Cabrera Does Wonders with Symphony of Teens

By Eman Isadiar

When San Francisco Opera’s artistic leadership was transferred from Donald Runnicles to Nicola Luisotti, the associate conductor under the former régime didn’t have far to go to find a new job. Donato Cabrera, simply packed his baton and crossed the street from the War Memorial Opera House to Davies Symphony Hall, where he now serves as San Francisco Symphony’s newest assistant conductor and music director of its acclaimed Youth Orchestra. Cabrera’s first matinee concert on November 15 was a clear testament to his rare skill not only as a conductor, but as an educator and motivator of young musicians.

Donato Cabrera begins his first season as San Francisco Symphony’s newest assistant conductor and music director of the Youth Orchestra (photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

The program opened with The Infernal Machine by contemporary American composer Christopher Rouse. The title—which is not to be taken in the “diabolical” sense—could refer to the technical demands of a large orchestra, among whose instruments appear a slapstick, ratchet and sandpaper blocks.

Requiring the highest level of rhythmic precision, this brief symphonic work awakens, excites and invigorates with its relentless pace and constant musical surprises. After hearing Rouse’s five-minute showpiece, one could easily spend twice as long wondering just how such sounds were possible.

Rouse later used The Infernal Machine as the second movement of a larger symphonic work titled Phantasmata.

Compared to the works of later composers, Haydn’s plentiful symphonies are often perceived as naively optimistic and gentle. Yet the second piece on Cabrera’s program, namely Symphony No. 92 by Haydn (also known as the Oxford), offered the perfect counterbalance to the opening music by Christopher Rouse.

As though the rhythmic complexity of the preceding piece had somehow heightened the listener’s awareness, the delicate nuances of Haydn’s musical symmetry came through with elegance and clarity.

While the symphony was one of three works commissioned to be performed in Paris, it was reportedly conducted by Haydn in 1791 at a ceremony in London, where the composer was awarded an honorary doctorate in music. Owing to the occasion of its premiere, the work was immediately dubbed the Oxford Symphony.

In passages alternating between major and minor modes, Haydn creates a sense of contrast between light and dark, tension and release. Haydn’s own unique brand of counterpoint is ever present in this work, and clear thematic relationships from one movement to the next bind the symphony together as a cohesive whole.

It was in the program’s final piece, Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, where the extraordinary skill and passion of the young musicians came shining through with dazzling brilliance. The piece also brought to focus the electrifying chemistry between Cabrera and the youthful talent now in his care.

The Enigma Variations form a set of theme and fourteen variations, each depicting one of Elgar’s close personal friends and colleagues. Using the individual’s nickname, initials, or a linguistic code as the title for each variation, Elgar keeps the identities of his subjects somewhat secret; hence the “enigma.” Biographers and musicologists, however, have long since unraveled every last one of Elgar’s mysterious subjects in exacting detail.

Specific musical elements in each variation depict one or more of the subject’s character traits—often with affection or humor—as well as a general impression of the individual’s personality. Winifred Norbury’s laugh in Variation VIII, titled W.N., or Dora Penny’s stutter in Variation X, titled Dorabella, are both unmistakable examples of the tender fondness with which Elgar remembers his friends in this musical tribute.

The grand finale of Variation XIV, titled E.D.U., is an allusion to the composer’s own nickname, “Edu”, as he was often called by his wife, Alice, and also contains references to some of the earlier variations. In this section, the music reaches exhilarating dynamic peaks for a befitting conclusion to what has become Elgar’s best-known large-scale composition.

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra remains among the nation’s top teen ensembles (photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

With such a widely varied program in form and style, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra once again proved itself capable of tackling the most challenging of symphonic works worthy of its venerable adult counterpart. Under Maestro Cabrera’s leadership, this highly gifted symphony of teens promises to achieve great victories in seasons to come.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Patricia Racette Is the Beating Heart of 'Trittico'

By Eman Isadiar

One can only speculate why Puccini insisted that his three single-act operas always be presented together on the same program. Faithful to the composer’s wish, San Francisco Opera’s first production in 57 years of Il trittico (The Triptych) included all three works – Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The orchestra was led by Patrick Summer, reputed Puccini scholar and music director of Houston Grand Opera.

In Il tabarro (The Cloak), Puccini evokes the intense mental anguish and guilt that are the fallout of marital infidelity. To the mix, he then adds an explosive measure of jealousy and a dash of grief for a dead child. Just when the spectators find themselves sitting in a hot, messy and volatile goo of raw human emotion, they get a shocking dose of murder.

Baritone Paolo Gavanelli inhabited perfectly the character of the aging husband, Michele. His aria “Perchè non m'ami più?” (“Why do you love me no more?”) was the heartbreaking cry of a desperate man, who, having lost his youth and his only child, now fears losing his only love.

Soprano Patricia Racette sings the part of Giorgetta in San Francisco Opera’s production of Il tabarro by Puccini (photo by Cory Weaver).

Celebrating her 20th anniversary with San Francisco Opera, soprano Patricia Racette appeared as the voluptuous Giorgetta opposite Brandon Jovanovich, who sang the part of Luigi. Their stage chemistry was intense.

A refreshing surprise came in the ragged, old character of Frugola – the wife of a drunken dock worker – sung by mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook in a brief but impressive appearance.

In sum, the opera’s idée fixe is the cloak, in whose folds Michele and Giorgetta once cuddled blissfully with their infant son, which later serves as the shroud around the corpse of Giorgetta’s lover, Luigi.

In the evening’s second opera, Suor Angelica, Patricia Racette’s voice accompanied the audience into the deepest, darkest and least visited recesses of their own psyche, to experience the bleak despair of a woman without hope and fallen from grace.

Angelica is a former member of Italian aristocracy, who brings public scorn to her family by having a child out of wedlock. So they take the child away and confine Angelica to a convent. After seven years of isolation, she is disinherited from the family fortune, and is told that her child is dead.

San Francisco Opera’s production of “Suor Angelica” is set in a 1950s-era children’s hospital (photo by Cory Weaver).

Upon hearing the news, Sister Angelica slips into a downward psychological spiral and hears the voice of her dead son inviting her to join him in heaven. She concocts and ingests a potent poison.

As painful death overtakes her, Sister Angelica remembers that suicide is a mortal sin, which fills her with deep remorse. She is, however, redeemed in a vision of her son accompanied by the Madonna. The humiliated dying nun draws her final breath in peace.

Polish contralto Ewa Podleś appeared as Angelica’s cruel aunt, the Princess, whose part she sang with a richly resonant vocal timbre.

The dimensions of Racette’s own voice were monumental, reaching from profound emotional depths to soaring dynamic peaks. While her delivery was technically flawless, it was the sincere agony of Racette's sound that made Angelica the most fragile and vulnerable creature on earth.

In the third and final opera of the set, Gianni Schicchi, Patricia Racette sang the evening’s most memorable tune and one of Puccini’s catchiest – “Il mio babbino caro” (“Oh Daddy Dearest”).

The audience burst into applause at the first sight of the bright, black and white set of Gianni Schicchi. While the detailed and realistic blue-tiled cantina of a 1950s children’s hospital was certainly impressive as the setting for Suor Angelica, it took a back seat to the eye-popping surreal décor of Gianni Schicchi.

The set of Il tabarro came in third with only two holes in the stage floor serving modestly as the barge cabin and engine room, and a stone wall backdrop vaguely resembling the banks of the Seine.

Gianni Schicchi is a character mentioned in passing in Dante’s Inferno, which takes on an entirely comical spin in Puccini’s creation. The opera is filled with smiles, chuckles and laughs from the opening bars through to the very end, and makes a delightfully sweet dessert to the three-course musical banquet of Il trittico.

Wealthy Buoso Donati is on his deathbed as his relatives mill about, anxious to know what each of them stands to inherit. Upon discovering Buoso's will, however, they are shocked to learn that the rich Florentine has left his entire estate to the local monastery. Moreover, they cannot force him to rewrite his will as he just happened to expire moments ago.

