Today's Birthdays

Georg Anton Benda (1722-1795)
Laszlo Lajtha (1892-1963)
John Duke (1899-1984)
Lena Horne (1917-2010)
James Loughran (1931)
Giles Swayne (1946)
Stephen Barlow (1954)
Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958)

and

John Gay (1685-1732)
Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004)

San Francisco Opera continues remarkable Ring with “Die Walküre”

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

The opening scene of San Francisco Opera’s production of “Die Walküre” swirled about with vivid projections of water flowing from the Rhine River, reminding the audience at the at the War memorial Opera House (June 13) of the natural beauty left behind in “Das Rheingold.” Supported by a thrilling performance from the orchestra, the imagery gave way to a chase scene with Siegmund quickly moving through a forest before arriving at the house where Sieglinde lived. The gripping opening scene was a foretaste of the strong production, directed by Francesca Zambello, that featured an evening of outstanding performances.

Siegmund (Brandon Jovanovich) and Sieglinde (Karita Mattila) convincingly showed their mutual attraction. Sieglinde’s husband, Hunding (Raymond Aceto), pawed Sieglinde and treated her roughly, which raised a palpable sympathy from the audience for her. Brandishing his rifle, Hunding frisked Siegmund before tying him to the Ash tree.

Jovanovich sang with a lovely and resonant voice, and his “Walsas” emphatically filled the hall. Mattila equaled his stentorian volume but her tone got a bit fuzzy. After drugging her husband into a deep sleep, Sieglinde assisted Siegmund in pulling the sword out of the tree, and they ran away together with a full moon in the background.

From his lofty home, Wotan (Greer Grimsley) sat one end of a long, executive table, overlooking a downtown in the distance that suggested San Francisco. Grimsley’s Wotan spared intensively with Jamie Barton’s Fricka. She won over the audience with her defense of marriage against the incestuous love of the siblings, forcefully dismissing Wotan’s arguments, and disdainfully tearing the photo Siegmund in half. Barton’s clear, powerfully emotional voice and acting set a new standard for Fricka interpreters.

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

The scene in which Siegmund dies took place under a deserted freeway overpass. Before that happened, soldiers paced slowly across the stage, carrying large photos of heroes destined for Valhalla. They were followed by two of Hundung’s dogs, which sprinted across the stage. After Hundung kills Siegmund, he saluted Fricka, and then he is dispatched by Wotan.

Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, a late replacement for German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius, filled the role of Brünnhilde with spunk and verve. Theorin’s voice easily went the distance, but now and then her vibrato threatened to go out of bounds.

The Valkyries (Julie Adams, Melissa Citro, Renée Tatum, Nicole Birkland, Sarah Cambidge, Laura Krumm, Renée Rapier, and Lauren McNeese) parachuted in before making their famous welcoming cries. But they lined up fearfully after a wrathful Wotan arrived in pursuit of Brünnhilde. Grimsley’s voice had a few erratic moments whenever he punched above the din of the orchestra.

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

The orchestra, under Donald Runnicles, was firing on all cylindars. The sound when Wotan arrived at Valhalla was absolutely urgent and thrilling. Kudos especially to the horns who were spot on throughout the evening.

The fire that surrounded Brünnhilde was one of the largest conflagrations I have ever seen on stage. It was a relief to know that the fire marshal was in the house just in case. The image of Brünnhilde on the rock, surrounded by fire while the orchestra played, is one that I will not forget for a long time.

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Today's Birthdays

Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958)
Nelson Eddy (1901-1967)
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Frank Loesser (1910-1969)
Bernard Hermann (1911-1975)
Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996)
Ezra Laderman (1924-2015)
James Dick (1940)
Joelle Wallach (1946)
"Little Eva" Boyd 1945-2003)
Anne-Sophie Mutter (1963)

and

Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900-1944)
James K. Baxter (1926-1972)
Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006)

Today's Birthdays

Napoléon Coste (1805-1883)
Joseph Joachim (1831-1907)
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)
Arnold Shaw (1909-1989)
Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996)
George Lloyd (1913-1998)
Giselher Klebe (1925-2009)
Robert Xavier Rodriguez (1946)
Philip Fowke (1950)
Thomas Hampson (1955)

and

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936)
Eric Ambler (1909-1989)
Mark Helprin (1947)

