Latest news with #SanFranciscoOpera
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: San Francisco Opera's ‘Idomeneo' dazzles with powerful voices and striking visuals
Mozart's 'Idomeneo' will never be the composer's most popular work, but it is a great opera, full of fire and vivid characterizations. Merely 24 years old when he wrote the score, Mozart poured everything he had into 'Idomeneo,' and San Francisco Opera's excellent new production, which opened on Saturday, June 14, at the War Memorial Opera House, showed the work's dramatic power and musical beauty thanks to a fully committed cast. This is the kind of opera that Mozart dreamed of making, filled with first-rank singers down to the secondary roles. But after its Munich premiere in 1781, 'Idomeneo' had only one subsequent private performance in Vienna. It wasn't until the 20th century that the work entered the standard repertory, thanks in no small part to San Francisco Opera's groundbreaking 1977 production. 'Idomeneo' takes up the story of the titular king of Crete's return from the Trojan War. Beset by storms, he offers a rash vow to the god Neptune to sacrifice the first person he sees on shore if he and his crew should arrive safely home. Naturally, Idomeneo is greeted by his son Idamante. The prince is in love with Ilia, a captured Trojan princess, and she responds to his ardent wooing. But the princess Elettra expects to marry Idamante and is furious to discover he's considering an alliance with his enemy. Though shorn of its ballet and several arias, as is customary in modern presentations, this is a big show that the Opera is staging. Australian director Lindy Hume's production relies for its sense of scale on cinematographer Catherine Pettman's dramatic filmed images of the Tasmanian coastline. The visuals are artfully projected onto Michael Yeargan's spare set by projection designer David Bergman. Following this prompt, costume designer Anna Cordingley has buttressed the shoulders of the king's royal mantle with feathers, possibly a reference to the Palawa/Pakana first people of Tasmania, to whom the production team pays respect in the program book. Otherwise, the costuming is modern dress and predominantly black and gray, effectively showcased by Verity Hampson's original lighting, revived for these performances by Justin A. Partier. Hume's direction focuses on the characters' emotions and interrelationships, and she pulls strong acting performances from all of her seasoned principal singers. Tenor Matthew Polenzani conveyed the king's anguish and regret in a manner that felt authentic and lived. He's completely comfortable with the role's vocal demands, and if his florid runs in the centerpiece aria 'Fuor del mar' (Saved from the sea) were smudged, that's partly because Mozart unkindly put most of them in the singer's midrange. Projecting a firm sound out into the War Memorial auditorium took precedence. On Saturday, we learned from Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock that mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, in the role of Idamante, performed a little bit under the weather, but I doubt the audience would have known without the announcement. She may have felt that her energy was down, but even at 90%, she has more than enough power and vocal agility to put over her part. In dramatic terms, she was a powerful presence, especially in her recitatives and her entrance aria, 'Non ho colpa' (I'm not guilty). But the evening's singing laurels went to Ying Fang as Ilia and Elza van den Heever as Elettra. In a part stuffed with gorgeous melodies designed to show off a lyric soprano, Fang made an indelible impression, her voice in pristine condition, beautiful and well controlled. In a much broader role, van den Heever commanded the stage in her three highly contrasting arias. Hers is a huge voice, but she brought delicacy and warmth to her seductive Act 2 'Idol mio' (My dearest). Then she showed off her Straussian power by exploding from silence into her rafter-shaking final aria, rushing out to stunned applause from the audience. Out of a number of small roles, tenor Alek Shrader as the king's advisor, Arbace, must be mentioned. Hume has him deliver one of the two arias Mozart wrote for the character, and the opportunity paid off, as Shrader sang with the confidence and tonal sweetness for which he has been noted. John Keene's chorus has a lot of work in the show and performed brilliantly. Music Director Eun Sun Kim, for whom there are no superlatives left, led a tautly dramatic performance from the pit. In Mozart's expansive score, the orchestra has several moments to shine, and these musicians did.
San Francisco Chronicle
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Opera's Pride Concert
San Francisco Opera has been a proud participant in San Francisco Pride since it began in the 1970s. We are delighted to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community with a very special evening of music, immersive projections, and post-show dance party. Featuring MC Monét X Change. San Francisco Chronicle subscribers can enter to receive two tickets to attend the show on Friday, June 27, 2025. WHEN Friday June 27, 2025 Show Start Time: 07:30 PM WHERE War Memorial Opera House 301 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102 Raffle winners will pick up tickets via Will Call. Only active San Francisco Chronicle members are eligible to win. To enter, please fill out all the fields in the form before noon on June 23. Multiple entries will not be considered. Winners will be drawn randomly and notified via email by 3:00 p.m. on June 23. Note: You will need to know the account number of your subscription to enter this raffle. If you do not have it, please contact customer service at 800-310-2455, by email, or go to the Subscriber Services site.