This is when a man named Gianni Schicchi enters and is greeted rather coolly. Schicchi’s daughter, Lauretta, is in love with Rinuccio of the Donati family and wishes to marry him, but the Donatis require a hefty dowry and consider themselves too good for a union with a family whose origins are unknown.

In order to endear himself to the Donatis for the sake of his daughter, Schicchi unveils his plan to impersonate the dead Buoso and write a new will in the presence of a notary. His proposition immediately meets with everyone’s favor as he promises each member of the family a significant portion of the estate.

When the notary arrives, Gianni Schicchi skillfully imitates the voice of Buoso Donati and orders a token amount be given to the monastery upon his death. He then distributes Donati’s various material possessions to the family. Finally, to the gasping shock of everyone present, he names himself – Gianni Schicchi – as the recipient of Donati’s prized ox and house.

With this surprising turn of events, Schicchi can now offer an acceptable dowry for his daughter’s marriage to Rinuccio. Being the lawful owner of the house, he then proceeds to order everyone out, knowing no one would dare oppose him as the new richest man in town.

A particularly humorous aspect of the opera was the wardrobe. Members of the Donati family were dressed unmistakably in typical Italian suits and hats of the early 1900s, almost as if they had just landed on Ellis Island. True to the image of the Italian-American matriarch, the heavy-set Donati women also proved to be adept at using their purses as weapons on their husbands.

Members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus portray the Donati family in a hilarious production of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” (photo by Cory Weaver).

In a 180-degree turn from his somber role as the jealous, murderous Michele of Il tabarro, baritone Paolo Gavanelli returned to the stage, this time artfully hilarious as Gianni Schicchi. Mexican tenor David Lomelí, who received glowing reviews last summer as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata, made a befitting partner to Patricia Racette’s Lauretta as the love-stricken Rinuccio.

The show’s invisible stars were stage director James Robinson, who brought this New York City Opera production to San Francisco, and chorus master Ian Robertson, who directed the longshoremen of Il tabarro, the nuns of Suor Angelica and the loud-mouthed Donati family of Gianni Schicchi.

This Trittico will surely be remembered among the most uplifting productions of San Francisco Opera in the recent past, and possibly in many more seasons to come.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mozart’s Most ‘Noted’ Opera

By Eman Isadiar

One of the world’s best-known opera reviews was given by Joseph II, Emperor of Austria, who, after seeing Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, summed it up in three words – “Too many notes!” Clearly, he never saw the bold, new co-production of San Francisco Opera with Lyric Opera of Chicago, which is now on stage at the War Memorial Opera House through October 23.

San Francisco Opera presents Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio in a joint production with Lyric Opera of Chicago (photo by Cory Weaver).

The opera’s principal characters are two noblemen from opposite shores of the Mediterranean, namely Belmonte of Spain and Pasha Selim of Turkey, who are in love with the same woman, Constanze. Similarly, the noblemen’s butlers Pedrillo and Osmin vie for the love of Constanze’s chambermaid, Blonde.

Pedrillo, Blonde and Constanze are held captive by the Pasha in his harem estate, while Belmonte plots to win their freedom. Incognito, he enters the grounds of the palace and manages to find Pedrillo. Together, they drug Osmin and attempt to free the girls at the stroke of midnight, but their plan hits a snag and the four are captured in their attempted escape.

At this point, Belmonte introduces himself as a member of Spanish nobility and offers to buy the group’s freedom. This is where things go from bad to worse. Upon hearing his name, the Pasha realizes Belmonte is the son of his lifelong blood enemy, so he orders the captives executed in the morning.

As Belmonte and Constanze await their death, they reluctantly accept their fate and are resigned to being together in the afterlife. But the Pasha’s deep love for Constanze turns out to be sincere and exerts its influence upon his heart overnight. So, he frees the prisoners and lets bygones be bygones.

Osmin is in utter shock.

Soprano Mary Dunleavy sang the part of Constanze with the subtlety and grace of true Spanish aristocracy. Her aria of Act 1, “Ach ich liebte” (“Ah, I Once Loved”), in which Constanze sadly remembers Belmonte before her kidnapping, was delivered with elegant simplicity.

Soprano Mary Dunleavy sings the part of Constanze and stage actor Charles Shaw Robinson appears in the speaking role of Pasha Selim in San Francisco Opera’s Abduction from the Seraglio (photo by Cory Weaver).

Gifted Tenor Mathew Polenzani was captivating as Belmonte. An uplifting moment of the opera was Belmonte’s aria of Act 2, “Der Freude Tränen” (“Tears of Joy”), in which he rejoices after being reunited with Constanze.

With his boyish good looks, tenor Andrew Bidlack made an outstanding Pedrillo. In Act 3, the young Spaniard sings a serenade as a secret signal to Constanze and Blonde to prepare for the escape – “In Mohrenland gefangen” (“Captive in a Moorish Land”) – which Bidlack combined with just the right measure of charm and good acting.

Soprano Anna Christy was stunning in the role of Blonde. She sang some of the opera’s most demanding passages with effortless ease. Her aria of Act 2, “Durch Zärtlichkeit” (“With Tenderness”), where Blonde tells Osmin how to win a Western woman’s heart, was simply brilliant.

Judging by the decibel level of curtain call cheers, the audience definitely picked Christy as the show’s uncontested star.

With his powerful voice, British Bass Peter Rose brought much resonance to the character of Osmin, culminating in the aria “Ha, wie will ich triumphieren” (“Ah, How I Shall Triumph”), where he delights in the imminent execution of his rival, Pedrillo, after the failed escape.

Stage actor Charles Shaw Robinson gave a solid performance in the speaking role of Pasha Selim, and the chorus of Ottoman guards and concubines played a vital part under the skillful direction of Ian Robertson.

The production was designed by David Zinn and directed by Chas Rader-Shieber. Last and certainly not least, twenty-something Cornelius Meister of Germany conducted the orchestra with the musical expertise and insight of a seasoned maestro.

Too many notes or not, Mozart vindicates a fictional Turkish Pasha in a surprising eleventh-hour plot twist, while the real Emperor of Austria goes down in history – with perhaps a touch of operatic irony – for making the most pedestrian musical remark of all time.

One wonders what the attention-deficient Joseph II would say about Wagner’s epic The Ring Cycle, promised by San Francisco Opera in all of its 15-hour-plus glory in June 2011.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

New Season Opens for Symphony and Opera

By Eman Isadiar

Much like the turning of the leaves or the migration of the pelicans, there is a certain September week that signals the yearly progression of life in San Francisco. Yet it marks more than the mere passage of time. It is a moment of civic pride, of joyful celebration, and of being dressed to the nines for two extravagant opening nights.

On September 9, music director Michael Tilson Thomas inaugurated San Francisco Symphony’s 98th season at Davies Symphony Hall–and his own 15th anniversary at the podium–with works by Liszt, Ravel and Rodgers, and Prokofiev’s monumental Third Piano Concerto with keyboard legend Lang Lang.

Across the street at the War Memorial Opera House, Nicola Luisotti led a cast of stars in Verdi’s Il Trovatore on September 11–this time not as the favored returning guest conductor from Italy, but as San Francisco Opera’s newest music director.

The Public Goes Ga-Ga for Lang Lang

Maestro Tilson Thomas opened the symphony’s program with a series of three waltzes, each boldly different from the rest in style and character.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt is a fleshed-out symphonic version of his better-known work for the piano. The title is apparently derived from the character of Mephistopheles, who is an incarnation of the devil in the legend of Faust.

Far from the title’s reference to the underworld, the waltz expresses man’s rather innocent longing for youth and vitality in a perpetual struggle with moral issues. This, the orchestra communicated in a thrilling performance with bursts of supersonic tempos and stunning technical brilliance.

Then came La valse – simply, “The Waltz” – by French composer Maurice Ravel. The work was originally conceived for dance, but was made into a stand-alone concert piece after a dispute between composer and choreographer.

Being exceptionally gifted at orchestration, Ravel creates sensual tonal textures that, while being uniquely his own, are also an unmistakable musical salute to the great master of the Viennese waltz, Johann Strauss.

