SF Opera: Susannah

Last week I saw Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at San Francisco Opera. I'd never heard it before, & neither had most opera-going acquaintances I asked. The story, set in a closed, traditional farming community, is straightforward, though bleak, & Floyd's music is pretty & lyrical. SF Opera's production was all of a piece. The austere yet picturesque sets nicely depicted the remote, rural locations, & the entire cast could have stepped out of a Grant Wood painting. Sharp-focused projections of natural landscapes provided cinematic backdrops & transitions. When the scene shifted from Susannah's cabin to a church dinner, the chorus was theatrically revealed to have been hidden on stage the whole time.

The performances put a priority on character, acting & projecting the text. In the title role, soprano Patricia Racette was completely convincing as a naive, innocent teenager. Though her high notes sometimes seemed pitchless, her singing was nonetheless persuasive, & her act 2 aria was expressive, sad & moving. Mezzo Catherine Cook was an almost comically judgy church lady, dripping with contempt for Susannah, as well as a bowl of peas.

Tenor Brandon Jovanovich was a lovable lunk as Susannah's brother, & his voice was consistently radiant & smooth. Bass Raymond Aceto sounded fittingly orotund & dark as the internally struggling Reverend Blitch. Tenor James Kryshak gave an impressive physical performance as a skittish Little Bat, his voice sounding high & clear. I enjoyed hearing tenor A.J. Glueckert's focused & somewhat brassy sound as one of the community's crusty elders.

Conductor Karen Kamensek led securely & had the orchestra sounding lush. The flute & clarinet soloists sounded especially fine. The audience sat quietly during the silences between scenes & gave Ms. Racette a warm ovation. I watched the performance from balcony standing room, where there was plenty of room at the railing. I had fun trading Bayreuth stories with another standee, & I also could not help noticing that the Opera Tattler wore a blue square dancing dress whose color suspiciously matched the dress worn by Susannah in the opera's opening scene.

§ Susannah
by Carlisle Floyd

San Francisco Opera
Conductor: Karen Kamensek
Director: Michael Cavanagh

Susannah Polk: Patricia Racette
Sam Polk: Brandon Jovanovich
Rev. Olin Blitch: Raymond Aceto
Mrs. Mclean: Catherine Cook
Little Bat Mclean: James Kryshak
Mrs. Hayes: Jacqueline Piccolino
Mrs. Gleaton: Erin Johnson
Mrs. Ott: Suzanne Hendrix
Elder Hayes: Joel Sorensen
Elder Gleaton: A.J. Glueckert
Elder Mclean: Dale Travis
Elder Ott: Timothy Mix
Two Men: Jere Torkelsen, William O'Neill

Tue 09/16/14 7:30pm
War Memorial Opera House

MVFF37: Soul of a Banquet

Last week I saw a preview of Soul of a Banquet, a modestly produced documentary by Wayne Wang about San Francisco restaurateur Cecilia Chiang. In the first half, Ms. Chiang, now a charming & august woman in her 90s, describes her privileged childhood in China before the war & then how she came to open the Mandarin Restaurant in the 1960s, despite feeling excluded by the Cantonese speakers of San Francisco's Chinatown. Alice Waters & food writer Ruth Reichl provide additional culinary & sociological commentary. It adds up to an oral history of a certain class of Chinese in the 20th century. Ms. Chiang's tragic account of her 1972 visit to China is riveting.

The film's 2nd half documents a fancy private banquet hosted by Ms. Chiang in honor of Alice Waters. The camera gives us many closeups of the elaborately detailed preparations & does a good job capturing the textures of the food. Ms. Chiang explains each course to her guests with a story, & the theatrical meal includes paper-thin slices of abalone, 2 tantalizing pork belly dishes & a chicken baked in a clay casing which has to be shattered with a hammer when it's ready to be served. Soul of a Banquet will screen at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 5th, with Mr. Wang & Ms. Chiang attending. There is a repeat showing on October 7th.

§ Soul of a Banquet
Wayne Wang, dir., US, 2014, 78 mins.

§ The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival
Sun, Oct 5 5:00 PM, Rafael 1 (Special Screening with Wayne Wang and Cecilia Chiang)
Tue, Oct 7 2:15 PM, Sequoia 1

MVFF37: Two Days, One Night

Last week's press announcement for the Mill Valley Film Festival included a preview of Two Days, One Night, a drama about social responsibility, set in Belgium. Actress Marion Cotillard is sympathetic & believable as a working-class mother returning to her factory job after a nervous breakdown. She discovers that the company prefers to fire her & give her remaining co-workers 1,000€ bonuses out of the cost-cut. Her co-workers will vote for keeping her job or the bonus, so she spends a grueling weekend visiting each of them at their homes & pleading for her job. The movie is photographed with a bright, sharp clarity & is humorlessly realistic. The run-up to the vote at the end of the film provides built-in suspense. Two Days, One Night will play at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11 & 12.

§ Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit)
Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, dirs.
Belgium, France, Italy, 2014, 95 mins.

§ The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival
Sequoia 1, Sat, Oct 11 5:45 PM
Rafael 1, Sun, Oct 12 2:00 PM

Mill Valley Film Festival 37 Press Announcement

Last week the California Film Institute held a press announcement at Dolby Labs for the 37th Mill Valley Film Festival, October 2 - 12. Executive Director Mark Fishkin, Director of Programming Zoë Elton, Director of Education John Morrison & Senior Programmers Karen Davis & Janis Plotkin ran through the schedule, mentioning as many films as possible.

