SF Opera Ring Cycle 3: Die Walküre

Competition was fierce for standing room at San Francisco Opera's last Ring Cycle performance of Die Walküre, & every time I turned a corner in the Opera House, I ran into someone I knew. The turnout was for soprano Heidi Melton. Ms. Melton was a stand-out Adler Fellow, & local opera buffs feel a vested interest in this debut. She was a touching & sympathetic Sieglinde, her singing communicating desperation & urgency. Ms. Melton is not a small woman, yet her interpretation exuded vulnerability, even fragility. She has a large, liquid voice, & no matter how much sound she makes, one feels that she is using only half her strength. She did her local fans proud.

The orchestra was on fire the entire evening, starting with the careening storm music, & from then on everyone performed with a heightened sense of involvement. HD-ready tenor Brandon Jovanovich thinks he is singing Puccini, & sounds more gorgeous with each successive performance. Act I swept by, & the applause extended well after the house lights went up. At the start of Act II it was like someone turned up the volume on the orchestra, & then Nina Stemma vaulted on stage & was even louder. She received spontaneous applause after her short scene with Wotan. In Act III the excited audience applauded the Valkries at their entrance by parachute & when they held aloft the portraits of fallen soldiers. Ms. Stemme's singing only grew more warm & powerful as the opera progressed. I continued to enjoy the plush voice of Elizabeth Bishop as Fricka. At times I found Mark Delevan's singing of Wotan almost pretty. The orchestra played like it was a living, breathing creature & was stunning. I left feeling grateful I was at this performance

A dog barked in the balcony during Act I, but was otherwise well-behaved. I was told that he has been attending performances since he was a puppy. Regrettably I neglected to capture photographic evidence of The Opera Tattler's Freia outfit on the previous night, but here she is in the Biergarten pre-performance, spear in hand. I have no idea how she took that to her seat.

§ Die Walküre
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Director: Francesca Zambello

Sieglinde: Heidi Melton
Siegmund: Brandon Jovanovich
Hunding: Daniel Sumegi
Wotan: Mark Delavan
Brünnhilde: Nina Stemme
Fricka: Elizabeth Bishop

Ortlinde: Melissa Citro
Schwertleite: Cybele Gouverneur
Waltraute: Daveda Karanas
Gerhilde: Sara Gartland
Helmwige: Tamara Wapinsky
Siegrune: Maya Lahyani
Grimgerde: Renée Tatum
Rossweisse: Lauren McNeese

War Memorial Opera House
Wed 06/29/11 7:00pm

SF Opera Ring Cycle 3: Das Rheingold

Enthusiasm has only increased for San Francisco Opera's Ring Cycle. It was 2 deep in upstairs standing room for cycle 3's Das Rheingold on Tuesday night. I sat on the floor at the back of the balcony & just listened to this performance. The orchestra was much more secure & modulated than in the Cycle 1 Rheingold. The brasses delivered a nearly flawless performance, sounding becalmed in the overture, burnished in the Valhalla chords, & full during the entry into Valhalla. The gradual unfurling of the sword motif was thrilling. The oboe solos were beautifully played, & the entire orchestra was especially taut in the Niebelheim scene.

The singing was equally gorgeous. The pleasing crystalline clarity of Stefan Margita's Loge is still a wonder, & he received the largest ovation of the evening. Even without watching his performance, the disdain of the character was plain. I also enjoyed Elizabeth Bishop's plush-sounding Fricka & Andrea Silvestrelli's cavernous Fasolt. Gerd Grochowski & Brandon Jovanovich as Donner & Froh is luxury casting. Neither of them sound as effete as they behave in this staging. I continue to admire Mark Delavan's lyrical & connected singing as Wotan, though I'm still struggling with this testy, insecure version of the chief god. The Niebelungen were terrific screamers this evening. I could hear them shriek even when they were well offstage. The humor of this staging was evident in the free laughter of the audience.

Before the performance I joined a delightful gathering of Ring attendees all connected through twitter. When I tried to explain the tweetup to a curious lady seated near us, she at first thought we were all twitter employees.