If Liszt’s waltz speaks of valiant youth and vigor, Ravel’s speaks of princes, fairy-tale castles and chivalry.

The third and final waltz on the program – taken from the Broadway musical Carousel by American composer Richard Rodgers – speaks simply of tender affection.

One might find the harmonies of the opening bars by Rodgers surprisingly sophisticated for a Broadway production. A brief detour into polytonality hinted at the composer’s interest in the emerging musical trends of his time on both sides of the Pond, which made this piece a particularly intriguing specimen for the waltz sample three-pack.

The evening’s principal attraction, however, followed intermission, with Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto played by one of the most popular performers of our time, Lang Lang.

Pianist Lang Lang shines in San Francisco Symphony’s opening night concert on September 9, 2009 (photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

Despite being billed primarily as a Chinese sensation, Lang was a student of Graffman at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, and could be equally considered a product of American training. At 27, he has played the great concert halls of the world many times over, and already demonstrates the rare sensitivity and skill of a veteran of the stage.

After years of polarized reviews, Lang Lang’s flawless execution has now aged into soulful art, right before our very eyes.

It was not the technical demands of Prokofiev’s concerto, but rather its unexpected romanticism that revealed the breadth of Lang’s interpretive canvas.

After endless applause and four returns to the stage, Lang Lang finally relented to an encore – Chopin’s Etude in A-flat, Op. 25, known as the “Aeolian Harp.”

If you think you’ve heard this piece before, think again!

To breathe new life into the single most commonly played Chopin Etude for over 160 years – now, THAT takes more than anything taught in a music school; American or Chinese.

So, who deserves credit for producing the world phenomenon that is Lang Lang? China and the U.S. may well have to fight this one out, too, along with the trade deficit and carbon emissions.

'Il Trovatore' Marks New Beginning for San Francisco Opera

Since San Francisco Opera’s public announcement of its new music director exactly two years and eight months ago, the enigmatic Nicola Luisotti has been the talk of the town as the man next in line to bear the mantle of his illustrious predecessors, the English Sir John Pritchard and the Scottish Donald Runnicles.

Nicola Luisotti conducts his first production as San Francisco Opera’s new music director (photo by Terrence McCarthy).

It is also a compliment to our city and to our opera that a European conductor of Luisotti’s stature should dismiss multiple offers, no doubt, from highly prestigious opera companies on the continent in favor of San Francisco.

Rivers of ink have flowed in Luisotti’s mention since he conducted last year’s production of La Bohème, and was featured as a guest conductor of the San Francisco Symphony in March. Naturally, this year’s season-opener with Verdi’s Il Trovatore was laden with excitement with perhaps a dash of skepticism.

Moments into the music, one could faintly hear a qualitative change in the orchestra’s sound. Whether a result of the new chemistry between conductor and orchestra, a side-effect of the slightly raised pit, or simply a musical placebo effect caused by the massive publicity in advance of Luisotti’s arrival – it is hard to know for sure.

Whatever the case, this is definitely a positive change.

The opera itself is a tragic tale of love, cruelty and murder, set to music by the master of Italian opera Giuseppe Verdi based on the work of Spanish playwright Antonio Gutierrez.

Sometime in fifteenth century Spain, Count Di Luna is convinced that his young son is ill from witchcraft, and orders a certain gypsy woman burnt at the stake in order to break the evil spell. The gypsy’s daughter named Azucena – herself the mother of a young boy – kidnaps the count’s son in a desperate attempt to trade his life for that of her mother, but arrives too late.

As the flames devour Azucena’s mother, she throws the count’s abducted son into the fire in a fit a vengeful wrath, only to realize in chilling horror, that she has instead burned her own son alive by mistake.

Azucena raises the count’s son as her dead boy Manrico, who grows into a handsome troubadour – trovatore in Italian – and whose sweet melodies capture the heart of a certain Leonora.

The count’s second son becomes the new Count Di Luna after his father’s death, and also falls in love with Leonora. Being a powerful and wealthy man – not to mention lethally jealous – the count manages to capture Manrico, whom he intends to kill over the woman they both love.

Leonora vows marriage to the count in exchange for Manrico’s life, but soon commits suicide to get out of the bargain. This enrages the count, so he hangs Manrico, upon which Azucena reveals to the count that he has killed, not a rival, but his own long-lost brother.

The story ends in a perfect example of operatic justice when the count pays the price for the long-ago death of a gypsy woman, and has to live out his days knowing he has killed his own flesh and blood, eerily sharing Azucena’s fate.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore opened San Francisco Opera’s 87th season on September 11, 2009 (photo by Robert Kusel).

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was ravishing as Leonora. Her perfectly controlled high notes in the aria “D’amor sull’ali rosee” (“On the Rosey Wings of Love”) of Act 4 – where Leonora sings of her concern for Manrico while pacing outside the prison – drew the evening’s loudest cheers.

Singing the troubadour’s part was Italian tenor Marco Berti, who did a fine job carrying the added burden of – not only being the leading tenor – but being a leading tenor who happens to be a singer in the story itself.

Berti’s aria “Ah, sì ben mio” (“Ah, My Beloved”), was one of the opera’s highlights, in which Manrico longs for death knowing that Leonora has agreed to marry the count.

Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who appears frequently in important roles with the San Francisco Opera, sang the part of Count di Luna with command and authority. First-timer mezzo soprano Stephanie Blythe, made a lasting impression in the complicated and disturbing character of Azucena.

Under chorus director Ian Robertson’s leadership, the band of gypsies, nuns, and ordinary fifteenth century Spaniards played a crucial part in the opera’s success.

Each scene was treated as though a delicately balanced painting, where the interplay of shadow and light filled open spaces, creating a kind of picture book to accompany the story.

David McVicar and Walter Sutcliffe co-directed the production with the finest of sets, costumes and choreography at their disposal.

Clearly, San Francisco Opera is charting its own artistic course through the rough waters of the world’s worst economic crisis ever. In contrast, this opening night was nothing but smooth sailing all around.

Of course, with Captain Luisotti now at the helm, San Francisco Opera may as well be the QE2.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Intense ‘Faust’ Concludes Festival Opera Season

By Eman Isadiar

Walnut Creek, CA – Festival Opera music director Michael Morgan concluded the season on August 16 with a dazzling performance of Faust by French composer Charles Gounod. Tenor Brian Thorsett appeared in the title role opposite soprano Kristin Clayton, who sang the part of Marguerite. Bass Kirk Eichelberger and baritone Eugene Brancoveanu appeared respectively as Mephistopheles and Valentin.

Before the performance, Morgan acknowledged his board of directors from the stage for maintaining the number of productions this year despite the tough economic times. While most performing arts organizations are reducing performances, Festival Opera seems to be moving full-steam ahead. Puccini’s Turandot opened the season last month.

The opera is largely based on the play of the same name by Goethe, and tells the story of an old scholar, Faust, who accepts eternal servitude to the devil in the next world in return for youth and love in this one. The object of his affection is Marguerite, who is known to all not only for her beauty, but also for purity and virtue.

Act I. Brian Thorsett (Faust), Kirk Eichelberger (Méphistophélès) Photo by Robert Shomler

With his newfound youth and charm, Faust manages to seduce and impregnate Marguerite soon after her protective brother Valentin ships off to war. Upon his return, Valentin is consumed with rage when he discovers the affair and attacks Faust, but is fatally stabbed.

While villagers gather around and implore Valentin to forgive Marguerite in his final moments, he shows no mercy and condemns her while drawing his final breath.

Apparently having killed her child, Marguerite awaits execution in prison. Aided by Mephistopheles, Faust offers to help Marguerite escape, but is shunned by her. She finds divine redemption and a chorus of angels sings as she mounts the scaffold to her death. Faust is once again alone and realizes he must now pay the ultimate price.

Making his company debut, Brian Thorsett proved to be a strikingly gifted tenor, with a deeply moving, resonant and unblemished voice. One of the opera’s brightest moments was Thorsett’s “Chaste et pure”, in which Faust expresses his longing for Marguerite.