There are 2 opening night films: Men, Women & Children, directed by Jason Reitman, & The Homesman, an "anti-Western" directed by Tommy Lee Jones & starring Hilary Swank, who will be in attendance. The 16-year-old Elle Fanning will be a Spotlight honoree, as well as actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays Stephen Hawking in the biopic The Theory of Everything. Members of Metallica are the festival's Artists in Residence, & each musician has selected a film to present & discuss.

Robin Williams will be celebrated with a free screening of footage from his surprise appearance at the festival, when he improvised an extended routine with Jonathan Winters. The Children's Filmfest has 2 shows in 3D, including a shorts program with a specially created 3D version of the iconic clock scene from Safety Last! There are also shorts programs every day of the festival.

Sweden's top grossing movie last year, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, will be shown, with the lead actor in attendance. Filmmaker Doris Dörrie is represented by her documentary about female marichis, Que Caramba Es la Vida. Laura Dern will receive a tribute at the closing night film, Wild. It's a sign of the times that The Little House is only the only movie being shown as a projected 35mm film.

Just before the press conference began, I got to chat with Ms. Elton, who immediately rattled off a list of documentaries pertaining to the performing arts, including Free, a look at the Destiny Arts Center in Oakland, & Capturing Grace, about the Mark Morris Dance Group's classes for people with Parkinson's.

§ Press Conference
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 10:00 AM
Dolby Laboratories

§ The 37th Mill Valley Film Festival
October 2 – 12, 2014

Up-Coming: Silent Autumn

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has moved their 1-day Winter Festival at the Castro Theatre to this Saturday, September 20th. There will be 3 feature films plus 2 programs of shorts. The Alloy Orchestra will accompany the features The Son of the Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino in his last role, & The General, Buster Keaton's masterpiece. Pianist Donald Sosin will accompany Laurel & Hardy shorts, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & a program of shorts evoking the world of 1914. Once again, it appears that the Castro's organ will not be used.

Festival passes are available online & in person, old school, at the McRoskey Mattress Company's San Francisco Showroom.

§ Silent Autumn
Saturday September 20 2014
Castro Theatre

11:00 AM
Another Fine Mess: Silent Laurel And Hardy Shorts
(USA, 1928-1929, approx. 70 minutes)
Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

1:00 PM
The Son of the Sheik
(USA, 1926, 81 minutes)
Musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra

3:30 PM
A Night at the Cinema in 1914
(USA/UK, 1914, 85 minutes)
Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

7:00 PM
The General
(USA, 1926, 75 minutes)
Musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra

9:00 PM
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(Germany, 1920, Directed by Robert Wiene, 75 minutes)
Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

SF Opera: Norma

Last weekend I heard Norma at opening night of the San Francisco Opera. Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was a powerhouse in the title role. She has a big voice & sang with athletic stamina & focus the entire evening. Her low notes were sturdy & strong, & her voice was penetrating high up. She created a feeling of suspense when she sang quiet, hovering high notes with incredible control. It was a consistently potent performance. Mezzo Jamie Barton was terrific as Adalgisa. She sang her first phrases with such softness & security that I immediately felt confident about the rest of her performance. Her voice was lovely, smooth & floating throughout its range, which was often high this evening.

Tenor Marco Berti as Pollione was a forceful singer & seemed to be using a lot of muscle to get through the show. Tenor A.J. Glueckert's voice is distinctively clear & flowing. He was a reproving Flavio & communicated urgency. Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn sounded suitably sober & stern as Oroveso. The male chorus was great, sounding unified & unhesitant. Two very small boys portrayed Norma's children. They were cute & well-behaved & even briefly got the whole stage to themselves at the beginning of act 2.

The production's single set is a huge decorated wall that is the entire height of the stage. We get occasional glimpses of a winter landscape on the other side. The staging is static & did not help to involve me in the story. There is real fire onstage in the final scene, but the flames last only a few seconds. The costumes did not make me think of druids or Roman soldiers. I heard someone comment later that the shimmery dress worn by Norma in the 1st act seemed more Las Vegas than pagan Gaul. Apparently Norma wore facial tattoos during the dress rehearsal, but these were evidently removed by opening night.

I liked Maestro Nicola Luisotti's vigorous conducting. The orchestra's playing was vivid, & the woodwinds sounded sheen. The reaction of the opening night audience was surprisingly tame, despite great singing by the leading ladies. Perhaps there was too much competition from the many glamorous women of all ages in the audience. Tenor Russell Thomas will sing Pollione in the remaining performances.

§ Norma
Vincenzo Bellini / Felice Romani

San Francisco Opera
Conductor: Nicola Luisotti
Director: Kevin Newbury

Norma: Sondra Radvanovsky
Adalgisa: Jamie Barton
Pollione: Marco Berti
Oroveso: Christian Van Horn
Clotilda: Jacqueline Piccolino
Flavio: A.J. Glueckert
Norma's Children: Oliver Kuntz & Miles Sperske

Fri 09/5/14 8:00pm
War Memorial Opera House

Standees at Opening Night of SF Opera

Friday night I was at San Francisco Opera's opening night, where I saw Norma in downstairs standing room with friends. I got to the opera house at 8 in the morning & was surprised to find myself the 2nd in line for standing room tickets. Ahead of me was a cheerful patron who had driven up from Pacifica & arrived at 5:30am. Among other things, she told me the story of the opening night when ACT UP stormed the theater & she mistakenly maced baritone Timothy Noble, who was a cover for that evening's show & happened to be watching from standing room.