§ Das Rheingold
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Director: Francesca Zambello

Woglinde: Stacey Tappan
Wellgunde: Lauren McNeese
Flosshilde: Renée Tatum
Alberich: Gordon Hawkins
Fricka: Elizabeth Bishop
Wotan: Mark Delavan
Freia: Melissa Citro
Fasolt: Andrea Silvestrelli
Fafner: Daniel Sumegi
Froh: Brandon Jovanovich
Donner: Gerd Grochowski
Loge: Stefan Margita
Mime: David Cangelosi
Erda: Ronnita Miller

War Memorial Opera House
Tue 06/28/11 8:00pm

SFS: Missa solemnis

Thursday night it looked like a full house for MTT conducting Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the SF Symphony. More than one usher reminded us that it was an intermissionless program. The performance was really about the chorus, which was larger than usual. They sang with firmness & confidence. Every note had a clear beginning & end. The vocal soloists each had very different voices, & it often felt like they were singing very disparate parts. Soprano Christine Brewer's bright yet substantial tone is unmistakable, & she sounded surprisingly agile in Beethoven's sometimes unfriendly vocal lines. Mezzo Katarina Karnéus had a dark, grounded & penetrating sound. Tenor Gregory Kunde sometimes started off wobbly before settling into a more focused sound. Bass Ain Anger has a smooth, slightly velvety sound. My concert companion wondered whether Mr. Anger's was being amplified. His voice did sometimes sound a bit disembodied.

From my seat in the 1st tier the orchestra sounded attenuated & pale, especially the strings, which were slightly reduced. There were only 7 cellos & 6 basses. Concert master Alexander Barantschik played deep into his strings for his expansive solos in the Benedictus, sounding sustained & solid. MTT's pacing was relaxed, even & a bit sedate. He did not push for big climaxes. There was a nice pianissimo at the end of the "Et incarnatus est." The theatrical trumpet call in the Agnus Dei sounded far-off & subdued. The audience was quiet during the long, restful pauses MTT took between sections. The piece's unusual ending, which simply pulls back & then up, felt both instantaneous & conclusive. The audience gave the performance a standing ovation, with the biggest applause going to the chorus.

§ MTT conducts Beethoven’s Missa solemnis
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Christine Brewer, soprano
Katarina Karnéus, mezzo-soprano
Gregory Kunde, tenor
Ain Anger, bass

San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Ragnar Bohlin, director

Beethoven: Missa solemnis

Thu, Jun 23, 2011 8:00pm
Davies Symphony Hall

Meet the Merolini 2011

At this kick-off event for the 2011 Merola Opera Program, each of the 25 participating young artists took turns sitting at a table with President Patrick Wilken, Chairman Jayne Davis & General Director Sheri Greenawald to answer a couple of questions before an audience of Merola supporters. The questions were designed to elicit artists' personal stories as well as their musical experience, so we learned that baritone Mark Diamond (pictured) played competitive ultimate frisbee in college & aspires to the athletic stage presence of barihunk Nathan Gunn. Baritone Guodong "Gordon" Feng has a wife who is a popular singer in China, & he got a big laugh when he admitted that they fight & then make up by singing "Là ci darem la mano." Baritone John Maynard claimed that he did not start singing until he was in his early 20s & was inspired by CDs of Schubert & Brahms lieder selected for him by an Amoeba employee.

Apprentice coach Ana María Otamendi studied geophysics in college but never gave up her love of playing the piano. Soprano Elizabeth Zharoff (pictured) described a harrowing performance during which she cut her hand just before going on stage as Barbarina. She sung an entire act while bleeding from 2 fingers & eventually required a total of 10 stitches. The mini interviews took about an hour and a half, with a reception following. There is no singing at this event, but we can hear the Merolini in several public performances during the summer, including 4 staged performances of Il Barbiere di Siviglia & a free concert in Yerba Buena Gardens. Donors to the Merola Program have access to additional events such as master classes.

§ Meet the Merolini
Thursday, June 23, 5:30 PM
The Green Room, Herbst Theater

§ Up-Coming public performances:

Schwabacher Summer Concert
Friday, July 22, 7:30 PM
Herbst Theater

Schwabacher Summer Concert
Sunday, July 24, 2:00 PM
Yerba Buena Gardens
Free to the public

The Schwabacher Concerts include scenes from Don Carlo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto & Eugene Onegin.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Thursday & Friday, August 4 & 5 at 8:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday, August 6 & 7 at 2:00pm
Herbst Theater

Merola Grand Finale
Saturday, August 20, 7:30 PM
War Memorial Opera House

SF Opera Ring Cycle 2: Die Walküre

Walküre is my favorite of the Ring operas, so I could not keep away from this cycle 2 performance at the SF Opera. I did not watch but instead sat on a bench at the back of the balcony to listen, though I did take a peek over the railing to gaze at the real flames at the end. The Opera Tattler lent me her score, & I tried to follow along.

The performance had an even, continuous flow instead of moving from climax to climax. The orchestra sounded more relaxed than last week, the strings were more unified, & there was beautiful playing from every section. The trumpets played with clear articulation. They must have to do that sword motif a hundred times each performance!