Kristin Clayton sang the part of Marguerite with stellar acting and rare talent. A memorable scene of the opera was Clayton’s rendition of “Si belle en ce miroir”, where Marguerite admires her own reflection adorned by Faust’s jewels.

Act II. Kristin Clayton (Marguerite) Photo: Robert Shomler for Festival Opera

In his short-lived moments on stage Eugene Brancoveanu was simply brilliant. His voice has the kind of carrying power that few others possess and many sigh for in vain. As Mephistopheles, Kirk Eichelberger truly did justice to the dark figure of the underworld, and lent much credibility to the production as a whole.

Appearing in the supporting roles of Siebel and Wagner, soprano Erin Neff and baritone Zachary Gordin each gave a strong performance.

Another important feature of this opera was the expressive choreography of Mark Foehringer and his six nimble dancers. As always, the chorus added great depth and dimension to the production thanks to director James Toland.

The orchestra and stage direction were simply flawless under the direction of Oakland East Bay Symphony conductor Michael Morgan, known affectionately by his fans as “MoMo.”

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area

Cabrillo Festival Brings Together Emerging Composers and Conductors

By Eman Isadiar

SANTA CRUZ, CA – Nine promising conductors were selected from a pool of international applicants to lead the Cabrillo Festival orchestra in three short works by emerging composers. Serving as the festival’s music director for the past 18 years, renowned Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop headed the five-day workshop in collaboration with her own mentor and teacher Gustav Meier. The training culminated in a free public concert on August 5.

The composers featured in this year’s program were Eastman School of Music doctoral candidate Baljinder Sekhon, award-winning Columbian-born composer Federico Garcia, and recent ASCAP laureate Steven Rice.

Composers pictured left to right: Baljinder Singh Sekhon II, Federico Garcia, Steven Rice (Photos courtesy of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music)

The conductors were Pierre Simard from Quebec, Alejandra Urrutia-Borlando from Chile, Christopher Morris Whiting from Switzerland, Nicholas Leh Baker from Houston, Joshua David Gersen from Philadelphia, Jonathan A. Govias from Quebec, Ryan S. Haskins from Baltimore, Olivier F. Ochanine from Los Angeles and Benjamin Rouse from Phoenix.

Conductors pictured left to right, top to bottom: Benjamin Rous, Alejandra Urrutia-Borlando, Joshua David Gersen, Olivier F. Ochanine , Ryan S. Haskins, Nicholas Leh Baker, Jonathan A. Govias, Pierre Simard, Christopher Morris Whiting (Photos by R.R. Jones).

The first piece on the program was Sekhon’s Ancient Dust, conducted consecutively by Simard, Urrutia-Borlando and Whiting. The piece, as described by the composer, attempted to depict the traces of time left on objects of antiquity, which render them unique.

Sekhon’s work was in three distinct sections, opening with a still and mysterious segment containing faint melodic fragments, suggesting perhaps the subtle specks and blemishes of age. Then, followed a more animated passage with a persistent undercurrent leading to a dramatic crescendo. The final section was announced by a haunting double bass solo and ended in peaceful atmospheric sounds.

Simard’s conducting of Ancient Dust was especially fluid and delicate, while that of Urrutia-Borlando had sharper accents and syncopations. Whiting’s interpretation of the piece was rather multi-layered and brought out the counterpoint in the interplay between the parts.

Though each of the remaining conductors brought a similar measure of individuality to the music, the composers’ active participation in the workshop likely prevented extreme artistic variances from one conductor to the next. This rare partnership between composer and conductor is a distinguishing feature of Alsop’s workshop.

The second piece on the program was Inter Alia by Federico Garcia, possibly named for the ensemble he co-founded, “Alia Musica Pittsburgh.” Garcia noted that the piece was loosely composed in two sections with multiple phrases in each section, followed by an ending passage or coda. He added that the two prevalent ideas in the piece are ambient music and a more rhythmic dance-like pattern.

Inter Alia opened with a recurring motif of a descending minor second, which was interwoven throughout the piece and brought a sense of organic cohesion. Another memorable aspect of the music was the rich, lyrical violin solo, which added a touch of romanticism.

While conductors Baker and Gersen each gave a solid and masterful rendition of Garcia’s work, Govias stepped up the tempo ever so slightly, which gave the music a boost of energy.

The final piece on the program was titled The Henry Ford Old Time Orchestra Plays Real American Tunes by Steven Rice. In a surreal introduction from the stage, Rice recounted how Henry Ford – despite being dead for more than 60 years – commissioned the piece for his own orchestra, which factually never existed.

The fibbed description indicated that the composition might include non-musical elements, such as the spoken introduction itself, and perhaps even the audience’s reaction to it, which was a mix of nervous chuckles and coughs.

The piece featured a trio consisting of a masked violinist, a tuba player and a pianist with a remarkably worn-down, public school-issue upright piano. They were accompanied by the orchestra in a kind of deliberately discordant triple concerto, in the style of honky-tonk, ragtime and ice-cream truck music, all rolled into one.

The music ended with a monologue by the masked violinist, who knocked over a table with various items of cookware, which were then picked up and rearranged on the table.

Although the majority of the audience perceived the theatrics of Rice’s music as humorous, conductors Haskins, Ochanine and Rous each managed to draw out the deeper aspect of the music, which was clearly intended to bewilder, amuse and provoke.

Known as the father of the assembly line, the reference to Henry Ford may have been a statement on mass-production and consumerism in the arts, and the allusion to out-of-tune old American music was perhaps a reminder of our nation’s humble cultural origins.

Be that as it may, it is the composer’s prerogative to infuse a precise or vague meaning into the music, while it is the conductor’s job to act as the trusted emissary and interpreter. This is exactly the symbiotic relationship fostered by this prestigious Santa Cruz workshop.

The Composers/Conductors Workshop is a joint project of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Conductors Guild, a Virginia-based international organization dedicated to promoting the art of conducting.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Triumphant ‘Turandot’ Opens Season in East Bay

By George Hernández and Eman Isadiar

The Festival Opera of Walnut Creek opened its 2009 season at the Lesher Center for the Arts with a strong, colorful and inspiring production of Puccini’s final opera Turandot, which continued through July 19. The principal roles of Turandot, Calaf and Liù were sung by soprano Othalie Graham, tenor Christopher Jackson and soprano Rebecca Sjöwall respectively, with Bryan Nies conducting the orchestra.

Closing scene from Festival Opera’s production of Turandot (Photo by Robert Shomler)

Much like its spice-laced tale of the royal courts of the Far East, the creation of the opera itself was fraught with drama and controversy.

Composer Giacomo Puccini had composed roughly three-quarters of the music when he was diagnosed with advanced throat cancer and died shortly thereafter. Knowing of his own impending death, Puccini asked that his colleague Riccardo Zandonai finish the opera. The composer’s dying wish, however, was boldly ignored by his editor and by his own family, who instead commissioned Franco Alfano to write the remaining music. This choice arguably left a conspicuous artistic scar in the final act of the opera.

The 1926 world premiere of Turandot was led by the legendary Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, who refused to include Alfano’s ending, and ordered the curtain lowered in the middle of Act 3 with the sounding of the final notes known to have been written by Puccini himself.

The story is taken from the Persian tale of "Turandokht" ("Damsel of the Orient”), which in translation became “Turandot.” It is the name of an irresistible Chinese princess, whose beauty is matched only by her cruelty and contempt toward men. According to custom, she must marry, but her intense hatred for men causes her to devise a disturbing plan to eliminate her suitors.

Any man requesting Turandot’s hand in marriage must offer the correct answer to each of three mind-boggling riddles. A wrong answer, however, does not simply mean refusal of the marriage proposal—it means death by execution.

In the opening act, the prince of Persia is slated for execution at dawn for failing to answer Turandot’s riddles. Now the deposed prince of Tartary, Calaf, who is traveling incognito, falls victim to Turandot’s charms and sounds the ceremonial gong, thereby presenting himself as her next suitor. He becomes aware that his blind father, the former Tartar king Timur, is also wandering the streets of Peking with his loyal maid, Liù.