When the box office opened at 10am on the dot, there were hardly more than 20 people in line. I could have arrived at 9 & still gotten a ticket number in the single digits. Later on, veterans of standing room told me how much more competitive it used to be. When I was reunited with my fellow standees 9 hours later, someone commented that we all clean up good.

§ Norma
San Francisco Opera
Opening Night
Fri 09/5/14 8:00pm

Deaglán Ó Donghaile at the Mechanics' Institute

Last week the Mechanics' Institute & The Irish Literary & Historical Society hosted a talk by visiting scholar Deaglán Ó Donghaile on the political subtext of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Bram Stoker was an Irishman & the well-connected theatrical manager of Henry Irving. In Mr. Ó Donghaile's reading, Stoker made subtle references to Ireland's status as an occupied country. Dracula resembles an Anglo-Irish landlord, running a surveillance state, devastating the land & literally feeding off his people. The vampire hunters are a secret society, bound by an oath & akin to the Fenian Brotherhood. Stoker even originally planned to kill Dracula by the classic terrorist method of dynamite. The novel's stabbing death of Dracula echoes the Phoenix Park Killings, an assassination of English political appointees in Dublin. Mr. Ó Donghaile admitted that Dracula is an "over-determined" text, which has been interpreted as being about anything from feminism to the spread of disease, but his observations were convincing, as was his thick Irish accent. Mr. Ó Donghaile also showed us a couple of entertaining political cartoons, including one from the 19th century depicting San Francisco landlords as vampire bats.

§ Bram Stoker's Dracula and Irelands Gothic History
A talk by Dr. Deaglán Ó Donghaile
Tuesday, September 02, 2014 - 6:00pm
Mechanics' Institute

SF Zine Fest 2014

Last Sunday afternoon I visited the SF Zine Fest, an annual local expo of independent publishing, comics, zines & art. The expo was still busy when it ended at 4p, but I got there too late in the afternoon & had to rush through it. I did manage to see a lot of familiar faces, though. I liked the detailed illustrations using multiple levels of grey inside The Palace of Ashes, Andy Warner's brief history of the Columbarium, & it was impressive to see the hardback version of Alec Longstreth's Basewood. Its successful Kickstarter campaign is a model of transparency. I was alarmed & frankly nonplussed when Jason Shiga confidently explained to me that he expects to complete his 720-page comic, Demon, in 2 years. I loved the crafty items & origami-style books made from found papers at the table of Mad Made SF, whose proprietors gave me quite a hard sell.

The expo occupied 2 rooms in the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park, near 9th Avenue & Lincoln. In the past, people in the smaller room have complained about not getting enough foot traffic, so this year attendees were funneled through the smaller room when they first entered. As a result, I heard exhibitors in the larger room say they weren't getting as many visitors. Someone announced the expo's workshops & panels by walking through the expo & yelling, which everyone agreed was much better than the blaring PA system used in the past.

§ San Francisco Zine Fest 2014
Saturday 08/30: 11am - 5pm
Sunday 08/31: 11am - 4pm
San Francisco County Fair Building
Golden Gate Park

James Rodgers Sings Weill

Last weekend I was fortunate to attend a house concert & hear tenor James Rodgers, a former Merola Artist, in a recital of Kurt Weill songs. Before each number, Mr. Rodgers read from extensively prepared notes, giving us political & biographical context for each selection. It was nice that the substantial program included mostly less familiar songs. The 1st half had songs in German & French, & the 2nd half was largely devoted to Weill's Broadway career.

Mr. Rodgers acted the songs as well as sang them, embodying a character for each one. His voice sounded comfortable & unforced in the middle & lower range. He often sounded like he was right at the break in his voice for the higher notes. His diction was clear, & his style suited the Broadway numbers well. In "Der Bäcker backt ums Morgenrot" & "J'attends un navire" he did a good job tracing a story arc of shifting moods. His rendition of "Youkali" in particular had a range of dynamic levels & contrasting emotions.

Pianist Jillian Zack was a careful & supportive accompanist, & her playing was engaged & precise without being distracting. She also played under Mr. Rodgers's spoken narrations, giving the program a continuous flow, though this meant that neither performer could rest. I found out later that constantly switching between talking & singing is hard on the voice, & it was a relief to see Mr. Rodgers accept a glass of water from the concert's host midway through the 1st half.

I was very happy to be in such an intimate setting, where the singer could make eye contact with individual audience members. There were around 50 attendees, in a high-ceilinged room with good acoustics. In honor of Mr. Rodgers's country of birth, wine from New Zealand was available afterward. For those unable to hear Mr. Rodgers live, he has just released a CD of Weill songs. A companion Website contains his substantial program notes.

