drop for several seconds during a choral part of Act I.

Naturally, there were people taking pictures of the opera during the performance. A person in Row 20 Seat 6 was stoped by an usher in the first half, but both talked to her companion (for which she was roundly hushed by my seat mate) and took at least one photo during the second half.

Der Freischütz at Bregenzer Festspiele

* Notes *
A spectacular new production of Der Freischütz (ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened at the Seebühne of the Bregenzer Festspiele yesterday night. The opera featured an icy town under a huge moon with reimagined spoken dialogue.

Philipp Stölzl's staging created a whole world complete with synchronized swimming, ice skating, and lots of fire. There were some silly bird sound effects and kitschy projections on the moon, but for the most part, there was always something to look at as objects would rise from the partially submerged set. The singers and dancers did an impressive job moving about the stage, it seems like they could easily slipped.

As this took place on Lake Constance, the singers were all amplified and the orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, was not even visible expect by simulcast. The music is quite jaunty and fun. It was a little weird that the camera focused often on the finger boards of string instruments, instead of the conductor, Enrique Mazzola.

There was some charismatic performances, Moritz von Treuenfel had an outsized role as Samiel, the Black Huntsman, and brought an intense physicality to this spoken part. He was also darkly funny. Bass Christof Fischesser was suitably sinister as Kaspar, and tenor Thomas Blondelle had a pleasing warmth and baritonal quality as Max.

Strongest of all were the two sopranos,  Hanna Herfurtner was an incisive Ännchen without being shrill and Mandy Fredrich had a beautifully clear but emotionally-charged performance as Agathe.

* Tattling *
This audience was badly-behaved. There was a family of four in Row 32 Seats 302 to 305 who came with another couple that pretty much spoke for the entire two hours. The two males in the group repeated took photographs of the performance even though we had been explicitly told not to at the beginning.

For the most part the talking was fairly quiet at least. It is simply unnerving to be around audience members who don't seem that engaged with such an over-the-top display in such a unique setting. It makes you wonder what would make them stop talking and put their phones down.

Opera Parallèle's Fellow Travelers

* Notes *
Opera Parallèle is presenting the West Coast premiere of Fellow Travelers (Scene 6 pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) this weekend in San Francisco at the Presidio Theatre. The opera, a love story set in McCarthy era Washington DC, features a wordy libretto by Greg Spears and lyrical music from Gregory Spears.

Directed by Artistic Director Brian Staufenbiel, this chamber opera is very much makes for compelling theater, with romance, intrigue, and betrayal. Jacquelyn Scott's scenic design employs props hidden in a platform to move the action along with help from background projections. The mid-century costumes from Y. Sharon Peng are pleasing.

Opera Parallèle's Music Director Nicole Paiement is conducting John Adams in Vienna, so Maestro Jaymes Kirksey was at the helm of the pit. Though perhaps not as taut as usual, the orchestra sounded lovely playing this sweeping score, there were lots of trills and perhaps some references to Tchaikovsky. The libretto is structured in a way that feels very metrical, the repeated lines come back within the context of a duet or ensemble that reminded me of a tightly structured poetic form like a villanelle.

The plot centers on a love story between Hawkins "Hawk" Fuller, who works in the State Department, and Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate who aspires to work on The Hill. There is some great singing from the cast. even in the smaller roles. Soprano Cara Gabrielson has a full, icy clear voice as Lucy, Hawk's beard and soprano Elena Galván (Miss Lightfoot) was incisive and cut through the orchestration with utter clarity. Soprano Victoria Lawal is a sympathetic Mary Johnson, Hawk's assistant. Her Southern accent comes through nicely and her voice is smooth and resonant.

Best of all are the two leads (pictured in Scene 14, photograph by Stefan Cohen), who can both sing and act. Baritone Joseph Lattanzi embodied Hawk, he's charming and sounds sweetly vibrant. Tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes is convincing as Tim, he seems young and earnest, and his heartbreak is feels very real. His voice is beautiful, very clear and bright.