Rebecca Sjöwall (Lìu), Kirk Eichelberger (Timur) and Christopher Jackson (Calaf) in Festival Opera’s Turandot (Photo by Robert Shomler)

Unbeknown to all until now, Liù has been secretly in love with Calaf for years, which explains why she has remained in his father’s service. After being reunited and hearing of Calaf’s intent to marry Turandot, the former king and his maid plead with Calaf not to risk his life for the princess, who has so far managed to have all of her suitors killed.

But Calaf persists and remains true to his heart. He answers all of the riddles with awe-inspiring wisdom. However, knowing that he has yet to earn Turandot’s love, he offers to be executed, but only if the princess is able to find out his name by morning.

This is when the frenzy begins. Turandot charges everyone serving the royal court with the single task of uncovering her mysterious suitor’s identity, or else all shall be killed.

Singing the part of Calaf, lyric tenor Christopher Jackson gave a remarkably sincere rendition of “Nessun dorma” (“None Shall Sleep”), which has become perhaps one of the most famous arias of all time. It describes the long night during which Calaf’s life hangs in the balance as Turandot’s subjects seek to reveal the Tartar prince’s name.

Against the odds, love prevails at last and Calaf melts through the ice of Turandot’s distrust, winning her affection with a tender kiss.

Appearing as the heartless Turandot, Othalie Graham brought much dramatic depth to a largely one-dimensional character. Graham’s subtlety of acting and powerful voice are two reasons behind the success of this production.

Rebecca Sjöwall gave a moving performance as the love-stricken Liù, the import of whose character is often raised above that of Turandot. Sjöwall reached her highest point in the aria “Signore, ascolta” (“Listen Master”) where she begs Calaf not to attempt to solve Turandot’s riddles, to which Jackson replies with an equally compelling “Non piangere più” (“No More Tears”).

Sadly, Liù gives her life while refusing to divulge Calaf’s name to Turandot.

Remarkably gifted Bass Kirk Eichelberger lent a kingly voice to Timur, while baritone Igor Vieira and tenors Adam Flowers and Michael Mendelssohn brought just the right touch of comic relief as high-ranking officials Ping, Pang and Pong. An invisible star of the show was James Toland, under whose direction the chorus came to life as the men, women and children of this exotic metropolis on the Silk Road.

Festival Opera’s Turandot was a highly professional production with striking sets and lighting that magically transformed every corner of the fairly small stage into the ancient land of legend.

While talent was in no short supply, the twin heroes of this production were stage director David Cox, for raising the acting of the cast to a level worthy of their voices, and conductor Bryan Nies, for his attentive and flawless orchestral accompaniment.

Stay tuned for Gounod’s Faust, which will open on August 8 and will continue through August 16. For tickets, call (925) 944-9610 or visit www.festivalopera.com .

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George Hernández teaches voice and piano in Walnut Creek. Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

'Summer Seduction' at San Francisco Opera

By Eman Isadiar

A mini-season of the San Francisco Opera dubbed Summer Seduction opened on June 2 with three hugely popular productions – Puccini’s Tosca, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Verdi’s La Traviata This article covers the first two of the named operas. Summer Seduction will continue through July 5 at the War Memorial Opera House.

Pieczonka Shines as Tosca

Canadian opera star Adrianne Pieczonka gives a captivating performance as Tosca. Photo by Cory Weaver

The intensely emotional melodrama Tosca is forever linked with the history of San Francisco Opera as well as that of the city itself. It was conducted by San Francisco Opera founder Gaetano Merola in the company’s inaugural season in 1923, and also marked the opening of the company’s current home, the War Memorial Opera House, in 1932.

The November 1978 performance of Tosca featuring perhaps two of the greatest stars of opera of all time – Montserrat Caballé and Luciano Pavarotti – was attended by San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk the night before his assassination.

Based on a drama by Victorien Sardou, Tosca depicts the life of famous singer Floria Tosca as she makes a desperate attempt to save the life of her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, who awaits execution for the crime of harboring a fugitive. The all-powerful police chief Scarpia, however, agrees to stage the execution in order to give the semblance that justice has been carried out, but demands Tosca’s love in exchange for her Cavaradossi’s life.

Tosca appears to succumb to Scarpia’s advances after obtaining a written safe-passage permit from him, but fatally stabs him as he prepares to embrace her. She then quickly flees the scene and instructs Cavaradossi to pretend to die after the first shot has been fired at what she believes will be a mock execution.

But everything goes terribly wrong.

Scarpia had never intended to spare Cavaradossi’s life, and the fake execution plot was a lie so he could have his way with the singer. Now being pursued for having killed Scarpia, Tosca leaps off the wall of the castle moments after Cavaradossi’s execution, and falls to her death.

Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka gave a poignant performance in the title role. She perhaps achieved her brightest moment in “Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore” (“I Lived on Art, I Lived on Love”) in Act 2, where Tosca asks God why she is subjected to such cruelty when she has dedicated her life to her art and to piety.

Matching Pieczonka’s brilliant Tosca, Italian tenor Carlo Ventre demonstrated equally impressive skill and control as the voice of Cavaradossi. Ventre communicated remarkably sincere emotion as he sang the words “Non ho mai tanto amato la vita” (“Never Have I Loved Life So Much”) in Cavaradossi’s a heartbreaking love letter to Tosca before his execution.

Georgian bass-baritone Lado Ataneli was powerful and convincing as the story’s antagonist Scarpia. Thierry Bosquet’s elaborately detailed sets, Maestro Marco Armiliato’s rich rendition, and Jose Maria Condemi’s thoughtful direction made this Tosca into yet another production San Francisco will remember among its proudest operatic moments.

Bona Fide American Opera

Laquita Mitchell and Eric Owens appear in the title roles of San Francisco Opera’s Porgy and Bess. Photo by Terrence McCarthy

In Porgy and Bess, composer George Gershwin portrays an African American community in Charleston, South Carolina, living in squalor and poverty but managing to remain hopeful for a brighter future. Many of the composer’s most memorable tunes were written for this work, which many believe represents a renaissance of American music.

San Francisco Opera seems to have presented Porgy and Bess in ten-year intervals dating back to 1977, all but the latest being touring productions of the Houston Grand Opera. The new production directed by Francesca Zambello, however, departs from tradition by transplanting the story from its original setting of the 1930s to the 1950s.

Porgy is a disabled man with no hope of finding love because of his physical condition. Crown is a gambler, drinker and drug-user caught up in a reckless lifestyle with his girlfriend Bess. The local dope dealer is named Sportin Life, who personifies the devil himself.

The story is about the unlikely love that develops between Porgy and Bess, and inspires each of them to transcend the confines of their individual lives. Porgy must overcome his poor self-image as a cripple and prove himself a man, while Bess attempts to abandon “happy dust” (cocaine) alcohol and amorous adventures for a modest life with Porgy.

For a while, Porgy and Bess are deeply in love and live in bliss, but things go awry and the downward spiral begins. Bess falls back into cocaine use, leaves Porgy and follows Sportin Life to New York. However, he opera ends on an optimistic note when Porgy grabs his crutch and says he will limp all the way to New York in order to save Bess once again.

We are left with the belief that he succeeds and that love conquers all in the end.

Remarkably talented bass-baritone Eric Owens gave a solid performance as Porgy. The decibel level of the applause during curtain call made Owens the uncontested star of the show. Of course, the endearing quality written into Porgy’s character probably helped.

Appearing for the very first time as Bess, Laquita Michell made us believe she has sung the part for years. Her soul-stirring voice combined with her subtle acting skills made for a captivating performance.

The audience came for Porgy or for Bess, but left absolutely enchanted by Serena, whose part was brilliantly sung and acted by Karen Slack.

Chauncey Packer also deserves mention with his compelling portrayal of Sportin Life, as does conductor John DeMain, who brought much musical depth and expertise to the exciting rhythms of Gershwin.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Close of Landmark Seasons for Youth Orchestra, New Century Chamber Orchestra

By Eman Isadiar

Benjamin Shwartz mounted the conductor’s podium one last time at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday, May 17 and led San Francisco Symphony’s award-winning Youth Orchestra in a demanding program of Barber’s First Symphony and Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz.