§ Exiled: The Evolution of Kurt Weill
James Benjamin Rodgers - Tenor
Jillian Zack - Piano

"Was wir Versprechen" from Die Bürgschaft
Lyrics by Caspar Neher

"Der Bäcker backt ums Morgenrot" from Der Silbersee
Lyrics by George Kaiser

Lotterieagents Tango from Der Silbersee
Lyrics by George Kaiser

"Es Regnet"
Poem by Jean Cocteau

"Játtends un navire" from Marie Galante
Lyrics by Jacques Deval

Juan's Lied from Der Kuhandel
Lyrics by Robert Vambery

Youkali
Poem by Roger Fernay

"Oh the Rio Grande" from Johnny Johnson
Lyrics by Paul Green

"Johnny's Song" from Johnny Johnson
Lyrics by Paul Green

"The Saga of Jenny" from Lady in the Dark
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

"Oh Captain! My Captain!" from Four Songs of Walt Whitman
Poem by Walt Whitman

"Westwind" from One Touch of Venus
Lyrics by Ogden Nash

"Wie lange noch"
Poem by Walter Mehring

"A Rhyme for Angela" from Firebrand of FlorenceLyrics by Ira Gershwin

"Lonely House" from Street Scene
Lyrics by Langston Hughes

"Here I'll Stay" from Love Life
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

"Lost in the Stars" from Lost in the Stars
Lyrics by Maxwell Anderson

"This Time Next Year" from A Raft on the River
Lyrics by Maxwell Anderson

"Mac the Knife" from Threepenny Opera
Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht
Translation by Mark Blitzstein

San Francisco, August 30th, 2014

Boyhood

People kept being surprised that I hadn't seen Richard Linklater's Boyhood, but last week I finally saw it, at a nighttime show crowded with 20-somethings. This coming-of-age story for the Millennial Generation was famously filmed over a period of 12 years with the same cast. We get to watch the actor portraying its soulful main character grow from a 6-year-old boy to a college freshman. The concept & the logistics of production probably made a bigger impression on me than the actual story, which has moments that look genuinely spontaneous as well as scenes that feel pat. The movie does a good job tracking its post-9/11 time period through references to computer products, songs & the political climate. It's remarkably coherent & consistent-looking, despite requiring scenes shot years apart. The film's generally low-key mood makes it possible to sit through its nearly 3-hour length comfortably, though it's so emotionally gentle that the audience I sat with almost seemed disappointed when no one got hurt in a scene where unsupervised teenage boys play recklessly with a buzz saw blade while drinking.

§ Boyhood (2014)
dir. Richard Linklater, USA, 165 mins.

Merola Grand Finale 2014

Talya Lieberman as Zerbinetta &
Shirin Eskandani as the Composer.
Photography by Kristen Loken.

Last weekend I attended the aptly named Merola Grand Finale, a sort of plenary graduation exercise for all 29 of this summer's Merola Artists. They presented 16 operatic excerpts on the stark, rural set of SF Opera's up-coming production of Susannah, with a full orchestra in the pit. Director Omer Ben-Seadia's staging was sensible. The performers wore formal concert dress, & good use was made of hand-carried props, lighting changes & the full stage space.

Everyone gave assured & easeful performances. Baritone Thomas Gunther singing was robust & connected in the prologue to Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tirésias, during which the curtain came up on the set. In a scene from Thomas's Hamlet, soprano Amanda Woodbury's sound was big & lustrous, & baritone Edward Nelson's voice had alluring colors. I liked mezzo Shirin Eskandani's textured, slightly gritty, sound & ardent acting as the Composer from Strauss's Ariadne. Soprano Talya Lieberman was her strong-voiced Zerbinetta.

Soprano Maria Fasciano has a somewhat metallic edge to her voice, & she was an intense Nedda in a furtive scene from Pagliacci. Baritone Alexander Elliot was Silvio, singing with an open & pleasing sound. Mezzo Eliza Bonet is a characterful singer with a grounded voice, & she had fun performing a frothy Offenbach number while flirting with both the audience & a male chorus of Merolini.

Rhys Lloyd Talbot as Guglielmo,
Anthony Reed as Don Alfonso
& Mingjie Lei as Ferrando.
Photography by Kristen Loken.

Tenor Mingjie Lei, bass-baritone Rhys Lloyd Talbot & bass Anthony Reed were a lively trio in the opening scene from Così fan tutte. Mr. Reed portrayed Don Alfonso's worldly confidence convincingly. Soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho gave a plush & dramatically sustained rendition of Margherita's prison scene from Mefistofele, & she did some theatrical stage business using her shawl to represent an imaginary baby.

Tenor Chong Wang sang "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto with beautifully taut & secure high notes, & he did a good job characterizing the rakish Duke. As Gilda, soprano Adelaide Boedecker displayed bright, poignant singing. The following quartet with Ms. Bonet & baritone Gideon Dabi was firmly anchored. Tenor Casey Candebat & soprano Julie Adams were terrific in a duet from L’amico Fritz. Mr. Candebat's singing was smooth & controlled, & Ms. Adams voice was big, ringing & urgent.

Conductor Ari Pelto was attentive to the singers, giving them clear cues & never pushing, but he left the orchestra sounding shapeless. The audience responded warmly to all the performers. I felt a little sad to be at my last KAC-hosted event in the press room that evening.