I continue to enjoy Brandon Jovanovich's Siegmund. His voice is weighty, yet the singing is lyrical & connected. He goes sharp when his character gets excited, though, such as during his cries of "Wälse!" Anja Kampe gives a sweeping, involved performance as Sieglinde. Daniel Sumegi's voice is gruff & hollow as Hunding, though I wished for him to sound more threatening. I like Elizabeth Bishop's full, grounded sound & her commanding, confident Fricka. I still haven't figured out what I think of Mark Delevan's exceedingly human, insecure Wotan. I like the clarity of his expression & his lack of heavy bluster. Nina Stemme still sounds fresh, strong & vibrant as Brünnhilde. Where does all that power come from?

It seemed like there were more standees than last week. Strangely, spots #1 & #2 were unoccupied when the doors opened to let them in. I ran into John Marcher among them. The Opera Tattler attended as her interpretation of Fricka as a shrewish 1950s housewife, wielding a rolling pin.

§ Die Walküre
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Director: Francesca Zambello

Sieglinde: Anja Kampe
Siegmund: Brandon Jovanovich
Hunding: Daniel Sumegi
Wotan: Mark Delavan
Brünnhilde: Nina Stemme
Fricka: Elizabeth Bishop

Ortlinde: Melissa Citro
Schwertleite: Cybele Gouverneur
Waltraute: Daveda Karanas
Gerhilde: Sara Gartland
Helmwige: Tamara Wapinsky
Siegrune: Maya Lahyani
Grimgerde: Renée Tatum
Rossweisse: Lauren McNeese

War Memorial Opera House
Wed 06/22/11 7:00pm

Garden of Memory

Yesterday I marked the summer solstice by attending the Garden of Memory walk-through concert in The Chapel of Chimes in Oakland. The trip out was worth it for the building alone, a peaceful, Gothic-inspired columbarium designed by Julia Morgan. It's a rabbit warren of alternately cramped & airy spaces going on for 3 levels. Attendees randomly discover musical performances as they wander through the seemingly endless corridors & nooks, surrounded by the dead. An accordion player wearing goggles sang French songs to visitors in one room. The meditative chanting of the Cornelius Cardew Choir drifted down continuously from the upper floor. There were also scheduled performances, such as organizer Sarah Cahill fluidly performing a Terry Reilly piano duo with Regina Schaffer.

SFMike drew my attention to Cornelius Boots, playing a mesmerizing improvisation on the shakuhachi then displaying a wicked facility with circular breathing on the bass clarinet. Mike's friend Bill made sure we heard singer Amy X Neuburg, performing her own droll songs with lines like "Did I just sweep this or did I merely spread it around?" She has an easy, effortless sound that moves evenly from a low to an operatically high register. She accompanies herself using a looping machine & electronic samples. I came across Ken Ueno making subterranean, growling sounds that produced whistling overtones. It sounds scarily like he's tearing up his throat. The effort looks exhausting, & he clasps his microphone in both hands with elbows spread wide, as if to crush it.

The event is popular. I saw families with small children & even crying infants. Even though the building is large, it became too crowded to move in some areas. When I left after two and a half hours, people were still lining up to get in.

§ Garden of Memory
Summer Solstice Concert
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
5 pm - 9 pm
Chapel of Chimes, Oakland

SF Opera Ring Cycle I: Götterdämmerung

As before, this final installment of San Francisco Opera's Ring Cycle began with Ronnita Miller, Daveda Karanas & Heidi Melton as the 3 norns, setting a high bar for the rest of the afternoon with their powerful, no holds barred singing. I thought Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde sounded uncharacteristically harsh, but she displayed boundless energy. She always looks ready to pounce. There was a smattering of applause after her 1st scene with the Siegfried of Ian Storey. His hefty, baritonal sound made for an obvious contrast with the previous opera's Siegfried.

Andrea Silvestrelli's voice remained huge & cavernous, even when singing into a pillow as the sleeping Hagen in Act II. Gordon Hawkins is solid as Alberich, though I wished for him to sound even more menacing. The staging of Act II is strangely static. Even though the music is full of movement at the end, the principals just stand around, not interacting. The male chorus made a big, unified sound & communicated strength. Ms. Stemme sounded her normal, healthy self again, & the revenge trio was thrilling. Distressingly, Mr. Storey rapidly lost his voice at the end of the spear-swearing scene, & when he exited, I figured he was done for the afternoon.

Before Act III, General Director David Gockley announced that Mr. Storey had suffered a "vocal indisposition," &, having received attention from a doctor, would continue. Mr. Storey gave out a strong off-stage high note just before entering, & he seemed more or less recovered. The audience laughed when they realized that the Rheinmaidens were collecting used plastic water bottles for recycling. In his death scene, Siegfried's last act is to drag himself toward a sword & attempt to grasp it. This is dramatic, but it goes against the text & the music, in which Siegfried's dying thoughts are of Brünnhilde. Ms. Stemme sang effortlessly through the Immolation Scene. Though her big high notes seem unreal coming out of her small frame, it is the beauty of her low, soft "Ruhe, du Gott" that is the most moving moment.