• * Tattling *
  The scenes of this opera unfold one after another, so there weren't really pauses for people to chatter, which meant they spoke over the music at times. The folks in the center section of Row H closer to the odd numbered seats were quite audible, for instance. I did not hear electronic noise or see anyone use a cellular phone, so that was nice.

The opera is presented with an intermission after Scene 8, but it felt very abrupt. Maybe I have just gotten used to contemporary operas being done all in one go. The intermission must have been a little on the short side, because a person in our row came back late, as the music had already resumed

It was fun to see many familiar faces in the audience, and the intermission was a good time to catch up with some friends I haven't seen for a bit.

SF Opera's Partenope

* Notes *
A revival of Händel's Partenope returned to San Francisco Opera last night. The sleek staging (Act III pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) is still very funny and the cast is fantastic.

Even though Händel wrote 42 operas, we usually only hear Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. Partenope (1730) had its first performances in the United States in 1988 and at the War Memorial in 2014,  so it is great to have the chance to hear this opera again. 

The 2008 production from Christopher Alden is set in a 1920s Parisian salon and references Man Ray, Surrealism, and Dadaism. There are many sight gags, leaning into the silliness of the plot. Crude drawings are scrawled on the walls; bananas are eaten, thrown, and worn; lewd gestures made; and jokes in and around a water closet figure prominently in Act II. The amount of toilet paper employed has, perhaps, a different valence than it did pre-pandemic.

The music is lovely, and conductor Christopher Moulds certainly keeps everyone moving. The rapid tempi at times felt rushed, but it was always lively and never dully square. The continuo was played prettily by cellist Evan Kahn, theorbist Richard Savino, and Maestro Moulds and Peter Walsh on harpsichord.

Best of all was the singing, especially from the title character. Soprano Julie Fuchs (pictured in Act I, photograph by Cory Weaver), making her American debut, is truly a winsome Partenope. Her resonant voice is bell-like and clean, well-suited for the role. She went from strength to strength, her sound opening up as the night progressed. Her Act II aria "Qual farfalletta" was particularly beautiful and she interpolated some La Traviata into the end of Act III to hilarious effect.

Also making very fine company debuts were countertenors Carlo Vistoli (Arsace) and Nicholas Tamagna (Armindo). Vistoli has an almost girlish sweetness to his voice, very much at odds with his physical presentation, which was fun. His coloratura is impressive, but his introspective arias were also strong, as in Act III with "Ch'io parta." Tamagna sounded clear and open as Arsace's rival Armindo.

The cast was rounded out by three former Adler Fellows, all of whom can both sing and act. Baritone Hadleigh Adams is charming as Ormonte, he has a lot of charisma and a pleasant tone to boot. He looked and moved fabulously in his pink petticoated dress with Pickelhaube and bananas on his head. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack is suitably tormented and vacillating as Rosmira who is disguised as a man named Eurimene. Her voice is light and pretty, but she can sound downright mannish. Her real-life husband tenor Alek Shrader is Emilio, a military general also besotted by Partenope, but presented here as a stand-in for Man Ray. Shrader's antics are amusing, he is creepy and weird, constantly photographing the others. His voice has a richer tone than I remember in previous years.

* Tattling *
The couple behind us in Orchestra Row R Seats 2 and 4 were having the best time. They arrived precisely at 7:28pm and were exhilarated to be there just before the curtain rose. They did talk to each other the whole opera, but were so engaged that it was hard to be annoyed with them. They laughed uproariously at every single joke presented.

Otherwise, the rest of the audience also seemed to enjoy the opera, I heard lots of giggles and clapping for the various arias but very little in the way of electronic noise or lozenge wrappers.

In fact, the most ill-behaved person I observed was likely myself. I tried to dress as a flapper per the Roaring Twenties theme of this production and my boa, shed pink feathers all over the place.