§ Merola Opera Program
Presents
Merola Grand Finale and Reception

Conductor, Ari Pelto
Director, Omer Ben-Seadia

Overture to Nabucco (Verdi)

Les mamelles de Tirésias (Poulenc)
“Public, attendez sans impatience”
Le directeur, Thomas Gunther
Piano, Kirill Kuzmin

Hamlet  (Thomas)
“Vains regrets!...Monseigneur! Ophélie…Doute de la lumière”
Ophélie, Amanda Woodbury
Hamlet, Edward Nelson

Rodelinda (Handel)
“Eduige, t’inganni…Di Cupido impiego i vanni”
Garibaldo, Rhys Lloyd Talbot
Harpsichord, Kirill Kuzmin 

La Fille du regiment (Donizetti)
“La voilà…Au bruit de la guerre”
Marie, Yujin Kim
Sulpice, Scott Russell

Zazà (Leoncavallo)
“Zazà, piccolo zingara”
Cascart, Gideon Dabi

Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss)
“Sie hält ihn für den Todesgott...Ein Augenblick ist wenig”
Zerbinetta, Talya Lieberman
Composer, Shirin Eskandani
Piano, Edoardo Barsotti
Harmonium, Sahar Nouri
Keyboard, Ronny Michael Greenberg

La clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
“Parti; non è più tempo ...Deh, per questo istante solo”
Sesto, Nian Wang
Tito, Casey Candebat
Harpsichord, Ronny Michael Greenberg

I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
“Nedda! Silvio! A quest’ora…Decidi il mio destin”
Nedda, Maria Fasciano
Silvio, Alexander Elliott
Tonio, Gideon Dabi

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Offenbach)
“Vous aimez la danger…Ah! Que j’aime la militaire!”
Duchesse, Eliza Bonet
Chorus, Tutti Merolini Men

Così fan tutte (Mozart)
“La mia Dorabella…È la fede della femmina…Una bella serenata”
Ferrando, Mingjie Lei
Guglielmo, Rhys Lloyd Talbot
Don Alfonso, Anthony Reed
Harpsichord, Blair Salter

Mefistofele (Boito)
“L’altra notte in fondo al mare”
Margherita, Karen Chia-ling Ho

The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky)
“Vary the song…Come master…My tale shall be told”
Tom Rakewell, Benjamin Werley
Nick Shadow, Matthew Stump

La Cenerentola (Rossini)
“Sì, tutto cangerà…Là del ciel”
Alidoro, Szymon Wach
Cenerentola, Shirin Eskandani

Rigoletto (Verdi)
“La donna è mobile…Un dì se ben rammentomi”          
Gilda, Adelaide Boedecker
Maddalena, Eliza Bonet
Il Duca, Chong Wang
Rigoletto, Gideon Dabi
Sparafucile, Anthony Reed

L’amico Fritz (Mascagni)
“Suzel, buon dì…Tutto tace”
Suzel, Julie Adams
Fritz, Casey Candebat

Falstaff (Verdi)
“Un coro e terminiam la scena...Tutto nel mondo è burla”
Alice, Julie Adams
Nannetta, Adelaide Boedecker
Dame Quickly, Eliza Bonet
Meg, Shirin Eskandani
Fenton, Benjamin Werley
Dr. Caius, Chong Wang
Ford, Thomas Gunther
Bardolfo, Casey Candebat
Falstaff, Matthew Stump
Pistola, Scott Russell
Chorus, tutti Merolini

7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 16
War Memorial Opera House

SF Street Food Festival

Late Saturday afternoon I met up with a couple of friends at the San Francisco Street Food Festival, in a lovely tree-lined stretch of Folsom Street in the Mission. The festival has been attracting such big crowds in its 6-year history that this is the last time it will be held here.

I was told that earlier in the day it was so packed that food lines extended the full width of the street. By the time I got there the lines were much shorter, but at least half the vendors had sold out of food.

Attendees were mostly young people, & the atmosphere was cheerful.

It was nice to see the eponymous chef of Gerard's Paella manning the paella pans.

Drinkers were corralled in specially demarcated areas.

There was also non-comestible entertainment that seemed appropriate to the neighborhood.

§ San Francisco Street Food Festival
Saturday, August 16, 2014, 11 a.m - 7p.m

Hydrogen Jukebox

Photo credit: mellopix

Last Friday I attended West Edge Opera's staging of Philip Glass's Hydrogen Jukebox. The performance was in the lobby of the Ed Roberts Campus at the Asbhy BART station. I found the institutional setting off-putting. I arrived while a pre-performance talk was in progress, & I'm afraid I was one of those grabby people that Patrick complained about. My seat was about halfway back, & it felt far away from the small raised stage at the other end of the lobby. One elderly patron decided she also was too far away & simply moved her chair to a row closer up.

Though the opera has no plot, characters or setting, director Elkhanah Pulitzer filled every moment with activities for the entire cast. We saw lots of cigarette smoking & making out between same-sex couples. Every male performer was shirtless at some point. I liked when the cast threw paper airplanes toward the audience. Good use was made of ladders leading up to the walkways above either side of the stage, where a small band played, hidden from the audience. Conductor David Möschler could be seen, though, via monitors in plain view. At the end of the 1st act he climbed down a ladder to get to a piano in front of the stage, where he accompanied an animated recitation by actor Howard Swain. The music, libretto & staging all functioned at different levels, & I frequently felt adrift.

Soprano Sara Duchovnay displayed solid high notes & a strong, bright-edged sound. Mezzo Molly Mahoney sang a sultry vocalise while standing halfway up a ladder. Mezzo Nicole Takesono was soft-edged. Tenor Jonathan Blalock has a distinctive high, clear voice that is sweet & almost sexless. Bass Kenneth Kellogg sounded anchored & secure. Baritone Efrain Solis's voice is both warm & brawny, & he sounded ethereal in the piece's opening & closing moments. Maestro Möschler led the trance-inducing music at an even pace. In the 2nd act, a saxophone player sat atop one of the ladders & convincingly evoked the 1950s with his improvised accompaniment to another recitation.