Today's Birthdays

Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860)
Toti Dal Monte (1893-1975)
Karel Reiner (1910-1979)
George Theophilus Walker (1922)
Ruth Schönthal (1924-2006)
Anno Moffo (1932-2006)
Hugh Wood (1932)
Daniel Asia (1953)
Nancy Gustafson (1956)
Magnus Lindberg (1958)
Robert King (1960)

and

James Smithson (1765-1829)
Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
Frank O'Hara (1926-1966)
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
Alice McDermott (1953)

Today's Birthdays

Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958)
Hugues Cuénod (1902-2010)
Wolfgang Windgassen (1914-1974)
Giuseppe Taddei (1916-2010)
Syd Lawrence (1923-1998)
Jacob Druckman (1928-1996)
Claudio Abbado (1933-2014)

and

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)
Walter Farley (1916-1989)

Today's Birthdays

Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956)
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997)
Bill Russo (1928-2003)
Kurt Schwertsik (1935)
Carly Simon (1945)

and

Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926)
George Abbott (1887-1995)
George Orwell (1903-1950)

Exceptional "Rheingold" kicks off San Francisco Opera's "Ring Cycle"

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera’s revival of its Ring Cycle got off to a rousing start with a top notch performance of “Das Rheingold” at the War Memorial Opera House on June12. The production featured outstanding performances from top to bottom by an exceptional cast and new video projections that were even better than the ones used back in 2011 when the Cycle, directed by Francesca Zambello, received its premiere. The wonderfully nuanced singing and acting by the principals and stellar playing from the orchestra, conducted by Donald Runnicles, made this “Rheingold” a memorable occasion.

An impressive array of singers anchored the production, starting with Greer Grimsley’s formidable and powerful presence as Wotan. His full-throttle performance was equaled by Falk Struckmann, who in his San Francisco Opera debut struck fear into the hearts of the Nibelung slaves as the unrelentingly driven Alberich. Śtefan Margita created a smart and cynical Loge, who helped Wotan to capture Alberich, yet refused to join the gods and drink champagne as they walked up the rainbow bridge to Valhalla.

Jamie Barton, as Fricka, pleaded passionately with Wotan to save her kinswoman Freia (Julie Adams) instead of giving her to the giants as payment for constructing Valhalla. Wearing Ivy-League-inspired sport jackets, Brian Mulligan’s Donner and Brandon Jovanovich’s Froh blustered about in a futile attempt to counter Fasolt (Andrea Silvestrelli) and Fafner (Raymond Aceto) who made a terrific entry by setting on an iron beam that was lowered from the ceiling.

Silvestrelli and Aceto enhanced their characters’ camaraderie with humorous gestures that caused chuckles to erupt from the audience. That Freia falls in love with Fasolt was effective but odd. Ronnita Miller’s Erda warned Wotan with firm conviction. David Cangelosi cowered convincingly as Mime, the tormented brother of Alberich.

The three Rheinmaidens (Stacey Tappan, Lauren McNeese, and Renée Tatum) taunted and teased Alberich mercilessly in clouds of dry ice that billowed about the stage. After the gods made their exit to Valhalla, they appeared in dirty clothing and bewailed their fate for having lost the Rheingold.

A massive rock wall of wavy gold stretched across the width of the stage and from top to bottom as well, representing the mines of the Nibelung. Tall ladders were propped against the wall, and minions of Nibelung slaves scurried about in rags, lifting sacks of gold into mining cars. A slippery toad caused laughter to erupt from all corners of the hall. The scene in which Wotan used his spear to remove the ring from Alberich’s finger was gruesomely effective. Donner summoned the bridge to Valhalla with a double-headed hammer that emitted an impressive shower of electrical sparks. The gods ascended the bridge that obviously suggested their entering the Titanic. It would only be a matter of time before their world would sink to the bottom.

Vivid new projections S. Katy Tucker in the opening scene showered the stage with icy-blue waterfalls. They enhanced the original projections by Jan Hartley, the best sequence of which depicted the narrow and twisty passage that descending through a cavern into the mines of the Niebelung.

The projections and scenery combined well with the story to suggest the environmental degradation of the planet in face of those who care only for money and power, but that statement didn’t slap you in the face. That was one of the best things about this production, it had strong values yet never preachy. Hats off to Zambello and company.