San Francisco Chronicle
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: S.F. Opera's ‘La Bohème' will make you feel all the emotions
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to see it again. Giacomo Puccini's 'La Bohème,' the most-performed and quite possibly the most-loved opera in the standard repertory, has opened San Francisco Opera's summer season with a bang. Under the baton of guest conductor Ramón Tebar, with snappy work by revival director Katherine M. Carter, this production at the War Memorial Opera House comes about as close to musical and dramatic perfection as you can get. Each of the singers in the cast has real star quality — more on that in a bit. Just as importantly, they form a superb ensemble with the split-second timing of great comedians. Sure, there are big, famous arias, but the effectiveness of 'La Bohème' depends on swift movement from incident to incident. During the opening-night performance on Tuesday, June 3, Tebar's flexible, generous conducting matched that timing and gave this sophisticated score, full of complex tempo and metrical changes, cohesion and tremendous momentum. Add in the magnificent playing of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, performing despite unresolved labor negotiations, and the evening was sheer magic. The basic story is uncomplicated: Boy (the poet Rodolfo) meets girl (the seamstress Mimì). They fall in love. She dies of tuberculosis, an incurable scourge in the 19th century. (If this sounds familiar, Verdi's 'La Traviata,' also a great repertory staple, has a similar trajectory, though a vastly different emotional profile.) In tenor Pene Pati and soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho, the company has an ideal pair of leads. Pati's natural charm and beautiful, easy sound light up everything he does — he was an adorable Nemorino in 2023's ' The Elixir of Love. ' Meanwhile, Ho's shyness and fragility at her character's first entrance on Tuesday grew into real strength over the course of the opera, supported by her big, dark and beautifully controlled voice. There was real chemistry between the two, and you could believe that they'd fallen in love over a lost key only minutes after meeting. That's the baseline drama in the opera: Will Mimì live or die? Will she and Rodolfo stay together or be driven apart by illness? The story of the painter Marcello (baritone Lucas Meachem) and sometime kept woman Musetta (soprano Andrea Carroll in a sparkling and very funny company debut) runs parallel. The couples pair off, split up, come together again. Meachem and Carroll made their characters' love and affection perfectly clear, as well as the fact that the emotional cycle is likely to repeat indefinitely. This Marcello can barely bring himself to curse at Musetta wandering off with a new man at the close of Act 3, an interesting and persuasive dramatic choice emphasizing their hopeless love for each other. Carroll's Musetta might be a bit of a witch ('Strega!' as Marcello shouts), but she's as kindly toward Mimì as Meachem's warmhearted and enormously sympathetic Marcello is toward Rodolfo. Rounding out the cast of bohemians are the philosopher Colline and the musician Schaunard. Romanian bass Bogdan Talos, in his company debut, sang Colline's aria to his old coat, about to be sold to buy medicine for the dying Mimì, with poignant, heart-wrenching intimacy. Baritone Samuel Kidd, a current Adler Fellow, integrated Schaunard seamlessly into the antics, projecting enormous sorrow even as he turns his back on the fading Mimì. Bass-baritone Dale Travis was riotous as the landlord Benoit, outwitted by the bohemians when he tries to collect overdue rent, and as Alcindoro, Musetta's hapless admirer — roles Travis has played numerous times at the Opera. Members of the San Francisco Girls and Boys Choruses enlivened the Act 2 Latin Quarter scene with enthusiastic acting and accurate singing, and the Opera Chorus brought its customary excellence to many moments. David Farley's efficient production design allows easy transitions from the bohemians' garret to different places around Paris. The main dwelling, modeled on the works of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, nonetheless seems a bit drab for a 19th century artist's studio. Regardless, Carter's direction brings a wealth of vivid interactions to crowd scenes and among the principals. Eight performances remain, divided between the opening-night singers and an enticing alternate cast for Rodolfo, Mimì, Marcello and Musetta. For a great afternoon or evening, get out your handkerchiefs and get yourself to the War Memorial Opera House.