Following the performance, the audience was invited to mingle with the performers at a wine & dessert reception on the roof of the building. I saw a great view of the moon & was offered a beautiful s'more cupcake by the person who baked them.

§ Hydrogen Jukebox
Music: Philip Glass
Words: Allen Ginsberg

West Edge Opera
Conductor – David Möschler
Stage Director – Elkhanah Pulitzer

Soprano 1 – Sara Duchovnay
Soprano 2 – Molly Mahoney
Mezzo – Nicole Takesono
Tenor – Jonathan Blalock
Baritone – Efrain Solis
Bass – Kenneth Kellogg
Narrator – Howard Swain

Fri, August 8, 8:00 p.m.
Ed Roberts Campus, Berkeley

Up-coming: Merola Grand Finale

Merola Opera has announced the casting for its Grand Finale performance in the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday, August 16th. This is the final public showcase for this summer's hard-working artists, & it's always a big evening. Apprentice stage director Omer Ben-Seadia directs, & Ari Pelto conducts.

§ Merola Opera Program
Presents
Merola Grand Finale and Reception

Conductor, Ari Pelto
Director, Omer Ben-Seadia

Les mamelles de Tirésias (Poulenc)
“Public, attendez sans impatience”
Le directeur, Thomas Gunther

Hamlet  (Thomas)
“Vains regrets!...Monseigneur! Ophélie…Doute de la lumière”
Ophélie, Amanda Woodbury
Hamlet, Edward Nelson

Rodelinda (Handel)
“Eduige, t’inganni…Di Cupido impiego i vanni”
Garibaldo, Rhys Lloyd Talbot

La Fille du regiment (Donizetti)
“La voilà…Au bruit de la guerre”
Marie, Yujin Kim
Sulpice, Scott Russell

Zazà (Leoncavallo)
“Zazà, piccolo zingara”
Cascart, Gideon Dabi

Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss)
“Kindskopf! Merkt auf!”
Zerbinetta, Talya Lieberman
Composer, Shirin Eskandani

La clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
“Deh, per questo istante solo”
Sesto, Nian Wang

Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti)
“Vieni, la mia vendetta…Qualunque sia l’evento”
Alfonso, Anthony Reed
Rustighello, Mingjie Lei

I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
“Silvio! A quest’ora…Decidi il mio destin”
Nedda, Maria Fasciano
Silvio, Alexander Elliott
Tonio, Gideon Dabi

Così fan tutte (Mozart)
“La mia Dorabella…È la fede della femmina…Una bella serenata”
Ferrando, Mingjie Lei
Guglielmo, Rhys Lloyd Talbot
Don Alfonso, Anthony Reed

Mefistofele (Boito)
“L’altra notte in fondo al mare”
Margherita, Karen Chia-ling Ho

The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky)
“Vary the song…Come master…My tale shall be told”
Tom Rakewell, Benjamin Werley
Nick Shadow, Matthew Stump

La Cenerentola (Rossini)
“Sì, tutto cangerà…Là del ciel”
Alidoro, Szymon Wach
Cenerentola, Shirin Eskandani

Rigoletto (Verdi)
“La donna è mobile…Un dì se ben rammentomi”          
Gilda, Adelaide Boedecker
Maddalena, Eliza Bonet
Il Duca, Chong Wang
Rigoletto, Gideon Dabi
Sparafucile, Anthony Reed

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Offenbach)
“Vous aimez la danger…Ah! Que j’aime la militaire!”
Duchesse, Eliza Bonet
Chorus, Tutti Merolini

L’amico Fritz (Mascagni)
“Suzel, buon dì…Tutto tace”
Suzel, Julie Adams
Fritz, Casey Candebat

Falstaff (Verdi)
“Volgiti e mira…Tutto nel mondo è burla”
Alice, Julie Adams
Nannetta, Adelaide Boedecker
Dame Quickly, Eliza Bonet
Meg, Shirin Eskandani
Fenton, Benjamin Werley
Dr. Caius, Chong Wang
Bardolfo, Casey Candebat
Falstaff, Matthew Stump
Pistola, Scott Russell
Chorus, tutti Merolini

7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 16
War Memorial Opera House

BigPicture Competition at Cal Academy

Last week I was at the California Academy of Sciences for an event promoting the Academy's 1st nature photography competition. Conservation photographers from all over the world submitted more than 6,300 images, & the 45 winning entries are on display in a small trellised enclosure in the Academy's atrium. The pictures are vivid & textured but mounted rather artlessly, crammed together & without frames. The accompanying texts provide information about the subjects & photographers as well as commentary by Academy staff. The images are of varying sizes, & I wished all of them were bigger. They can also be viewed online. The preview was followed by the Academy's NightLife event, which would have been fun to stay for, but I had to rush off to another event that evening.


§ BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition
California Academy of Sciences
August 1 - November 2, 2014
Media Preview: Thursday, July 31st, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m

RAWdance: Turing's Apple

Apparently people think I'm not seeing enough dance. Just 2 days after attending Post Ballet's sneak peek, I found myself at RAWdance's summer program of 4 new works. The 1st half consisted of 3 dances, each 10 or 15 minutes long, by different groups. Burn In depicts intricate interactions between a man & a woman, who often make nervous, repeated gestures. When another male dancer joins them, the pace accelerates & becomes more frantic. In Nawala, a corps of 5 female dancers accompany a romantic couple. The mumu-like costumes & the soundtrack's female vocalist made me think of Hawaii. A Dedication was for 3 female dancers, one of whom seemed to be central to the other 2 in some way.