The orchestra continued to play beautifully for Donald Runnicles. The Funeral Music was expansive & heaving, yet taut. There was a disconcerting moment in Act I when the brass section turned to mush, but really their playing over the entire cycle has been consistently fine, often glowing, & always brave. After the music ended, the curtain came up on Ms. Stemme, & she received a standing ovation & cheers from the audience. There was some booing from the balcony for Francesca Zambello. The backstage crew & orchestra also appeared on stage for the ovations.

Bouncing back from a mishap the previous performance, the Opera Tattler paraded around in blue tulle, dressed as a Rheinmaiden (Flosshilde, to be precise). I waved down Patrick after the show, & ran into Out West Arts, who looked cheerful as ever, despite commuting between here & L.A. to attend the cycle. I did the full cycle with standing room tickets. The process is an exercise in willful inefficiency.

§ Götterdämmerung

San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor - Donald Runnicles

Director - Francesca Zambello

First Norn - Ronnita Miller

Second Norn - Daveda Karanas

Third Norn - Heidi Melton

Brünnhilde - Nina Stemme

Siegfried - Ian Storey

Gunther - Gerd Grochowski

Hagen - Andrea Silvestrelli

Gutrune - Melissa Citro

Waltraute - Daveda Karanas

Alberich - Gordon Hawkins

Woglinde - Stacey Tappan

Wellgunde - Lauren McNeese

Flosshilde - Renée Tatum

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House

Sun 06/19/11 1:00pm

SF Opera Ring Cycle I: Siegfried

Friday night's San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle performance of Siegfried was strong. The orchestra under Donald Runnicles was stunning, sounding buoyant but without losing a feeling of substance. There was a continual forward motion, the climaxes unfolding naturally along the way. In the ominous prelude to Act II, featuring timpani, tuba & tremolo strings, the orchestra was a creature in itself. The strangely meandering violin line that accompanies Siegfried's arrival at Brünnhilde's rock was other-worldy. I felt like the sun was shining in my eyes too when Brünnhilde awoke to those shimmering brass chords.

I continued to enjoy Jay Hunter Morris's bright, gritty sound & even singing. He sounded even more comfortable than before, moving easily on stage & never straining or in danger of losing his voice. David Cangelosi's Mime did 3 cartwheels for us as well as a backward somersault atop the trailer. I appreciate that he sings the role rather than half declaiming it, as I sometimes hear. His characterization is so funny & entertaining that I came dangerously close to liking Mime. Nina Stemme's Brünnhilde continues to be unstoppable, moving with excitement & sounding vibrant & warm.

In Act I, Wotan's reaction to the bad beer from Mime's trailer got a big laugh. He humorously walked with his foot in a bucket to imitate the giants, & he may have momentarily gotten his foot stuck for real. In Act II, Siegfried makes his pipe by drilling holes in a metal pipe. I did not understand why Alberich is making Molotov cocktails & pushing around a noisy shopping cart. Daniel Sumegi makes a gruff, hollow sound that is appropriate to Fafner, though he also strokes Siegfried's head, implying an unexpected tenderness. Mr. Morris's stage presence is likable, but his Siegfried becomes particularly nasty when he threatens to burn the bodies of Fafner & Mime. I am still not convinced by having the Woodbird appear as a pretty young girl. It seems wrong for Siegfried to interact with another woman before he encounters Brünnhilde. The staging of the Act III encounter between Wotan & Erda has been toned down so that Wotan is not so physically abusive. Ronnita Miller's low register is so grounded & weighty it is like a separate voice from her higher range.

The Opera Tattler tweeted something about a wardrobe malfunction that prevented her from making a full costumed appearance at this performance. This was a big disappointment to at least one person in standing room, who, on hearing the news, worried that she would not be coming at all. Siegfried's bear did not get a curtain call, as he did at the 1st performance.

§ Siegfried
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor, Donald Runnicles
Director, Francesca Zambello

Siegfried, Jay Hunter Morris
The Wanderer (Wotan), Mark Delavan
Brünnhilde, Nina Stemme
Mime, David Cangelosi
Alberich, Gordon Hawkins
Fafner, Daniel Sumegi
Erda, Ronnita Miller
Forest Bird, Stacey Tappan