Today's Birthdays

Harry Partch (1901-1974)
Pierre Fournier (1906-1986)
Milton Katims (1909-2006)
Denis Dowling (1910-1984)
Terry Riley (1935)

and

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
John Ciardi (1916-1986)
Anita Desai (1937)
Stephen Dunn (1939)

Today's Birthdays

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892-1993)
George Russell (1923-2009)
Adam Faith (1940-2003)
James Levine (1943)
Nigel Osborne (1948)
Nicholas Cleobury (1950)
Sylvia McNair (1956)

and

Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
Michael Shaara (1928-1988)
David Leavitt (1961)

In Germany with the Bach Cantata Choir

I have been in Germany for the past few days, singing with the Bach Cantata Choir. We are on tour in Erfurt, Leipzig, Weimar, and Dresden, have sung in places where Bach lived and worked, and have visited sites the Bach museums in Erfurt and Leipzig as well as the Handel's birthplace in Halle. It has been a terrific experience, and I will try to get things posted soon.

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Manfredini (1684-1762)
Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817)
Frank Heino Damrosch (1859-1937)
Jennie Tourel (1900-1973)
Walter Leigh (1905-1942)
Sir Peter Pears (1910-1986)
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler (1925-1997)
Pierre Thibaud (1929-2004)
Libor Pešek (1933)
Pierre Amoyal (1949)
Christopher Norton (1953)

and

Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop (1844-1924)
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
Billy Wilder (1906-2002)
Joseph Papp (1921-1991)
Meryl Streep (1949)
Elizabeth Warren (1949)

Today's Birthdays

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795)
Henry Holden Huss (1862-1953)
Hilding Rosenberg (1892-1985)
Harry Newstone (1921-2006)
Lalo Schifrin (1932)
Diego Masson (1935)
Philippe Hersant (1948)
Judith Bingham (1952)
Jennifer Larmore (1958)

and

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1972)
Donald Peattie (1898-1964)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Mary McCarthy (1912-1989)
Ian McEwan (1948)

and from the Composers Datebook

On this day in 1890. Richard Strauss's tone-poem "Death and Transfiguration" and "Burleske" for Piano and Orchestra were given their premieres in Eisenach, at a convention of the General German Music Association, with the composer conducting and Eugen d'Albert as the piano soloist in the "Burleske".

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792)
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Wilfred Pelletier (1896-1982)
Chet Atkins (1924-2001)
Ingrid Haebler (1926)
Eric Dolphy (1928-1964)
Arne Nordheim (1931-2010)
Mickie Most (1938-2003)
Brian Wilson (1942)
Anne Murray (1945)
André Watts (1946)
Lionel Richie (1949)

and

Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)
Lillian Hellman (1905-1984)
Josephine Winslow Johnson (1910-1990)
Vikram Seth (1952)

Today's Birthdays

François Rebel (1701-1775)
Johann Wenzel Stamitz (1717-1757)
Carl Zeller (1842-1898)
Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915)
Guy Lombardo (1902-1977)
Edwin Gerschefski (1909-1988)
Anneliese Rothenberger (1926-2010)
Elmar Oliveira (1950)
Philippe Manoury 1952)

and

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Pauline Kael (1919-2001)
Tobias Wolff (1945)
Salman Rushdie (1947)

Today's Birthdays

Antonio Maria Bononcini (1677-1726)
Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831)
David Popper (1843-1913)
Sir George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
Edward Steuermann (1892-1964)
Manuel Rosenthal (1904-2003)
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982)
Paul McCartney (1942)
Hans Vonk (1942-2004)
Anthony Halstead (1945)
Diana Ambache (1948)
Eva Marton (1948)
Peter Donohoe (1953)

and

Geoffrey Hill (1932)
Gail Godwin (1937)
Jean McGarry (1948)
Chris Van Allsburg (1949)
Amy Bloom (1953)
Richard Powers (1957)

New production of Faust was thought-provoking yet puzzling

Alfred Walker as Méphistophélès | Photo by Cory Weaver/Portland Opera

Portland Opera presented a new interpretation of Gounod’s “Faust” with mixed success. Some aspects of the production, which received its West Coast premiere at Keller Auditorium on Friday, June 8, connected crystal-clearly while others were downright puzzling.

Co-commissioned by Chicago Lyric Opera, the production was designed by visual artist John Frame with sets and costumes by Victoria “Vita” Tzykun, and projections by David Adam Moore. Under the direction of Kevin Newbury, they placed the opening action in an artist’s studio, where the aged-Faust attempted to make models for the movie industry. Nearby was a moveable sculpture, suggesting a man looking through a telescope made of film canisters, which could point upwards or downwards, depending on the direction of Faust’s thoughts: heavenly or earthly.