The featured work was Turing's Apple, a somewhat theatrical piece inspired by the strange suicide of Alan Turing, who supposedly bit into a cynanide-laced apple. A dancer portrays Turing, & the corps of 4 female dancers might be muses or sinister forces. The staging included lots of apples, arranged on the floor, on the set & held in C-clamps hanging from the ceiling. Turing bites into an apple at the beginning. Later, Turing & a shirtless man dance an intimate duet while holding an apple between them with their teeth. Apples are sent rolling across the stage, which the female dancers gather & throw at the set. Scenes from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were projected on a screen, & toward the end Turing appears wearing Snow White's dress. The insistent, pulsing music by Richard Einhorn reminded me of Philip Glass.

A reception followed the show, where I was introduced to Wendy Rein, the bubbly Co-Artistic Director of RAWdance. As an offering that seemed not quite thought through, apple pie was served.

§ RAWdance Summer Season

RAWdance: Burn In
Choreography: Ryan T. Smith & Wendy Rein

Project. B: Nawala
Choreography: Tanya Bello

Gretchen Garnett & Dancers: A Dedication
Choreography: Gretchen Garnett with the performers

RAWdance: Turing’s Apple
Choreography: Ryan T. Smith & Wendy Rein

Z Space
8pm Saturday, July 26, 2014
Post-show reception and silent auction in the lobby

Post Ballet Sneak Peek

Last month a friend invited me along to a free preview of Post Ballet's Five High program, which they perform at the YBCA Theater this week. We saw excerpts from 3 works by Artistic Director & choreographer Robert Dekker, who was happy & enthusiastic to talk about his work. He explained that hand shapes from American Sign Language inspired the poses in the 1st excerpt & that sometimes the dancers make their own choices. We watched a run-through in which Mr. Dekker counted the beats out loud & gave directions, then saw it a 2nd time with music. The 7 dancers moved around the space quickly in what seemed like mathematical patterns, & they were winded by the end.

A male & female dancer, representing the id & the ego, performed excerpts from a dance called Yours is Mine. We also saw part of a new dance called ourevolution, in which 2 couples, wearing hoodies & masks covering their mouths, behaved ambivalently about revealing themselves. Mr. Dekker explained that the costumes came from imagining what Hayes Valley fashion would look like in the future.

Drinks & snacks were offered to the audience, & there was an opportunity to mingle with Post Ballet's dancers & staff afterward. My friend arrived early to claim a front row seat, but was foiled when an extra row of chairs was set up in front of him to accommodate a surge of people who arrived after him.

§ Post Ballet

Sneak Peek of "Five High"
Joe Goode Annex
Thursday, July 24, 6:30pm

Five High
YBCA Theater
August 7, 8 & 9, 2014 @ 8pm

Merola Opera: Don Giovanni

Amanda Woodbury (Donna Anna)
Photography by Kristen Loken.

Last Thursday night I attended Merola Opera's performance of Don Giovanni. The non-traditional production is set entirely in a modern-day artist's studio. I did not always understand what was supposed to be happening, but it was consistently theatrical. During the overture we see Don Giovanni painting Donna Anna then groping her. An apron-wearing Leporello pushes chairs & tables around the studio & shows Donna Elvira newsprint sketchpads full of drawings of female nudes during the Catalog Aria. Zerlina & Masetto arrive at the studio for a wedding photo. The chorus, dressed in black, appear throughout, moving languorously & looking like judgmental zombies. In the banquet scene they slap on a table in unison when the Commendatore knocks at the door, & they collectively smother Don Giovanni at the end. The act 1 finale was oddly static & opposite to the libretto.

Soprano Amanda Woodbury, riding a wave of strength, immediately impressed the audience with her large, edgy voice & sustained focus. Even though she was completely potent, it felt like she was using only half her reserves. She received extended ovations for both of her arias. Soprano Karen Chia-Ling Ho as Donna Elvira had a muscular & assertive voice. Her character was fittingly angry without being wholly neurotic. She did a terrific un-operatic offstage scream in the finale. Soprano Yujin Kim looked & sounded plucky, pert & a bit bold as Zerlina.

Edward Nelson (Don Giovanni)
and Szymon Wach (Leporello).
Photography by Kristen Loken.

Baritone Edward Nelson was an authoritative Don Giovanni. His voice is strong & smooth & he sounded particularly alluring in the serenade "Deh, vieni alla finestra." Bass-baritone Szymon Wach sounded resonant & was a punkish Leporello who looked more like the Don's brother than his servant. Tenor Benjamin Werley did a nice job maintaining a long line in Don Ottavio's arias, & his voice had a bit of heft to it.

Bass Scott Russel was appropriately firm & stern as the Commendatore. The staging of the graveyard scene was awkward, with him standing in an auditorium doorway instead of onstage. Bass-baritone Rhys Lloyd Talbot was a good actor & sang pleasingly as Masetto. The cast sang well together, & ensemble numbers like the Commendatore's death scene & the epilogue sounded great.