Fri 06/17/11 6:30pm

Music Criticism Meets the New Media

Friday afternoon I attended a panel talk about non-print classical music reporting, put on by the Music Critics Association of North America, who are having their annual meeting in San Francisco this week. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times related the positive feedback he has received for his on-line music appreciation videos. Chloe Veltman told us how she went from free-lance journalist to radio show host to podcaster, but when she mentioned an under-paid, "tech-savvy, at-risk youth" who is her technical producer, I wondered if I should start a "Free Seth" campaign. Anne Midgette of The Washington Post, paraphrasing Brent Assink, informed us that audiences no longer want to be just lectured at. Lisa Hirsch ran down a list of specific, practical advice for those getting into blogging. She suggested focusing on the 3 biggest draws: Opera, death, & gossip. After a break, John Robinson, executive director of San Francisco Classical Voice, gave us a history of the site & led us in singing Happy Birthday for the site's founder, Robert Commanday. John Rockwell stated that the days of the generalist critic are over & that we are instead in the age of the "impassioned specialist." He warned that there is no viable business model for blogging & that on-line discussions are going to be led by the most passionate. Due to time constraints, there was no time for questions. The event was held in a drab rehearsal space in the basement of Davies Hall, & it did not make me feel that being a music critic is a particularly glamorous gig. SFMike & Patrick were among the attendees, though they are probably the least in need of the information presented.

§ Music Criticism Meets the New Media
Music Critics Association of North America
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 1:30pm

SF Opera Ring Cycle I: Die Walküre

As I was last summer, on Wednesday night I was blown away by the gorgeous singing of this Walküre. Brandon Jovanovich's 1st utterance as Siegmund set the precedent for a continuous stream of vocal lyricism. His singing was beautifully connected, athletic & Italianate. This plus his swoon-worthy stage presence made for a passionate Siegmund. Anja Kampe was equally ardent & soaring. The interior of Hunding's house, filled with guns, hunting trophies & tacky art is hyper-realistic, though the tree is an incongruous flat silhouette. Sieglinde is an active participant in her escape, & it takes both of them to pull the sword from the tree.

Nina Stemme's Brünnhilde bounded on stage at the beginning of act 2 full of energy, her Hojotohs & high trills packing a punch. She playfully strides Wotan's desk & rides him piggy-back. Her humorous reaction to a telephone call got a huge laugh from the audience. Mark Delevan's Wotan is articulate, never blustery, though he is not beyond threatening Brünnhilde with the back of his hand. Elizabeth Bishop has a nice full sound, & her Fricka was controlled & conversational in her argument with Wotan.

In contrast to the previous night, the scene change in act 2 was quiet. During Brünnhilde's pronouncements to Siegmund, soldiers march slowly across the stage holding close-cropped headshots of actual fallen soldiers. Hunding's dogs scamper briefly across the stage, though they are not menacing. I like that Wotan kills Hunding with his bare hands instead of using The Force, as often happens in other productions.

In act 3 the audience applauded the parachuting valkyries, though the stunt is not visible from the balcony. Their combined sound was powerful. Mr. Delevan was convincingly angry when he went down the line of vallkyries, chewing them out, & he grappled physically with Brünnhilde. His subsequent breakdown & tender treatment of her was moving. Mr. Delevan clearly saved up to make a big sound in his final moments, but some of his sound was lost by his placement upstage. Ms. Stemme big, warm voice & energetic movement never flagged. She seems unstoppable.

The orchestra under Donald Runnicles played out the entire evening, & there were wonderfully delicate solos from the clarinet, as well as the flute & harp. I often noticed prominent passages for the viola section & the bass clarinet. There was a fairly consistent intonation problem somewhere in the brasses, but the trumpets were reliably clear, & the final brass chord sounded fine. But there were no real flaws, with Maestro Runnicles keeping the music constantly moving forward in an organic way.

It was a treat to run into Out West Arts in the Biergarten before the performance. The last time we saw one another was at the Met's old Ring in 2009. The Opera Tattler, again heading the standees line, showed up as a valkyrie, with winged headgear & a real spear. I was too frightened to stand next to her at the balcony railing, but I should have been more wary of SMike, who tried to run me down in the race upstairs.

§ Die Walküre
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Director: Francesca Zambello

Sieglinde: Anja Kampe
Siegmund: Brandon Jovanovich
Hunding: Daniel Sumegi
Wotan: Mark Delavan
Brünnhilde: Nina Stemme
Fricka: Elizabeth Bishop

Ortlinde: Melissa Citro
Schwertleite: Cybele Gouverneur
Waltraute: Daveda Karanas
Gerhilde: Sara Gartland
Helmwige: Tamara Wapinsky
Siegrune: Maya Lahyani
Grimgerde: Renée Tatum
Rossweisse: Lauren McNeese

War Memorial Opera House
Wed 06/15/11 7:00pm

SF Opera Ring Cycle I: Das Rheingold

Standees cheered when the usher at the north entrance of the War Memorial Opera house announced "Welcome to the Ring!" & opened the doors for us. It was 2 deep in upstairs standing room, where I stood at the railing behind a young lady wearing a bowler hat. The orchestra played out, starting with the overture, which seemed to begin mezzo-forte instead of emerging imperceptibly from silence. Ensemble is sounding better, especially in the strings & woodwinds. The violin solos representing Freia were supple & beautiful. The articulation of the sword motif by the bass trumpet was very clean.