SF Symphony's Erwartung

* Notes *
San Francisco Symphony performed Schoenberg's Erwartung (1909) for the first time on Friday. Conducted by outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, the orchestra sounded splendid at the Saturday performance I attended. The musicians were very clear and together, while soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams (pictured as the Woman, photograph by Kristen Loken) sounded hearty, always able to cut through the lush orchestration.

This opera is part of director Peter Sellars and Salonen's collaboration  at San Francisco Symphony to put on large-scale works over four years. Sellars reframes this piece as an "Accidental Death in Custody" and begins with a body bag on stage. Two guards come out and Williams signs some papers on a clipboard. This new setting did not always work with the text, as it is very specific, and the opera is more ambiguous, the Woman gradually realizes her lover is dead, which is at odds with a corpse at her feet. The imagery of walking through the forest at night is lost, but the Woman's journey does retain a nightmarish quality, a very contemporary horror.

Maestro Salonen got his ideas across,  the orchestra has a fine clarity and everything felt laden with intent.  The piece can be quite loud, but I could always pick out the fluid soli. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik played particularly well, though all the strings were shimmering. The woodwinds sounded lovely, especially the flute. The brass fanfares were clear and in tune.

The one vocal soloist, soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams, was utterly focused and very strong. Her voice is well-supported from top to bottom and her high notes are crystalline without being the least bit shrill. She sounded robust no matter how she was positioned, whether she was standing or lying down, it did not seem to matter. Her German diction was clear as were the emotions of the text. It was an intense 33 minutes.

The evening began with Ravel's Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) with choreography from Alonzo King performed by his LINES Ballet. King chose not to literally tell these stories, but there were characters within each of the dances. The dancers (pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) were dressed in muted autumnal colors and were a joy to watch, lots of impressive extension, and coordinated movement. I love to hear live music with dancers, especially at this high level, though there were moments when I might have been more focused on the playing than the dancing.

* Tattling *
The dancing kept the audience rapt, they hardly made a peep during the Ravel. The Schoenberg is more challenging, and there was some light talking and looking at cell phones to check the time.

Surprisingly, many people I know attended this performance, as it was not the prima.

I was startled to see that SF Symphony had not performed the Schoenberg before, it's a bit funny to think a Saariaho was here first. I heard this at Seattle Opera where it was presented with Bluebeard's Castle in 2009. When I saw in the program that Mary Elizabeth Williams was in the young artist program at Seattle Opera before I had my first child, I thought I must have heard her before. Sure enough, she was Serena in Porgy and Bess back in 2011, and it was nice to see that I was consistent about really liking her voice. Apparently I found Erwartung "interminable."

SF Opera's Innocence (Again)

* 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.

The Magic Flute at SF Opera (Again)

* Notes * 
I attended San Francisco Opera's Die Zauberflöte with my family last Sunday, our first with all four of us. It was also my seven-year-old's (pictured left, photograph by author) first time to the War Memorial Opera House. Again, my favorite part was hearing Eun Sun Kim conduct the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

It was very fun to be able to see the musicians in the orchestra pit, especially the fortepiano. We could not see all of the stage from where we were, but since most of staging was visible, it seemed easy enough to fill in what was going on, since all of us know this opera fairly well.

I was definitely a bit nervous about bringing my young children to the opera, and hopefully the younger one was not too annoying to the other two patrons with whom we shared Box Z. My daughter runs hot and was wearing two dresses, leggings, and a fake fur stole, so did overheat at one point.

Both children have familiarity with silent film, especially Buster Keaton, so they did get a lot of the jokes. They seemed charmed by the various animals projected on the stage. The black cat that befriends Papageno was a favorite, but they also liked the owls and cuttlefish.

Papageno may have missed a cue and his legs were facing the wrong direction from his body at the end of Act I.