Later that same afternoon, legendary violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg concluded her first season as music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra with a concert titled Shadows and Light performed in San Rafael’s Osher Marin JCC Auditorium, featuring works by Mozart, Herrmann, Borodin and Strauss. The concert’s highlight was a new commission by emerging Brazilian composer Clarice Assad, with Salerno-Sonnenberg as soloist.

Benjamin Shwartz conducted San Francisco Symphony’s Youth Orchestra in his final concert on May 17, 2009. (Photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony)

Youth Orchestra Conductor Bids Farewell

Young Israeli-American conductor Benjamin Shwartz has served since 2005 under Michael Tilson Thomas as resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and music director of the Youth Orchestra. Shwartz leaves his posts to pursue guest conducting engagements in the US and abroad. He is succeeded by Donato Cabrera, who joins the San Francisco Symphony as the newest member of the conducting staff.

The most striking feature of the concert was the profound artistic maturity of the teenaged orchestra, which, under Shwartz’s direction, could upstage even the best of “grown-up” ensembles.

The Philadelphia Connection

Shwartz opened the concert with Symphony No. 1 by Samuel Barber, with whom he shares a special bond.

Nearly 70 years apart, Barber and Shwartz both attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Other Curtis alumni include such diverse artists as Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis and Lang Lang.

Coincidentally, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonneberg, whose latest concert is covered in the second half of this article, is also a past student of the Curtis Institute

In his Symphony No. 1, Barber condenses the traditional four-movement symphonic form into a single movement, yet preserving the musical processes by which the different sections of a symphony are bound together as a whole.

The idea of a one-movement symphony was rather uncommon at the time, and only one other composer—Jean Sibelius—had completed such a work twelve years prior with his Symphony No. 7, thus providing a model for Barber.

Samuel Barber dedicated his First Symphony to the Italian-American composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti, who, by the way, happens to be yet another graduate of the Curtis Institute.

Symphonic Hallucinations

While Haydn and Mozart left it to the listener to imagine a storyline to accompany their music, Beethoven was the first composer to begin the trend of suggesting program ideas to the audience.

Since then, no composer has left such a descriptive—not to mention disturbing—program as that of Hector Berlioz for his Symphonie fantastique.

According to Berlioz, the music depicts an artist who intends to commit suicide over a woman by taking opium. But instead, he finds himself trapped in a series of nightmarish hallucinations, and witnesses his own execution for having killed the woman he loves. Following his death, he encounters his beloved once again in the afterlife, but this time as a prostitute in the company of devils and sorcerers.

Despite the clearly R-rated Symphonie fantastique, the PG-rated orchestra managed to express every last horrific detail of Berlioz’s music. In fact, Schwartz’s rendition of both works on the program was bold, introspective, and filled with refined music worthy of a professional symphony orchestra of any age.

If it were possible to form an orchestra solely of young prodigies, one wonders whether it wouldn’t sound something like San Francisco Symphony’s Youth Orchestra.

A New Era for New Century

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg concludes her first season as music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. (Photo by Jim Block)

On her blog, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg declares herself to be officially “bi-coastal” following her appointment as music director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra. She continues to maintain her primary residence in New York while wrapping up her first season in the Bay Area with record-breaking results, both in terms of concert attendance and revenue for the ensemble.

Known to the world simply as “Nadja”, she captured the hearts back in 1981 as the youngest violinist ever to win the Naumberg competition with Tchaikovsky’s concerto, which was broadcast live from Carnegie Hall on national television.

Much of Nadja’s tumultuous career since the early days has been dedicated to performing and promoting new music—a cause she continues to champion in her new role in San Francisco.

The program, which was titled Shadows and Light, featured music having to do with nighttime and darkness. Ironically, the concert venue’s stage lighting malfunctioned throughout the entire concert.

It was fascinating to witness the non-verbal, almost telepathic interaction between Nadja and her ensemble of 18 musicians, each clearly an accomplished artist. It is probably not too difficult to follow Nadja’s lead anyway—she is famous for being especially mobile on stage.

Some may frown at Nadja’s romanticized Mozart, with the grandiosity of her gestures and the richness of her vibratos. Many others, however, would find her approach to the program opener—Eine Kleine Nachtmusik—rather refreshing as she breathed new life into an otherwise dusty, old cliché of the string repertoire.

Following Mozart, the audience got a surprisingly powerful musical thrill with Herrmann’s Psycho Suite. While most of the musical ideas of the suite are introduced in the opening “Prelude”, one does not mind the repetitiveness, perhaps owed to the unrelenting rhythmic energy of the piece.

The famous squawking sounds of “The Murder” movement instantly brought to mind the shower scene, the silhouette and the knife.

The public was asked not to applaud in between Borodin’s Nocturne and Assad’s new commission Dreamscapes. The program was planned in such a way as to allow the lushly romantic music of Borodin to prime the listener for a deeper understanding of Assad’s music. Applause would clearly have disrupted the trance-like state intended by the composer.

Borodin’s Nocturne was deeply moving.

It is difficult to determine whether the profound impact of Assad’s work was brought on by the music itself, or by Nadja, in whose hands any piece of music can find sublime expression. Perhaps, it was a magical combination of both. Either way, the performance of Clarice Assad’s Dreamscapes with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra was a rare musical experience of transcendental dimensions.

Had the program ended with Assad, the audience would likely have left the hall in a sleep-walking daze. Strauss’s unmistakably Viennese Die Fledermaus Overture, however, waltzed us back to reality, rendering us capable of operating our respective motorized vehicles home.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Silver Season Ends with Golden ‘Carmen’

By Eman Isadiar

Marking the conclusion of the company’s 25th anniversary, Opera San José’s latest production of Carmen opened on Saturday, April 18, 2009 to a near full house at the California Theatre. Mezzo-soprano Cybele Gouverneur appeared as Carmen opposite tenor Alexander Boyer, who portrayed her disgraced lover Don José. The performance was conducted by Opera San José’s founding music director David Rohrbaugh.

Mezzo-soprano Cybele Gouverneur appears in the title role in Opera San José’s Carmen (Photo by Pat Kirk)

Carmen is the loftiest product of the mind of French composer Georges Bizet, who completed the work only months before his death. The opera’s phenomenal success with perhaps three of the best-known arias of all time—the Habanera, the Seguedilla and the "Toreador Song"—has by far eclipsed other contemporary works of the genre, including Bizet’s own seven other operas.

Sung in French, the three-act opera tells the story of a hot-tempered gypsy girl named Carmen, with a mysterious, almost magical power over men. She struts her stuff on the plaza in the opening act while singing the famous Habanera “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (“Love, A Restless Bird”) and throws a flower to the only man in the crowd who seems unmoved by her beauty—a soldier named Don José.

After Carmen leaves the scene and the crowd disperses, a young woman named Micaela delivers a letter to Don José from his ailing mother, in which she urges him to marry the lovely messenger. Upon reading the letter, Don José announces to the blushing Micaela his intention to fulfill his mother’s wish.

In the following scene, Carmen is arrested for slashing a girl’s face in a catfight at the cigarette factory where they both work. She is bound and delivered to Don José, who must take her to prison; however, the plot thickens.

A strong attraction—of the fatal kind—soon develops between them, complete with its own haunting orchestral leitmotif. As a result, Don José goes to jail for Carmen, abandons his military career and his fiancée Micaela, and joins a band of smugglers.

With his life now virtually ruined, Don Jose also oversteps the threshold of sanity when he learns that Carmen has taken up with a dashing bullfighter named Escamillo.

Baritone Krassen Karagiozov sings Escamillo's "Toreador Song" with the Opera San José Chorus in Act 2 of Carmen (Photo by Pat Kirk)

In the final act, Carmen and her new lover Escamillo are surrounded by admirers as they walk toward the bullfighting arena. Carmen learns that Don José is nearby and wishes to speak to her, so she separates from the group to find him.

A disheveled and distraught Don José emerges from the shadows and begs Carmen to reunite with him. Carmen states that she belongs to no one and does only as she pleases. He repeats his plea merely to receive the same reply.