Stefan Margita was terrific as Loge, & his smooth, crystalline voice seemed to get more clear & flexible as the evening progressed. Andrea Silvestrelli, with his bottomless voice, was a brutish yet love-sick Fasolt. I liked that he & Daniel Sumegi, as Fafner, had such different-sounding voices, which helped differentiate the characters of the 2 brothers. Elizabeth Bishop was a sympathetic, bourgeois matron as Fricka, her voice strong & secure. Mark Delavan plays a very human Wotan, & his delivery communicates reasoning rather than force. Brandon Jovanovich as Froh sang lyrically when greeting the return of Freia in scene 4. Ronnita Miller has powerful low notes & was a stately Erda. She rises vertically through a trap in the stage floor but is otherwise nearly motionless.

The staging seems pretty much the same as what I saw 3 years ago. The projections have been updated, though I wasn't sure how to interpret the spinning image representing the trip to Nibelheim. The audience was amused by Alberich's transformation into a frog puppet, especially when Loge grabbed it & tossed it in the air. Donner's flame-spewing croquet mallet in the final scene is an unlikely spectacle.

We heard banging, clomping & shouting during every scene change. The audience laughed when someone behind the scrim yelled "Hurry up!" during the transition to scene 4, yet after all that commotion the curtain came up on a bare stage. Amazingly, we in the balcony could often hear the voice of a female prompter, especially during scene 2. The Opera Tattler attended in downstairs standing room, wearing her prize-winning Erda costume, though she was frequently mistaken for a Rheinmaiden instead.

§ Das Rheingold
San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle 2011

Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Director: Francesca Zambello

Woglinde: Stacey Tappan
Wellgunde: Lauren McNeese
Flosshilde: Renée Tatum
Alberich: Gordon Hawkins
Fricka: Elizabeth Bishop
Wotan: Mark Delavan
Freia: Melissa Citro
Fasolt: Andrea Silvestrelli
Fafner: Daniel Sumegi
Froh: Brandon Jovanovich
Donner: Gerd Grochowski
Loge: Stefan Margita
Mime: David Cangelosi
Erda: Ronnita Miller

War Memorial Opera House
Tue 06/14/11 8:00pm

The Steins Collect

This weekend I contended with the Sunday afternoon crowds at the SF MOMA to view The Steins Collect. The extensive exhibit, containing some of the biggest names in 20th art, takes up the entire 4th floor & requires timed entry. Besides paintings, the show includes the Steins' furniture, family photo albums, letters & other artifacts. It is fun to see photos of the Steins' homes, the walls hung with famous works by Picasso, Cezanne & Matisse, then to look around & see the same paintings on the gallery walls. It must have been a huge administrative feat to bring these works back together from the museums & private collections they were scattered to.

Matisse is well represented, but I was really happy to see many of the Picassos, including the early Boy Leading Horse, with its monumental yet tender figures. It is one of my favorite paintings in the MOMA. I started to recognize the hard brow line of the young Allan Stein, nephew of Gertrude. There is something more than child-like in the portraits of him by Picasso & Matisse. I enjoyed the set of toy dolls by Florine Strethheimer, which are her Maquettes of Costumes & Sets for Four Saints in Three Acts. I think it shows dogs whimsically dressed up as lions. I doubt this was ever intended to last, so its survival from the 1930s seems miraculous.

I learned a lot about the Steins, but I am still more interested in the art itself, & the sprawling exhibition did not help me understand the paintings better. Before visiting the show, I started reading SFMike's useful biographical background on the family, but I may have to go back after part 3 (& maybe 4?) comes out.

§ The Steins Collect
Matisse, Picasso, And The Parisian Avant-Garde
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
May 21 - September 06, 2011

Prologue to the Ring

At 10am this morning, there were around 40 people in line for standing room tickets at SF Opera for this evening's opening night of the 1st of 3 Ring cycles. Anticipation is high, & everyone appeared to be in a good mood. I was two places behind SFMike, who was securing his ticket before heading out to a tennis date.


At the front of line, looking extremely pleased, was the Opera Tattler, natürlich.