Under conductor Martin Katz, the orchestra was often not together, especially the violins. There were some nice woodwind passages, & the harpsichord continuo was flamboyant. Because the orchestra is in the auditorium at the same level as the audience, it was loud & over-balanced the singers. I was in the 3rd row, close enough to notice the trumpet player was reading a book about music history. The hall was full, & my opera companion was delighted to spot composer Jake Heggie during the intermission. The cowbell used to signal the end of the intermission was obnoxious.

§ Don Giovanni
W.A. Mozart

Merola Opera Program Conductor: Martin Katz
Director: James Darrah

Don Giovanni: Edward Nelson
Leporello: Szymon Wach
Il Commendatore: Scott Russell
Donna Anna: Amanda Woodbury
Don Ottavio: Benjamin Werley
Donna Elvira: Karen Chia-Ling Ho
Masetto: Rhys Lloyd Talbot
Zerlina: Yujin Kim

Thursday, July 31, 7:30 p.m.
Everett Auditorium

Vinyl & Giant Robot at the Oakland Museum

A couple of weekends ago, I tagged along with a friend who wanted to see 2 pop culture exhibits at the Oakland Museum before they closed. Vinyl was a room-sized installation celebrating the era of the LP. Listening stations with record players & bins of records were scattered around the gallery. Visitors could also recline on huge bean bags in the middle room.

I flipped through recordings of pop, rock, jazz, movies & spoken word, but the only classical record I came across, apart from the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, was Walter Carlos's Switched on Bach. When I took it out of its sleeve to play it, a gallery guide quickly came over to make sure I knew how to operate a record player.

Guest curators contributed crates of their favorite records for visitors to inspect & listen to. Michael Chabon's crate included Leonard Nimoy & vintage radio versions of Sherlock Holmes. Now that recorded music no longer has a physical embodiment, something like a double album cover feels like a magical object.

Next door was a large exhibit of artists associated with Giant Robot, the punk magazine & then retail store promoting Asian American pop culture.

The show had an exuberant variety. There were painting installations, skateboards, toy figurines, comics by Adrian Tomine, a Hong Kong Phooey lunchbox & a car that was actually a giant video game console.

A case crammed with the sketchbooks of Rob Sato was a good demonstration of the obsessive practice required to develop artistic skill. My museum companion stumped one of the iPad-carrying gallery guides with his inquiry about 1990s Flash animator Mumbleboy.

§ Vinyl: The Sound and Culture of Records 
SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot 
Oakland Museum of California
April 19–July 27, 2014

Soprano Mary Wilson with American Bach

During American Bach Soloists' Summer Festival & Academy, I heard soprano Mary Wilson in a recital featuring 3 virtuoso solo cantatas. Her voice is wonderfully secure, even & focused & has a nice firm feeling. She seems to be a very efficient singer & sounded consistently fresh despite the demanding program. Her interpretations were musical & decorous & her stage presence cheerful. She communicated the texts so clearly that I didn't feel the need to read the translations.

A conductorless ensemble of 8 accompanied her for Handel's Tra le fiamme, & there was good synchrony between her & gamba player Kenneth Slowik. The Bach cantata Non sa che sia dolore had swaying tempos, & Ms. Wilson easily expressed its happy conclusion. In the introductory Sinfonia, flute soloist Sandra Miller was agile & had a soft-edged sound. The concluding Vivaldi cantata In furore iustissimae irae used an orchestra of 12 & was the only piece with a conductor. Ms. Wilson tackled the tricky coloratura passages effortlessly, as if there was nothing to worry about.

Two instrumental numbers gave Ms. Wilson a break between cantatas. When harpsichordist Corey Jamason walked out to play a Bach solo concerto, he joked that the stage looked "bare & lonely" with only a harpsichord on it. His playing of the outer movements was rapid, & his phrasing in the last movement had a feeling of lift-off. The instrument by John Phllips reverberated well & sounded high & bright.

There was one player per part for the Vivaldi Concerto for 4 Violins, & the entire ensemble played vigorously. Violinists Elizabeth Blumenstock & Robert Mealy had somewhat contrasting styles, which added to the liveliness. The audience clearly enjoyed the piece & cheered the soloists.

At the end of the concert, Ms.Wilson received a warm audience response & treated us to 2 Handel opera arias as encores. Maestro Thomas announced the 2nd encore simply as "Piangero," & the knowledgeable ABS audience knew right away he was referring to Handel's Julius Caesar. Ms. Wilson signed CDs in the lobby afterward. During the intermission my concert companion had a conversation with a patron who called herself an American Bach groupie.

§ Mary Wilson, soprano
Distinguished Artist Series, ABS Festival & Academy 2014
American Bach Soloists
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Tra le fiamme (Il consiglio), HWV 170
George Frideric Handel

Concerto in D Major for Harpsichord Solo, BWV 972
Johann Sebastian Bach
Corey Jamason, harpsichord

Non sa che sia dolore, BWV 209
Johann Sebastian Bach

Concerto in B minor for 4 Violins, RV 580
Antonio Vivaldi
Elizabeth Blumenstock, Robert Mealy, Katherine Kyme, Noah Strick, violins

In furore iustissimae irae, RV 626
Antonio Vivaldi

Encores:
"Vezzi, lusinghe, e brio" from Ariodante by Handel
"Piangero la sorte mia" from Giulio Cesare by Handel

Saturday, July 19, 2014 at 8:00 PM
S.F. Conservatory of Music