The singing was more confident this time around,  Tenor Amitai Pati (Tamino) continued to sing well, though his voice is a bit light, as is soprano Anna Simińska (Queen of the Night).

* Tattling * 
My ten-year-old was his usual quiet self at the performance, this is the second time he's been to this particular opera. I think it's easier for him to pay attention when he's wearing his glasses, since that means he can actually read the supertitles. His sister did fairly well, and I'm glad I waited to bring her to San Francisco Opera now that she can read, since it is harder for her to sit still. When I told her if she didn't behave I wouldn't bring her again for a long time, she asked how long, and I responded with "20 years."

SF Opera's Innocence

* 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. 

Saariaho'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.

The Magic Flute at SF Opera

* Notes * 
Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade's delightful and clever production of Die Zauberflöte (end of Act I Scene 3 pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera last night. Eun Sun Kim conducted a beautifully transparent performance with much lovely singing.

This 2012 production originates from Komische Oper Berlin and stages the opera in the silent film era. All the spoken text is cut, instead there are intertitles with Mozart's Fantasia in D minor K. 397 and Fantasia in C minor K. 475 played on fortepiano as accompaniment.

The stage is basically a large white surface with six revolving doors, all but one are situated high up, with little ledges for the singers to stand on. There are many animations to propel the story forward, all the scene changes are instantaneous. It was startling how many animation cues there were, some 729, all done by a dedicated stage manager, and they all appeared to go perfectly smoothly. The draw back of this elaborate scheme is that the singers have to be extremely exact in their positions and movements, and are hemmed in by the stage, often standing in a confined space for quite a long time as the projections move around them. But it certainly was an immersive experience, so much was happening and it was difficult to resist being drawn in to all the many sight gags and entertaining theatrical jokes and references.

Maestra Eun Sun Kim had the orchestra sounding completely transparent, I felt like I could hear every musical line and even feel where certain instruments were doubled. It was very nice to hear Mozart played with so much clarity. The soloists all did well, Julie McKenzie (flute), Stephanie McNab (pan flute), and Bryndon Hassman (glockenspiel) all played cleanly.

The chorus sounded strong, even if they were often hidden in two triple=tiered towers on either side of the projecting surface, we could always hear them.

The three boy sopranos Niko Min, Solah Malik and Jacob Rainow are suitably eerie as the the three spirits. Soprano Arianna Rodriguez is adorable as Papagena. The three ladies, sung by soprano Olivia Smith and mezzo-sopranos Ashley Dixon and Maire Therese Carmack, started off a bit hesitant but were fine by the end. Their scene mooning over Tamino was very much played for laughs. Tenor Zhengyi Bai's Monostatos was dressed as Count Orlok from Nosferatu, which was also very funny.

Bass Kwangchul Youn is a solid and powerful Sarastro, while soprano Anna Simińska was a more delicate and ethereal Queen of the Night. She hit all her notes, sounding very fluttery and birdlike. Bass-baritone Lauri Vasar has a darker timbre than any Papageno I've ever heard, he has a breathiness to his sound as well, and a winsome manner. His duet with Christina Gansch (Pamina) in Act I, Scene 2 (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) sounded great. Gansch has a robust, well-rounded sound but also a certain brilliance. Tenor Amitai Pati has a very pretty voice, and his Tamino is sweet.

* Tattling * 
There were some lozenges loudly unwrapped toward the beginning of the performance, but not a lot of electronic noise. The audience did seem very engaged and reacted to the misogyny of the text. I also was bothered by the light of someone's phone in Row Q, in the center section, right on the aisle.

There were also a few pen clicks from the journalist behind me, who was clearly taking notes for a review. This person was asked to give an opinion of the opera at intermission by an audience member, which seemed quite inappropriate. I understand the audience member was just curious but it seems unkind to interrupt someone at work.