§ San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle
June-July 2011

Photographs of Richard Learoyd & Doug Rickard

Thursday afternoon I visited the Fraenkel Gallery, where Richard Learoyd's life-size prints take up all 3 rooms. These crisp images, mostly of skinny female models, were made with a room-sized camera obscura. Light coming from the subject created the image directly on photographic paper. This means that there is no intervening negative & that the subject & the print were in the same location at the time of creation. The most detailed areas of the pictures have a microscopic clarity. The light required must have been very intense. It has a wintry quality. There is a stark directness about the pictures, though the models seem too distant for these to be portraits. Some of the poses have the classical look of 19th century paintings. I looked at the price list, & every picture but one was sold.

One floor down, I saw Doug Rickard's show of found photography at the Stephen Wirtz Gallery. The photographer selected pictures from Google Street View, photographed them on his computer screen, then blew them up into large prints, up to 5 feet wide. His theme being urban poverty, Mr. Rickard chose scenes of people adrift in blighted urban areas in places such as Fresno, Jersey City, Detroit & New Orleans. Since these are low-res images, close inspection is not rewarded. I saw this same technique of photographing Google Street View images in Michael Wolf's show in the same building a couple of months ago. I mentioned this to one of the gallery staff, & she quickly responded that Mr. Rickard's pictures look completely different. Which is true. In the gallery's back room, I enjoyed discovering Larry Sultan's vaguely decadent portrait of socialite Denise Hale. Her translucent blouse shocked me.

§ Richard Learoyd: Presences
Fraenkel Gallery
Through June 25, 2011

Doug Richard: A New American Picture
Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Through July 2, 2011

SFO: Götterdämmerung

This Sunday afternoon I attended the premiere of San Francisco Opera's Götterdämmerung. There are no weak singers in this cast. The performance began with the powerful, all-out singing of 3 goggle-wearing Norns, who live inside the 1980s version of Tron & trace computer cables instead of weaving ropes. Ian Storey, our Siegfried, had a meaty sound & was consistent throughout. He was good at imitating a baritone at the end of act I. His Siegfried is mature rather than boyish, & the production does not disguise that fact that he is often a jerk. Nina Stemme was a phenomenon as Brünnhilde. Her sound was warm, robust & healthy, & she rode a wave of energy that lasted the entire opera. In the Immolation Scene her high notes continued to ring out while her "Ruhe, du Gott" was low, soft & rich. Her performance was simply overwhelming.

Andrea Silvestrelli's snarling, predatory & subterranean voice made for a perfectly evil Hagen. I found him thrilling. Gerd Grochowski is a strong singer & tasteful actor. His Gunther is ambitious & feckless but not wimpy. Gutrune resembles Paris Hilton, & her teenage mannerisms & humorous stage business provoked genuine laughter. She is a knowing co-conspirator in the seduction of Siegfried, which goes against the text & her music. It was weird to see her & Hagen watching TV together at the beginning of Act II. The Waltraute scene is a difficult hump for me to get over, but Daveda Karanas's urgent & focused singing forced me to pay attention to her character's pleading.

Under Donald Runnicles, the orchestra played with a seamless ebb & flow. The ensemble was not always tight, & there were several brass bloopers, but I did not perceive these as faults. The overall sound was luminous. Maestro Runnicles was probably fast, but the music never felt pushed or rushed. Indeed, it often sounded expansive. Climaxes unfolded organically rather than popping out like highlights. The heaving Funeral Music made me feel weak in the chest.

The staging of the cycle's final scene was frankly disappointing. When Brünnhilde began "Starke Scheite" on an empty stage, I figured that director Francesca Zambello had some big coup up her sleeve, but instead I watched women throw away trash. After Siegfried's body was unceremoniously dumped off the back of the stage, those of us in the balcony could see Mr. Storey get up & scamper away. Brünnhilde had a real torch, but unfortunately it went out before she had a chance to light the pyre. In the final moments a little girl comes on stage & plants a sapling.

Nina Stemme received a loud & extended ovation, & the production crew & orchestra were on stage for the final curtain call. After the house lights came up, we could hear them cheering. I attended in upstairs standing room, between the Opera Tattler & SFMike. The performance rendered me useless for the rest of the evening, & I am still hearing Ring music in my head. The first of 3 cycles starts June 14th.

§ Götterdämmerung

San Francisco Opera

Conductor - Donald Runnicles

Director - Francesca Zambello

First Norn - Ronnita Miller

Second Norn - Daveda Karanas

Third Norn - Heidi Melton

Brünnhilde - Nina Stemme

Siegfried - Ian Storey

Gunther - Gerd Grochowski

Hagen - Andrea Silvestrelli

Gutrune - Melissa Citro

Waltraute - Daveda Karanas

Alberich - Gordon Hawkins

Woglinde - Stacey Tappan

Wellgunde - Lauren McNeese

Flosshilde - Renée Tatum

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House

Sun 06/5/11 1:00pm

Kadist Reading Room

After discovering the zine collection at Goteblüd, I sought out the reading room at Kadist. This is the San Francisco branch of a Paris-based art foundation. On Saturdays, they hold a reading room featuring European art magazines that are not distributed in the US. The edgiest ones could be glossy, high-art versions of what I had just seen at Goteblüd. Kadist also hosts residencies & a Wednesday night event series. Several people wandered in & out during my visit, & the person who initially greeted me was the local program director. I was offered coffee & cake & encouraged to check out the People's Gallery & the offices of The Thing Quarterly, which are next door.