Eager not to miss the bullfight, Carmen tells Don José to either kill her or to step aside and leave her in peace. As the crowd cheers Escamillo’s slaughter of the bull, so does Don José stab his knife into Carmen’s heart.

Cybele Gouverneur was more than convincing as the sultry seductress of Seville. Her distinctive timbre has a particularly rich texture near the lower end of her range. A memorable highlight was Gouverneur’s enchanting rendition of the famous Seguedilla of Act 1, “Près des ramparts de Séville” (“Near the Walls of Seville”), where, after being arrested, Carmen charms her guard Don José into letting her go.

Gouverneur’s inspired Carmen was paired with an equally compelling Don José by Alexander Boyer. The gifted tenor’s performance achieved its highest point in the tavern scene aria “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” (“The Flower You Threw My Way”), where Don José, after spending two months in jail, declares his undying love to Carmen.

Tenor Alexander Boyer and soprano Rebecca Davis sings the parts of Don José and Micaela in Opera San José’s Carmen (Photo by Pat Kirk)

One of the opera’s many pleasant surprises came from soprano Rebecca Davis, who was simply stellar as Micaela. Her unique chemistry with Boyer made for an unforgettable duet in Act 1—“Parle-moi de ma mere” (“Tell Me of Mother”)—where the tenor and soprano sing in such close harmonic proximity that their voices seem to fuse together in the end.

The colorful details of the story came to life under the direction of Sandra Bengochea, who created a vivid and poignant Carmen as a proud marker of Opera San José’s quarter-century history.

Baritone Krassen Karagiozov and sopranos Jillian Boye and Alicia Lynch deserve mention as the talented voices of Escamillo, Frasquita and Mercedes respectively, as do the chorus master John Bailey and choreographer Lise La Cour, whose parts were especially important in the tavern scene of Act 2.

The backbone of this Carmen, however, was the impressively skilled orchestra led by David Rohrbaugh. From the very first note of the thrilling overture to the ominous, gripping finale, the orchestra provided a perfectly nuanced and highly attentive accompaniment worthy of the finest of opera houses.

Ladies and gentlemen, the bar has been raised for season 26.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lyric Opera’s New 'Rigoletto' Set in Prohibition Era

By Eman Isadiar

Once again, San Francisco Lyric Opera brings us an operatic masterpiece with an intriguing creative twist. A brand new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto will be on stage at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theatre from April 17 through 26, this time transplanted to the urban landscape of Prohibition Era U.S. from the original sixteenth century setting in northern Italy.

Baritone David Cox appears in the title role in SF Lyric Opera's Rigoletto set in Prohibition Era U.S. (Photo courtesy of SF Lyric Opera)

“What makes the story compelling is the twisted nature of the characters against the backdrop of a worn-down society,” says artistic director Barnaby Palmer. He adds, “The 1930s urban setting tends to accentuate the diseased elements at the core of the opera.”

Composer Giuseppe Verdi and his librettist Francesco Piave seem to have fought—and won—an uphill battle with Rigoletto. Based on a work by Victor Hugo titled “Le roi s’amuse” (“The King’s Leisures”), the opera originally portrayed a French king and his many amorous adventures, which was apparently too indecent a topic for the censors of the time. In order to avoid any possible controversy, Verdi and Piave changed the king’s character to an Italian duke of a long-extinct domain.

The story’s main theme is revenge gone awry. The men whose wives and daughters were seduced and dishonored by the Duke form an alliance headed by a certain Count Monterone. However, the Duke’s advisor and confidant—a physically deformed man nicknamed “Rigoletto” (Funny Guy)—has the Count arrested and thrown in jail.

Soprano Rebecca Sjöwall sings the role of Gilda in SF Lyric Opera's new Rigoletto (Photo courtesy of SF Lyric Opera)

Contrary to his own repulsive appearance, Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda is a very attractive young woman, whom he keeps hidden from the world. She is allowed to leave the house only to attend mass, which, as fate would have it, is where she is spotted by the Duke. Unaware that she is Rigoletto’s daughter, the Duke manages to charm her using a false name.

Count Monterone’s men abduct Gilda, believing her to be Rigoletto’s mistress. Rigoletto demands that Gilda be returned to him and, to everyone’s utter surprise, divulges that she is in fact his daughter. Rigoletto’s madness reaches fever pitch as he hires an assassin to kill the Duke, whom he holds responsible for Gilda’s lovesick condition.

Shortly thereafter, the assassin delivers to Rigoletto a sack he claims to contain the dead Duke’s body. As Rigoletto weighs down the sack with rocks before throwing it into the lake, he hears the Duke’s voice in the distance singing one of opera’s best known arias “La donna è mobile” (“How Fickle is Womankind”). Perplexed, he opens the sack and discovers Gilda, who—still barely alive—proclaims she is glad to have exchanged her own life for that of the her beloved Duke as she draws her final breath.

Gifted Hungarian stage director Attila Béres is credited with this production’s daring originality, which also marks his début with the San Francisco Lyric Opera. Currently the main director at Budapest’s Operetta Theater, Mr. Béres has directed an impressive list of operas during his remarkable tenures at the National Theater in Pécs and at Gardonyi Géza Theater in Eger, Hungary.

Artistic director Barnaby Palmer notes that, in addition to Rigoletto’s bold staging, the principal roles are sung by an especially talented cast with outstanding acting skills. These include award-winning soprano Rebecca Sjöwall appearing as Gilda, accomplished Mexican tenor Jesús León as the Duke, and leading baritone David Cox in the title role.

As always, Barnaby Palmer will conduct the orchestra in what promises to be another memorable production of San Francisco Lyric Opera. Mr. Palmer has served as the company’s artistic director since 2002, and is also a professor of Opera History and Music Theory at the Academy of Art.

He points out that opera in a small, intimate setting is qualitatively different from a large opera house production. “San Francisco Lyric Opera,” he says, “aims to offer a unique, close-up experience where the spectator feels directly engaged in the story.” In addition, Mr. Palmer points out that San Francisco Lyric Opera is especially in favor of using modern technology for productions that are more relevant to today’s audiences.

San Francisco Lyric Opera hopes to raise future generations of opera supporters by offering free admission to children 12 and under, and reserving 10 percent of its seating capacity at every performance for the San Francisco Unified School District.

For tickets to the upcoming production of Rigoletto, visit http://www.sflyricopera.org or call (800) 919-8088.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Jose Turns Out in Droves for Favorite Conductor

By Eman Isadiar

Thousands of music fans flocked to the California Theatre in San Jose from March 26 through 29 to hear Symphony Silicon Valley conducted by George Cleve in perhaps the season’s most eagerly anticipated concert set.

The program opened with Le carnaval romain by Berlioz, followed by Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Korean soloist Ju-Young Baek, and concluded with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 titled From the New World.

The Man behind San Jose’s Glorious Symphonic Past

Conductor George Cleve leads Symphony Silicon Valley in music by Berlioz, Brahms and Dvorak (Photo by Bob Shomler)

Recognized internationally as a distinguished conductor, George Cleve’s name in the Bay Area is forever associated with San Francisco’s hugely popular Midsummer Mozart Festival, which he founded nearly 35 years ago.

Many also remember Cleve as the music director who transformed the now extinct San Jose Symphony from an average regional ensemble to a highly acclaimed orchestra. His public charisma and capable leadership brought a new level of artistic prestige worthy of the state’s third largest metropolis.

Over the decade following Cleve’s departure in ’92, the symphony sadly fell into a downward spiral due to a host of controversial factors leading to its eventual demise.

However, Maestro Cleve returns frequently to San Jose, now as a favored guest conductor of Symphony Silicon Valley. One such occasion was the last week in March, when the public got a taste of San Jose’s glorious symphonic past in a highly energetic—and technically demanding—program.

Program Highlights

Le carnaval romain comes from an obscure and seldom-performed opera named Benvenuto Cellini by French composer Hector Berlioz.

Most operas begin life as a brief orchestral overture containing the most important musical elements, which the composer then uses to seek funding in order to complete the project. With Benvenuto Cellini, however, the sequence of events was reversed.