San Francisco Chronicle
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Harvey Milk Reimagined': What works and what doesn't in revised Opera Parallèle production
'Harvey Milk' is back. No, not the legendary civil rights activist, who was assassinated after becoming the first openly gay elected official in California history, but ' Harvey Milk Reimagined,' a heavily revised version of composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie's 1995 opera. San Francisco Opera co-commissioned the original, performed here in 1996. Now, three decades later, Opera Parallèle — the local company that has made a mission of staging works by contemporary composers — is presenting the West Coast premiere of 'Harvey Milk Reimagined,' as part of a co-commission with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. This production, which had its opening performance at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' Blue Shield of California Theater on Saturday, May 31, comes at a timely moment, when the civil rights of transgender and other LGBTQ people are being challenged in the United States — a contrast to the hope that infuses Milk's story. The message of the opera is ultimately uplifting, even if the telling is at times harried. Korie has trimmed the libretto, which covers Milk's life from his childhood to his assassination by fellow San Francisco supervisor Dan White, While he removed a swath of secondary characters and a good amount of repetitive text, the libretto manages to retain many interactions and scenes. Still, the result feels too compressed and overstuffed, crammed with so much incident in its two hours that Milk himself, here portrayed by the sweet-voiced baritone Michael Kelly, feels out of focus. There's a lot of throat-clearing and scene-setting before his character is settled in San Francisco and running for office. Wallace's highly eclectic and fast-moving score contributes to the sense of trying to do too much. The revised opera starts with Harvey's Mama, tenderly sung by mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook, lecturing her young son (a star turn by tenor Curtis Resnick) about the Holocaust and being Jewish over a choral setting of the Mourner's Kaddish. Themes of identity overlap right from the beginning, as do musical styles. Mama also warns about 'men who are different' and reminds her son to come home right after the opera he's attending. From there, the score is constantly on the go, full of jagged rhythms and awkward text-setting. Sometimes this works — the scene with young Harvey at the opera, wondering who 'Tessa Tura' might be, is hilarious and evocative — but more often it feels rushed. Moreover, Ben Krames' sound design was far too loud, with each of the principal singers overamplified, blunting their portrayals and covering much musical detail in the 30-piece orchestra. (In a theater seating only 800, with a small orchestra, why amplify at all?) 'Harvey Milk Reimagined' is at its best when it takes its time: in the scene introducing Milk's lover Scott Smith, flamboyantly portrayed by tenor Henry Benson; in a loving late-night duet between Smith and Milk; and especially in the beautiful closing scene after Milk is murdered. The revision casts the role of the Messenger as a countertenor rather than a baritone, and Matheus Coura's supernaturally beautiful voice and striking presence in the part brought real magic to the close. Soprano Chea Kang as supervisor Henrietta Wong contributed a gorgeous solo there as well. Act 2 is more focused and covers Milk's emergence on the San Francisco political scene. Here his interactions with Mayor George Moscone, who was also murdered by White, and then-supervisor Dianne Feinstein provide insight into Milk's character and strategic abilities. Bass Matt Boehler and soprano Marnie Breckenridge, respectively, eloquently brought these politicians to life, with Breckenridge's additional brief turn as a Castro prostitute vividly jumping out of the mass of secondary characters. Tenor Christopher Oglesby's chilling depiction of White went from aggrieved and homophobic to truly mad over the course of the opera. Some choices made by the production team dull the work's effectiveness. The opera starts in New York City, where Milk grew up and lived for most of his life, and concludes in San Francisco, but the stage design — consisting of sets of stairs that are deployed in various formations and numerous hanging doors — lacks any sense of place. The projected photos of both cities don't quite do enough, leaving Castro Street feeling indistinguishable from Wall Street. The doors unsubtly symbolize the closet, where you'd find most LGBTQ people in the 1970s. The sets shift constantly around the stage and limit what director Brian Staufenbiel can do with his cast, particularly in the frequent crowd scenes. On top of all this, the costuming and styling of several characters seem slightly off, especially noticeable against the real-life photos and film the production uses. On Saturday, Nicole Paiement conducted with her customary sharpness and drive, though perhaps, in this case, less drive and more repose would have been to the opera's benefit.