§ Kadist
Reading Room 11am - 5pm, every Saturday through the end of July
2401 Folsom Street, Entrance at 3295 20th Street

Goteblüd

Saturday afternoon, I found Goteblüd, a retail space devoted to vintage zines. It's in the same building as Mission Bicycle & the Paxton Gate toy shop, but you need to get buzzed in. As I stepped inside the building, Goteblüd's eager proprietor, Matt Wobensmith, appeared in the hall to greet me, as if I had been expected all day. I'd never seen so many zines in one place. I believe Mr. Wobensmith claimed he had 25,000 in the store plus more in storage. He is specifically interested in the pre-Web zine scene, which he calls the "Printernet." Since printed zines are ephemeral & have been replaced by personal blogs, they turn out to be rare. While most items are only a few dollars, I came across zines by artist Raymond Pettibon priced at $80, & this is apparently a relative bargain. I admired the brown shag carpet that completely covers one side of the room. I had once heard of an outrageously offensive zine based on the Peanuts, & Mr. Wobensmith confirmed that it exists & assured me that he would come up with a copy of it soon.

§ Goteblüd
766 Valencia
Open Saturdays & Sundays 12pm - 5pm

An Evening of English Music

Thursday evening clarinetist Brenden Guy presented a pleasing & well-organized concert of English chamber music. Besides performing, he briefly introduced each piece & described the selections by Finzi, Cooke & Holst as traditionally English & "cute." The performances lived up to this characterization. Mr. Guy & pianist Yeo Jin Seol were lively in the 2 outer movements of Finzi's Five Bagatelles, in which the piano & clarinet lines chase one another. Arnold Cooke's Three Songs of Innocence are pictorial settings of William Blake poems, with the clarinet adding pastoral color. Soprano Indre Viskontas was very at ease & had a high-sounding voice that make me think of the tingling of a small bell. Ian Scarfe was an involved pianist. The musicians truly listened to each other in the Holst Wind Quintet in A-flat, & it sounded like a conversation among friends.

Mr. Guy's playing is generally clear, calm & unfussy, but after the intermission he let himself play out a bit in the virtuosic clarinet sonata by Howells. I liked how he kept the feeling of one long line in the 1st movement. He executed an evil trill in the angular 2nd movement with fluent ease. The concert ended with a splash as Mr. Guy conducted an ensemble of 10 in Britten's precocious Sinfonietta, Op. 1. He maintained a precise beat throughout, & the performance was vivacious. I enjoyed violinist Kevin Rogers's urgent playing & his high duet with 2nd violinist Cassie Bequary. Jason Byszkowski was an alert viola player. Oboist Jesse Barrat made a distinctive, dense tone. It was interesting to notice that Paul Miller had a very different clarinet sound from Mr. Guy.

Mr. Guy beamed cheerfully throughout the entire event. He thanked Karen Ames for being his "American mother," & we got to embarrass her by clapping for her. Happily, the Opera Tattler & SFMike were also in attendance. I had the impression that everyone in the audience had some connection to the performers, so the whole thing felt a bit like a party.

§ An Evening of English Music
Brenden Guy, Clarinet & Conductor

Gerald Finzi: Five Bagatelles
Brenden Guy, clarinet
Yeo Jin Seol, piano

Arnold Cooke: Three Songs of Innocence
Indre Viskontas, soprano
Brenden Guy, clarinet
Ian Scarfe, piano

Gustav Holst: Quintet in Ab Major, op.14
Valinor Winds
Sasha Launer, flute
Jessica Huntsman, oboe
Brenden Guy, clarinet
Alexis Luque, bassoon
Sivan Adato, horn

Herbert Howells: Sonata for Clarinet & Piano
Brenden Guy, clarinet
Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Benjamin Britten: Sinfonietta, op.1 for small chamber orchestra
Brenden Guy, conductor
Kevin Rogers, violin
Cassie Bequary, violin
Jason Pyszkowski, viola
Sung Bin Choi, cello
Megan McDevitt, double bass
Sasha Launer, flute
Jesse Barrat, oboe
Paul Miller, clarinet
Micah Standley, bassoon
Sivan Adato, french horn

Thursday, June 2, 2011, at 7:30pm
Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist