'Faust' opens San Francisco Opera's summer triple pack

By Eman Isadiar

Opera lovers, rejoice! San Francisco Opera's dry season which lasts from late November to early June is finally over with the opening of Gounod's Faust on June 5 at the War Memorial Opera House. The opera features Italian tenor Stefano Secco in the title role, Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea as Mephistophélès, and American soprano Patricia Racette as Marguerite.

John Relyea (Mephistophélès, center) surrounded by villagers and soldiers in SF Opera's Faust -- Photo by Cory Weaver

French composer Charles Gounod based the opera on the dramatic work by German writer and philosopher Johann von Goethe. The story's main character, Doctor Faust, is an aging scholar who is convinced that his life has been a total waste. On the brink of suicide, an incarnation of the devil named Mephistophélès appears and offers him a second chance at youth and love in exchange for eternal servitude in the afterlife. Faust accepts and is transformed into his past youthful self.

Caught in the middle of the unholy bargain is Marguerite, a young woman known for her purity and virtue. Her brother and only living relative, Valentin, conveniently ships off to war leaving her vulnerable to Faust's romantic overtures. She cannot resist him for long and becomes pregnant and subsequently a social outcast. Valentin returns from war only to find himself disgraced by Marguerite's shameful indiscretion. He attempts to avenge her honor by challenging Faust to a duel, but he is no match for the dark forces at work. Fatally wounded, Valentin curses his sister and dies.

In the final scene Marguerite is in a prison cell awaiting execution for killing her child. Faust magically appears and offers to help her escape, but she refuses. As morning breaks, Marguerite climbs the long and steep stone staircase to embrace both death and redemption. Faust has no choice but to fulfill his end of the contract.

Making his role debut, tenor Stefano Secco left a deep impression as Faust with his haunting love song“Demeure chaste et pure” (“Chaste and Pure Abode”), in which he blesses the walls of the home where his love resides.

Dramatic soprano Patricia Racette was as captivating as ever as the heartbroken and forlorn Marguerite. Her aria “Si belle en ce miroir” (“So Beautiful In This Mirror”) was one of the most uplifting moments of the opera. Racette's is a familiar voice on the War Memorial stage. Her stunning performance last fall in all three operas of Il trittico will be remembered for many seasons yet to come.

Bass-baritone John Relyea gave a powerful interpretation of the character of Mephistophélès. His role was the single most important dramatic pillar on which rested much of the premise of the story. His opening duet with Faust “Me voici” (“Here I Am”) got the opera off to an intense start. A particularly chilling Relyea moment was in Act 2 when Mephistophélès mockingly offered an apple to the statue of the Holy Virgin in the garden, in a subtle biblical reference mixing Old and New Testaments.

Baritone Brian Mulligan masterfully sang the role of Valentin. His dying aria “Ecoute-moi bien, Marguerite”(“Mark My Words, Marguerite”) was an emotional high point of this production. Soprano Daniela Mack brought much depth to the counter-gender part of Marguerite's young admirer, Siébel.

The orchestra provided a uniquely rich musical backdrop under the capable direction of guest conductor Maurizio Benini. San Francisco Opera's renowned chorus gave another solid performance as the villagers and soldiers led by chorus director Ian Robertson. Credit must also be given to stage directorJose Maria Condemi for the superb acting and overall dramatic cohesion.

A production of the Chicago Lyric Opera, Faust is presented by San Francisco Opera through July 1. The summer opera season also includes concurrent performances of Puccini's The Girl of the Golden Westand Wagner's Die Walküre.

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Eman Isadiar is a San Francisco-based pianist and music journalist.

Pop! Goes the Symphony

By Eman Isadiar

In its latest concert, San Francisco Symphony was led by guest conductor Edwin Outwater in a premiere of songs from the musical play Whisper House by pop artist Duncan Sheik. The concert also included excerpts from the ballet suite from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod and local premieres of Zipangu by Claude Vivier and music from the ballet Les biches by Francis Poulenc.

The concert opened with selected movements of the ballet suite from the opera Faust. Charles Gounod added this music ten years after the opera was first performed in order to accommodate a more elaborate new production.

The work requires a sizable orchestra for the rich, colorful sounds that are typical to the late romantic period. While San Francisco Symphony is known especially for its unique flare for romantic repertoire, Outwater's conducting brought out the most brilliant colors the orchestra has to offer.