Pocket Opera's Cunning Little Vixen

* Notes *
In April Pocket Opera did a charming run of Cunning Little Vixen (Příhody lišky Bystroušky) and I managed to catch the last performance at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco last weekend. It was the premiere of this translation from Pocket Opera's late founder Donald Pippin.

Janacek's opera was done in a new chamber version by the tiny orchestra that was seated on the stage behind singers. Maestro Jonathan Khuner had the musicians going at a fast clip, but the vivid music came through well and has stuck in my head for several days now.

Stage director Nicolas A. Garcia's production is very sweet and moves easily through the many scenes. The choreography, by Lissa Resnick, employs two talented dancers that portray a pair of insects and the human couple of Terenka and the Forester. I appreciated their movement through the lush instrumental interludes. The costumes were very cute, for the most part they suggested which animal they were to represent without being completely literal. The vixen wears a stylish sweatsuit in orange plus ears and a tail and the chickens have fifties dresses in black and white with red headbands and shoes (pictured), and it's just enough to feel intentional and cool rather than simply being on a shoestring budget.

The singing was all very strong. Contralto Sara Couden sounded great as both the Badger and the Parson, her rich voice is surprisingly well suited to these roles. The contrast of her with the tenor Erich Buchholz as the Mosquito and the Schoolmaster was very pleasing, they can hit the same notes and they sound totally different. Bass-baritone Robert Stafford did fine as Harašta the Poacher, as did mezzo-soprano Hope Nelson as GoldStripe the Fox, who was appealing and incisive.

Baritone Spencer Dodd also sounded plaintive as the Forester, a nice reedy sound. Best of all was soprano Amy Foote in the title role, her icy flexible sound and physical embodiment of SharpEars the Vixen was heartrending.

* Tattling * 
There was a lot of back and forth with one of the ushers as people were being seated during the beginning of Act I Scene 1, it was loud and hard to ignore. There was also one watch alarm at 4pm.

It's been about twenty years since I first heard this piece done at San Francisco Opera, and almost eight since I heard it at West Edge Opera in Oakland (also with Amy Foote, incidentally). It's embarrassing to remember how much I disliked it the first time, but I'm glad I've been able to come to appreciate Janáček so much more.

Opera San José's Florencia en el Amazonas

* Notes *
Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (Act II pictured, photograph by David Allen) had a long overdue Bay Area premiere at Opera San José last weekend. The attractive new production features lots of strong singing.

The music is reminiscent of Puccini, lots of shimmery swells of sound. The orchestra sounded robust under Maestro Joseph Marcheso. Likewise the singing was very powerful.

Bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian (Captain) has impressive low notes that resonate well. Baritone Ricardo José Rivera has a loud, booming voice, and he was suitably fey as Riolobo. Baritone Efraín Solís sounded very distinct from Rivera, his part as Alvaro is much more of this world, and his warm, textured sound was charming. He sang well with mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz, I like her part of Paula, as there are an interesting range of feelings that are explored with this role.

Tenor César Delgado and soprano Aléxa Anderson are convincing as young lovers Arcadio and Rosalba. Delgado is plaintive and Anderson is bright. Soprano Elizabeth Caballero did a fine job with the title role of Florencia Grimaldi. She has a dramatic flair to her sound, her final aria "Escúchame" was effective.

The set, designed by Liliana Duque-Piñeiro, has two pieces of scenery that suggest the river boat, basically some stairs with a deck and a paddlewheel. There are also a bunch of large cutout pieces hanging from the ceiling that are leaves and vines of the jungle, it is pretty, and the lighting pulls everything together. It wasn't always clear when the characters were on the boat or not, or when they were traveling on the river. Director Crystal Manich has the singers push the pieces of the set around to change the scenes, which went smoothly. I liked the butterfly imagery that was employed throughout the opera, there was a puppet, winged costumes, and blue butterfly confetti.

* Tattling * 
The audience silent for the most part, I only noted a light crinkling of paper from the center of the orchestra level during Act II, but it was only for about a minute.