SF Opera Ring Cycle 3: Götterdämmerung

I got my standing room ticket a bit past 11am & received 181, meaning that the box office sold out all 150 standing room tickets at 10am for this final performance of the San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle. SFMike has documented the madness. I again sat on the balcony floor, libretto in hand, taking in the orchestra's beautiful playing & the cast's powerful singing. Even just listening, I was often overwhelmed. The Norn scene has turned out to be one of the cycle's strengths, the singers complementing each other with distinct yet equally strong voices. Andrea Silvestrelli's snarling, cavernous voice by itself communicates Hagen's malevolence. Nina Stemme only grew stronger with each act, & her Brünnhilde was warm, compassionate & consoling in the Immolation Scene.

Ian Storey was a much more consistent Siegfried than in his cycle 1 performance, his voice appropriately weighty & bluff. Melissa Citro was often sharp, but her acting projects well. Gordon Hawkins's voice is solid & dark, though his characterization of Alberich is not threatening. In the Rheinmaiden scene, it was easy to pick out Renée Tatum's well-grounded Flosshilde.

The orchestra played responsively & generously for conductor Donald Runnicles. The transition between the 1st two scenes of Act I was a perfectly controlled crescendo. The Rhine Journey was full & billowing. The performance had a sense of continual unfurling. Act II seemed to pass by in minutes. There was emphatic applause for the orchestra before Act III, as well as a shout of "Bravo Maestro!" We were immediately rewarded with a brilliant French horn solo at the top of the act. The Funeral Music was taut yet throbbing, & it put a lump in my throat. The audience was totally silent in the spaces between those startling, portentous orchestral blows. And I actually heard the opera's soft final notes, which are normally drowned out by overly-enthusiastic applause.

Ms. Stemme received a standing ovation when the curtain came up on her solo bow. I glimpsed her beaming face on the video screens. The French horn soloist stood next to Maestro Runnicles when the orchestra was revealed on stage. Everyone received loud applause & cheers, though when the house lights came up, one of my companions in standing room felt that they could have let the ovations continue longer. Even as we were talking, ushers were clearing us out of the house.

It was a warm weekend, so I spent the intermissions in the Biergarten, which was a crush of people. The Opera Tattler was adorned with flowers grown by her Ring Cycle companion. When asked who she was this time, she answered that she was dressed as herself, The Opera Tattler. With the hardiness of a Volsung, she has attended Ring rehearsals, lectures, pre-cycle performances of Siegfried & Götterdämmerung, & all 3 cycles. I assumed she would leave the performance horizontally, but she was indeed still standing at the end of the day.

§ 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 07/3/11 1:00pm

SF Opera Ring Cycle 3: Siegfried

I'm so glad I decided to hear these final San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle performances. For Friday's Siegfried, I sat on the floor at the back of the balcony with a libretto for the 1st two acts then squeezed in between some friends at the rail for the 3rd act to watch Nina Stemme's radiant Brünnhilde awaken. The orchestra continues to be a beautiful & responsive instrument in itself. Act I was bouncy & nimble. The forging music had a fleetness to it. Even without watching David Cangelosi's animated performance, I got the full impression of his funny & characterful Mime. Jay Hunter Morris sounded bigger & more open than in his cycle 1 performance, & he communicated a bounding youthfulness.

In Act II, people gasped when the clarinet squeaked at the beginning of the Forest Murmurs, but I've been enjoying the clarinet's floaty playing throughout the cycle so much that this made no difference to me. Mr. Morris's singing was especially buoyant & sweet in this scene. There was genuine laughter when the English horn deliberately squawked, & the French horn played Siegfried's calls fearlessly.

The orchestra played out during the Wanderer scenes of Act III, occasionally drowning out the singers. Mr. Morris sang with continued vigor yet never sounded strained. I found him exciting. The balcony audience laughed when they saw the OperaVision close-up of his sly look as he prepared to kiss the sleeping Brünnhilde. Before singing a note, Nina Stemme emoted a great deal as she reacted to the sun. Her voice was powerful & full of warmth, sometimes taking on a velvety tone. She was a dynamo & expressed great joy in the final moments.

Prior to the performance, the Opera Tattler allowed me to photograph her Forest Bird look. This is the outfit which she kept hidden during the Cycle I Siegfried due to a pre-performance mishap. Up in standing room, I saw a dog trot to a balcony seat, a man in a utilikilt, & a man in shorts & a colorful vest who stretched himself on the floor & went to sleep as soon as the lights went down.

§ 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 07/1/11 6:30pm

Ring Prophecy

I just looked up "sein" in 501 German Verbs, & the example sentence is "Die drei Nornen sangen von allem, was war, ist und sein wird." I take this as a warning that I must not miss tomorrow's final Ring Cycle performance of Götterdämmerung at San Francisco Opera.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SFO: Siegfried

Sunday afternoon I was in upstairs standing room at San Francisco Opera to hear the new Siegfried. It seemed like conductor Donald Runnicles & the orchestra simply picked up where they left off from their beautiful Walküre of last summer. Maestro Runnicles's pacing was elastic & had a powerful, natural flow. The orchestral playing was full of detail, & gorgeous solos popped out frequently, especially from the clarinet, flute & trumpet. The sound coming out of the pit for the stormy act 3 overture was tremendous.

David Cangelosi was terrific as Mime. He sustained a high level of energy throughout, even executing cartwheels & somersaults. His characterization was comic without being sniveling or cowardly, & he got one of the biggest ovations of the afternoon. Jay Hunter Morris's voice does not have the baritonal quality of a heldentenor, but I liked its bright & slightly gritty edge. He was impressively consistent for the entire opera. I never felt, as I have with other Siegfrieds, that he was not going to make it. This Siegfried wears facial hair & does not exude a sense of boyishness or stupidity. Mark Delavan sings the Wanderer with clear diction & a somewhat speech-like quality. His Wanderer comes across as impatient rather than commanding. Gordon Hawkins, as a very bitter Alberich, had an appropriately dark sound. Nina Stemme was exuberant after she awoke as Brünnhilde. She is a small woman, & it is like an optical illusion when that huge, healthy sound comes out of her.

The setting for this production seems to be an apocalyptic, post-industrial wasteland. Mime & Siegfried live in a beat-up trailer at the edge of a scrap yard. I enjoyed Siegfried's food-stealing bear & the can of Pam sitting on a shelf in the trailer. Act 2 takes place at a huge warehouse, which Fafner guards with a gigantic robotic garbage truck. The totally man-made setting went against the music's evocation of a forest, though. The Forest Bird appears on-stage as a perky young girl who takes notes while trying to communicate with Siegfried. Stacey Tappan sang & acted the part spiritedly. I did not understand the Wanderer's encounter with Erda in which they are physically abusive toward one another. Ronnita Miller is a noble Earth mother, & her voice is strong & even throughout its range. She pushed out equally powerful high & low notes.

Even though Ring Cycles do not start for another 2 weeks, the audience must have been full of Wagnerites, since there were no signs of restlessness & almost no attrition after the 2nd act. The Opera Tattler attended in standing room, & she left a children's book about the opera to entertain me while she went backstage to work the coffee service between acts. SFMike materialized in standing room as well during act 3. I spent my intermissions eating the 3 sandwiches I had brought to keep me going. A Biergarten was set up on the outside balcony, where one could buy a beer, a sausage in a bun & a Bretzel.

§ Siegfried
San Francisco Opera

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

Sun 05/29/11 1:00pm