Then came the evening's headliner, Duncan Sheik, whose works include chart-topping pop singles, award-winning musicals and film scores. The concert featured the song suite from Sheik's latest musical play titled Whisper House, which debuted last January in San Diego.

Award-winning pop artist Duncan Sheik performs songs from

Whisper House withSan Francisco Symphony

(photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

The music was especially arranged for the San Francisco Symphony by Sheik's long-time collaborator Simon Hale. The large orchestra included a partially off-stage brass section, whip, wind machine and electric guitar. Sheik was the lead vocalist, with backup by his female counterpart.

Whisper House tells the story of a haunted lighthouse in Maine, whose musical ghosts sing to the eleven-year old orphan living there with his aunt in the 1940s. Prior to their death, the ghosts were apparently musicians on a steamer that crashed nearby in 1912. The songs of the ghosts examine our modern world—as its in 2010—torn by conflict and fear.

The opening number, “We're Here to Tell You,” is a hypnotic tune with an eery orchestral accompaniment. “The Tale of Solomon Snell”—a rather sinister song about a man whose lifelong fear of being buried alive comes true—leaves the listener with a lingering sense of unease. “Earthbound Starlight” has a catchy melody and is deeply emotional. As the title suggests, “I Don't Believe in You” is a callous and mean-spirited song, proclaiming man's inability to change his dark fate.

Sheik's haunting tunes are a perfect fit for a story about ghosts. The lyrics are powerful, poignant and sobering. The orchestration is dazzling and extravagant. While the wind machine evokes the stormy New England coast, the electric guitar provides an impressively wide array of ghostly sound-effects and echoes.

Sheik's music bears the undeniable influences of pop, aspires to Broadway dimension and features an elaborate orchestration all at the same time. By crossing multiple boundaries of genre and style, Sheik is well on his way to creating his own. Something we might call “symphonic pop.”

The next piece on the program was French-Canadian Claude Vivier's Zipangu—a reference to Japan as it was known at the time of Marco Polo. Outwater explained from the stage that the music focuses rather on the “idea” of Japan as the far-away place of mystery and intrigue to Marco Polo, and not necessarily on the country itself or its music.

Zipangu calls for a 13-piece string ensemble and has a striking introspective quality. It takes the listener—as the proverbial Marco Polo—on a distant journey to the remote corners of the self. One of the most prominent features of the music is its rough bowing technique, which draws multiple tones from one note. In this regard, Vivier joins the ranks of 20th century avant-garde composers who used musical instruments in unconventional ways, seeking to produce sounds not originally intended for the instrument.

San Francisco Symphony associate concertmaster Nadya Tichman truly outdid herself, not only with her flawless technique and variety of sound, but also as the musical glue that held the piece together in this difficult and highly demanding work.

Zipangu is a clear testament that, had he not been silenced by murder in 1983, Claude Vivier is likely to have become an influential voice in contemporary art music.

The orchestral suite from the ballet Les biches (“The Does,” as in female deers) by Francis Poulenc made for a strong ending to the concert. While Vivier's music featured sounds the instruments may not have been intended for, Poulenc takes the conventional “intended” sonorities of each instrument to new heights with his breathtaking orchestral writing.

Poulenc originally composed Les biches in 1923 for Diaghilev, but wrote the orchestral suite 16 years later as a stand-alone concert piece. While the subject of the ballet may have been inspired by Nijinsky's choreography of the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn, Poulenc's music has little in common with that of Debussy.

The music prominently features rhythmic motifs well-suited for dance. The rapid tempos and quickly shifting dynamics require an orchestra of the highest caliber, led by a capable conductor. San Francisco Symphony and its own former Youth Orchestra music director Edwin Outwater proved to be equal to the task.

The most striking aspect of Les biches is its use of musical norms established in the preceding century, a stylistic feature now commonly labeled as “neo-classical.” Poulenc's music shares this retrospective quality with that of his fellow members of the group of young, aspiring musicians known as "Les Six" (“The Six”) in 1920s Paris.

Incidentally, Les Six has ties to the Bay Area through one of its members, namely Darius Milhaud, who moved to America and taught at Oakland's Mills College.

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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