Four years after the full opera’s completion and disastrous premiere, Berlioz condensed the music into the concert overture we now know as Le carnival romain, which, on its own merit, has become a fairly popular and frequently played orchestral piece.

Korean violinist Ju-Young Baek appears with Symphony Silicon Valley in Brahms’ Violin Concerto (Photo courtesy of Symphony Silicon Valley)

Then came a unique and memorable rendition by Ju-Young Baek of the only violin concerto left by German composer Johannes Brahms. The concerto was composed during Brahms’ years in Vienna, and is dedicated to the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim.

The most prominent feature of the work is that it elevates the orchestra’s role to a near-equal partnership with the soloist in terms of skill and melodic importance.

Clearly, Baek is not afraid to dig deep into the strings for a passionate, gritty timbre. She brought a rare sensitivity to the piece, which demonstrated not only her irreproachable technique, but also her profound musical insight.

Baek’s powerful bowing, however, caused her instrument to require re-tuning at the end of the first movement. While this may have been slightly disruptive, the audience quickly slipped back into a musical trance with a remarkably lyrical Adagio movement. Baek’s richly grainy tone returned in the third movement for an exciting finale.

After many rounds of heartfelt applause, Ju-Young Baek offered the gift of an encore—a slow movement from one of Bach’s sonatas for violin solo. Gone was the highly emotional, deep bowing of Brahms, now replaced by a pure and unornamented sound, indicating Baek’s delicate musical finesse.

The concert reached perhaps its highest point with a strong and bold interpretation of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. George Cleve blew away the musical dust and cobwebs that tend to gather on such a widely performed work as the “New World”, and gave it a fresh symphonic coat of paint. It was the kind of performance that makes one want to rush home and look for that old CD of Dvořák’s immortal tribute to America.

Not surprisingly, wild applause and a standing ovation followed. As if a brave “New World” weren't enough, we got another stunning symphonic treat—Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance No. 1.

While recitalists and soloists almost always play additional music when the applause reaches a minimum requisite decibel level, orchestral encores are exceptionally rare, which made this concert all the more special.

Another fact deserving mention is that George Cleve conducted the entire program from memory.

San Jose’s Promising Musical Future

Though Symphony Silicon Valley has not yet completely filled the cultural hole left by San Jose Symphony, the latest concert with George Cleve at the helm was a welcome reminder that such a prospect is within reach.

Even years after his remarkable tenure in San Jose, the enigmatic conductor managed to draw an impressive crowd to the symphony in not one, but three shows, which, in this economy, proves only one thing.

Cleve’s baton is in fact a magic wand.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco Symphony Welcomes New Opera Director

By Eman Isadiar

San Francisco Opera's new music director Nicola Luisotti leads San Francisco Symphony in music by Kodaly, Bloch and Brahms (Photo by Dario Acosta)

So far this season, we have seen a host of distinguished guests from far and wide on the conductor’s podium at Davies Symphony Hall. But one man in particular stands out for the prominent position he will soon occupy in the city’s cultural life. In its latest concert, the San Francisco Symphony was led by the charismatic Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti, who has been named as San Francisco Opera’s next music director.

The stylistic variety of the program offered ample proof that Luisotti’s musical skills extend far beyond the realm of opera. The concert had a pronounced ethnic flavor with Kodály’s Dances of Galánta followed by Bloch’s Hebraic Rhapsody with cellist Michael Grebanier. The evening culminated with a symphonic monolith of the Romantic repertoire—Brahms’ Fourth.

Hungarian Dances

The Dances of Galánta opened in a slow and lavishly orchestrated movement, evoking gypsy music with haunting melodies from ancient times. Traveling to the remote corners of his native Hungary, Kodály seems to have amassed an impressive collection of folk songs from various regions, which he brought back to life in an entirely new form through his ground-breaking orchestral techniques.

Each of the five dances was progressively livelier and more colorful than the preceding one, leading to an exciting and rhythmically invigorating finale. Since the individual movements were performed attacca (with no significant pause in between), the dances merged together in a kind of musical patchwork, not unlike a symphonic counterpart to Liszt’s familiar Hungarian Rhapsodies for the piano.

Kodály’s Dances of Galánta feature an especially prominent part for the clarinet, which the symphony’s own Carey Bell played brilliantly. In comparison to other guest conductors, Luisotti seemed to take extra care to show his appreciation for the orchestra by acknowledging Bell and other musicians with important solos at length during the applause.

Grebanier Shines as the Voice of Solomon

Then came a stunning piece by Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch (not to be confused with German philosopher Ernst Bloch). Having served as director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Bloch the composer is forever associated with the Bay Area’s musical heritage. He also taught composition at UC Berkeley, and was for a time a resident of Mill Valley.

Schelomo—Hebrew for Solomon—is a single-movement rhapsody for cello and orchestra inspired by Jewish texts attributed to King Solomon. The composer had originally intended the work for voice and orchestra, but could not decide between English, French, German or Hebrew as its language. He finally chose the cello over the human voice.

Bloch’s Hebraic Rhapsody clearly displays Jewish-inspired melodic motifs with the emblematic augmented second intervals of Middle-Eastern and Eastern European folk music. The work as a whole, however, contains no trace of any known authentic Jewish tunes.

Predating the golden age of American cinema by about four decades, Schelomo nevertheless evokes the rich orchestral sounds of the great biblical sagas produced by Hollywood in the mid to late 50s. In fact, much of the music for American films was written by European-born composers of Bloch’s generation, who may have shared some of the same formative influences.

San Francisco Symphony’s Michael Grebanier is no stranger to Schelomo, having appeared as the soloist ten years ago under Roberto Abbado. His sensitive interpretation conveyed at once majestic grandeur and gentle poetry, while bringing out the most soul-stirring tones a cello can produce.

Grebanier’s broad range of color—from his delicate overtone brush to his powerful and grainy bowing action—gave an especially vibrant voice to the fabled prophet-ruler of the Old Testament. A voice that elicited endless applause, multiple returns to the stage and a standing ovation fit for a king.

Luisotti’s Trump Card—Brahms’ Fourth

The final piece on the program, namely Symphony No. 4 by Johannes Brahms, was a worthy conclusion to an evening of successive symphonic delights. This highly dramatic and passionate work seemed especially well-suited to Luisotti’s musical temperament, and once again refuted any notion that he is strictly a conductor of opera.

Nicola Luisotti gave us a bold, extroverted Brahms with higher peaks and deeper valleys than most. While at times he seemed to physically draw out gushing symphonic waves with all his might, at other moments his conducting was distilled to the subtle movement of his head during the instrumental solos.

From Brahms’ thick orchestral textures, Luisotti often brought to the foreground a melodic line or fragment that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, making the audience aware of the interplay among the many layers of music.

If Luisotti’s rendition of music by Kodály and Bloch prompted the audience to sit up and take notice, his stellar performance of Brahms firmly earned their respect and admiration.

A Distinctive Style

From the first flick of his baton, Nicola Luisotti intrigued and fascinated the audience with his flamboyant, highly expressive conducting style. He brought a clear and evident measure of drama to the music being performed—perhaps a function of his operatic background.

But what exactly is this “conducting style” that sets one conductor apart from another, one might ask. It is a complex and mysterious concept, having to do with the knowledge of how music works, and the ability to somehow project this knowledge onto the musicians.

In addition to the established conducting gestures of entrance and exit cues, tempo and dynamics, every conductor also develops a set of his or her own highly individual signals, ranging from precise instrumental articulations to very abstract musical ideas.

Although the motions are aimed at the musicians, they can also have a profound influence on the public’s perception of the music by providing visual clues indicating humor, gravity, passion, serenity and so on.

This is where Luisotti’s gift truly came to light. His conducting is a kind of sign language that is nearly as comprehensible to the least musical member of the audience as it is to the highly trained musicians of the orchestra.

It is almost a shame that such a uniquely rich gesticular vocabulary should be confined to the dimly-lit War Memorial orchestra pit come September.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the Bay Area.