When Faust called on the devil for one last chance to experience the pleasures of youth, Méphistophélès didn’t just appear through cloud of dry ice. Instead, projected imagery showed Méphistophélès being carved from a block of wood. That seemed to imply that Méphistophélès sprang from Faust’s imagination. By extension, then Marguerite, Valentin, and the other characters in the story were created by Faust as well. Perhaps that is why Faust’s character as a young man had a surreal, zombie-like quality. He couldn’t believe that he had become young again, that girls were interested in him, that Marguerite would fall in love with him, and that he would kill Valentin.

Méphistophélès was assisted by four goblins, who were on stage almost all the time, whether they were carrying a soldier, rolling a bed for Marguerite and Faust, lurking around Marguerite’s tiny home, or adjusting the telescope sculpture. Most remarkably, they skillfully entered and exited from an undersized opening that sort of looked like a large fireplace. Maybe it was a portal to Faust’s mind.

Another oddity of this version was that Marguerite was a cripple and had to hobble around with a crutch. When she sang the famous “Jewell Song,” she tossed the crutch to the side. But afterwards she had to return to using the crutch. Also, when the soldiers returned from war, they stumbled in, beaten up and blooded. That was a strong anti-war statement because they looked in complete contrast to the text, which emphasizes the glories of fighting for the fatherland.

The most shocking moment in the performance involved Méphistophélès and his goblins forcing a screaming Marguerite into an abortion, and followed it with Méphistophélès carrying the baby away. Another inspired moment came the final scene when Faust puts on gargoyle-like mask over his head and joins the goblins as they follow Méphistophélès off-stage.

Tzykun dressed Faust and Méphistophélès in colorful checked suits that seemed to be right out of the 1960s or 70s, and Marguerite wore a plain white dress that was more conservative. The chorus, however, wore costumes that were inexplicably right out of the Victorian era. Moore’s projection of blooming flowers (to represent the growing attraction between Faust and Margueritte) was the biggest splash across a mostly drab set. Everything was lit impressively by designer Duane Schuler.

With his powerful and lyric voice, Jonathan Boyd created a Faust that fit well with the demands of the production. Angel Blue’s lovely soprano was often too soft, and her singing of the “Jewell Song” glimmered just brightly enough to make everyone forget about the crutches. She saved the best for last, upping the volume to get over and above the rising orchestra.

Alfred Walker has one of the most melodious baritone voices in the nation, but his Méphistophélès needed a tad more sneer. At the beginning of the last act, Mattaliano came to the front of the stage and told the audience that Walker was suffering from a cold. The remarkable thing was that Walker then sang louder and better than he did in the first two acts.

Singing with great emotion and strength, Edward Parks made a memorable impression as Valenkin. Kate Farrar created a wonderfully impulsive and upright Siébel. Angela Niederloh got the laughs and endured them as well in the role of Marthe, and Shi Lin distinguished himself as Wagner.

George Manahan elicited strong playing from the orchestra, and the Portland Opera Chorus sang with conviction although they were often placed too far to the back of the stage.

Today's Birthdays

John Wesley (1703-1791)
Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Hermann Reutter (1900-1985)
Einar Englund (1916-1999)
Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006)
Sir Edward Downes (1924)
Christian Ferras (1933-1982)
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
Derek Lee Ragin (1958)

and

M. C. Escher (1898-1972)
John Hersey (1914-1993)
Ron Padgett (1942)

Today's Birthdays

Niccolò Vito Piccinni (1728-1800)
Helen Traubel (1899-1972)
Willi Boskovsky (1909-1990)
Sergiu Comissiona (1928-2005)
Lucia Dlugoszewski (1931-2000)
Jerry Hadley (1952-2007)
David Owen Norris (1953)

and

Geronimo (1829-1909)
Joyce Carol Oates (1938)

Today's Birthdays

Franz Danzi (1763-1826)
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Ernestine Schumann‑Heink (1861-1936)
Guy Ropartz (1864-1955)
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981)
Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994)
Otto Luening (1900-1996)
Geoffrey Parsons (1929-1995)
Waylon Jennings (1937-2002)
Harry Nilsson (1941-1994)
Paul Patterson (1947)
Rafael Wallfisch (1953)
Robert Cohen (1959)

and

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)
Saul Steinberg (1914-1999)
Dava Sobel (1947)