San Francisco Chronicle
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
This San Francisco director is reimagining Sondheim's ‘Pacific Overtures' with a Japanese perspective
Nick Ishimaru is used to speaking up and speaking out. Before a 2023 San Francisco Opera performance of ' Madame Butterfly,' the San Francisco theater producer and director was invited to a pre-opera talk at the War Memorial Opera House where he praised the Puccini masterpiece on aesthetic levels but called out the cultural inaccuracies and controversies inherent to the 1904 work. Audience members expecting a dressy night out at the opera didn't respond well to the contextual breakdown, which included his assessment that Puccini equated geishas — who are trained entertainers and performing artists — as sex workers. 'To say I was not kind about 'Madame Butterfly' would be an understatement,' Ishimaru told the Chronicle on a video call from his home near Dolores Park. 'I've never felt more threatened in a physical space than I did when I finished that talk.' Since then, Ishimaru and his Kunoichi Productions team have had a different Japan-set story in their sights: John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim's 'Pacific Overtures.' The musical, which begins performances Friday, May 30, at Brava Theater, is set during an historic moment in the 19th century when American ships led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay and forcibly opened Japan to foreign trade and the outside world. 'It's a foundational moment in Japanese history that Americans basically know nothing about,' Ishimaru said. 'Pacific Overtures' is built around an unlikely friendship between a samurai named Kayama and an Americanized fisherman named Manjiro. Despite Sondheim's Broadway chops ('Sweeney Todd,' among others), this work is rarely revived. Its script is challenging and has a nonlinear story that involves a subject that, at best, appears as a footnote in American history textbooks. But Ishimaru, a fourth-generation Japanese American, is uniquely qualified to give the original a 2025 remix. He's trained in multiple disciplines of American and Japanese theater. He served as artistic director of San Francisco's Theatre of Yugen, which continues the Japanese tradition of Noh drama and Kyogen comedy, from 2016 to 2019. He's also well-versed in that historic 1853 moment of gunboat diplomacy between the U.S. and Japan, studying it extensively when working on his master's in drama at San Francisco State University. 'That's what I cling to as a Japanese American and why I want to tell this particular story,' he said. 'It's really the first time America and Japan interact, and it's something all generations of Japanese Americans have in common.' The original 1976 Broadway cast featured Japanese American actors Mako, Sab Shimono and even a pre-'Sixteen Candles' Gedde Watanabe. The 2025 Brava Theater revival features a diverse cast that takes a fresh approach, with input from classically trained kabuki artist Bandō Hirohichirō. But while it's informed by and written with traditional kabuki aesthetics, Ishimaru stresses the production is not a traditional performance. The singers aren't all male or male-identifying, a kabuki prerequisite. His 'Pacific Overtures' also shifts Weidman and Sondheim's lens to one that prioritizes the Japanese perspective. The U.S. delegation wears masks, which gives them an alien-like feel, while the Japanese do not, allowing them to express more natural emotions like ambivalence rather than certainty. These changes reflect a sensitivity in ways that 'Madame Butterfly' does not, giving Japanese characters more humanity and depth. 'To me, the show is about how we navigate our relationship to our ancestry and understanding of our own selves,' said Ishimaru. Music Director Diana Lee, who lives in Berkeley and whose recent credits include 'Rent' at Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City and 'The Scottsboro Boys' at 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco, pulled from her Rolodex to assemble a tight seven-piece orchestra with keyboards, violin, cello, French horn, reeds, percussion and a Japanese koto. 'A lot of musicians really wanted to play this show,' said Lee, who noted many reached out to her as word spread about the revised production. 'It's a new experience to see another work from the Sondheim canon that's rarely done.' For the show-stopping number 'Someone in a Tree,' which is widely known as Sondheim's favorite from all of his musicals, Ishimaru merges the original three-member dialogue — a conversation between a man, his younger self and another witness describing the negotiations between the Japanese and Americans — into one perspective. Ishimaru explains that it allows the piece to come to life. 'We let the music, which is the most glorious song in the show, carry the imagery,' Ishimaru explained, noting that that approach allows the piece to come to life. With its themes of imperialism and the fall of an empire, Ishimaru believes 'Pacific Overtures' feels even more relevant now than when it came out in 1976. 'Next,' a number that describes environmental catastrophe, is a prime example. 'Never mind a small disaster/ Who's the stronger, who's the faster?' goes the chorus. 'It's scary how relevant the lyrics of that particular number are to today and how much that trajectory just lands now,' said Ishimaru. 'I know many people here in San Francisco are concerned about the collapse of our own nation and the end of the American experiment. Did we drive ourselves here by unchecked capitalism? Is oligarchy what we're facing? Is the threat that America presented to Japan in 1853 ultimately coming home to roost, not just in Japan, but here in the States?
