Grown deep like the rivers
June is long gone. It was truly a month of excellence and exuberance here in San Francisco, coupled with cozy and inviting weather, as if to make up for the extended winter.
san francisco
Glorious excess
Despite the ever-increasing media coverage of San Francisco’s “doom loop,” June 2023 will be forever remembered as the time where San Francisco was the opera capital of the United States.
There will be bloom
In the more than 500 years of the history of operas, rarely (if ever) has a coming of age story, particularly one from the child’s point of view, been presented as the main topic of the opera.
Mortality play
Of all Handel’s oratorios, Semele begs most to be staged.
Alexander was great
As the first of the 2018 opera productions last Saturday, the Merola Opera Program chose Mozart’s rarely-performed early serenata, Il re pastore.
Smoky eye witness news
Strikingly styled photos of Iréne Theorin may be found on her website.
Midcentury, modern
In recent years, Opera Paralléle has established a reputation for creative programming of contemporary opera in San Francisco. Persuaded both by the promise of an unusual Bernstein-Heggie double bill, and the unusual venue of SF Jazz’s Miner Auditorium, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent production this past week.
La nuit d’une étoile
“American tenor Matthew Polenzani sings the title role opposite Natalie Dessay as Antonia, Christian Van Horn as the four villains, Angela Brower as Nicklausse, Hye Jung Lee as Olympia, Irene Roberts as Giulietta and Jacqueline Piccolino as Stella.”
Abs of a Soldier
La Cieca has obtained this photo of Thomas Hampson headlining Camouflage Night at Powerhouse, uh, rehearsing for Heart of a Soldier at the San Francisco Opera. You can tell the scene is Northern Rhodesia in 1962, because that is where the British military first started offering complimentary personal training packages to their troops.
Brunchmädchen walten dort hehr
Reactions to the Zambello Ring may have been mixed, but the response to the Parterrian meet-ups was roaringly positive, as shown by the massive turnout for the last pre-Götterdämmerung brunch. So here (well, actually, not here, but rather after the jump) are the faces behind some of the monikers.
Ring around the Bay
Here goes with the End of the Gods and the End of these Ring reviews: Götterdämmerung was more of a mixed bag than the other operas, but still left a powerful impression. This was where Zambello’s choice to steer clear of heavy spectacle was most evident to me. The cost in grandeur was offset by […]
Last call
Our Own Batty Masetto gently prods, “The first cycle of the San Francisco Ring starts Tuesday, and time’s running out for those who haven’t checked in yet to share in the Parterre festivities. A dazzling array of Parterrians (pictured) have signed up already, so you won’t’ want to miss out on the meet-ups at the […]
Gate-erdämmerung
The Bay Area Chapter of Parterre (pictured) would like to invite all out-of-town Parterrians for a social schedule of sniping, snarking, and general conviviality (hair-pulling strongly discouraged) during the three cycles of the San Francisco Ring.
Everything for your mental joy
“Great at push-ups and pull-ups? Do you put your friends to shame at the gym? Come show us what you’ve got! San Francisco Opera announces a public casting call seeking athletic men with specific skills to appear in an upcoming Company production in Fall 2011.” [San Francisco Opera]
Miss Mattila is ageless
La Cieca has managed to nab a few moments of video of tonight’s performance of Vec Makropulos from San Francisco, proving that Karita Mattila is indeed today’s ideal interpreter of the role of Emilia Marty. [Video]
What happens in San Francisco stays in San Francisco
“It is in the Wagner repertory that Ms. Brewer has truly frustrated her fans. She has sung Isolde magnificently, though so far only in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ‘Tristan Project,’ which used Bill Viola’s videos, while Ms. Brewer and the other lead singers performed as in a concert, with music stands and vocal scores.” [NYT]
Deck, ya know
Real estate news from San Francisco: the Potrero Hill home of the late Blanche Thebom, which “includes a very spacious living room that opens onto a large view deck,” is now for sale. [SocketSite]
The Staggering Vargettes
San Francisco Opera is looking for a trio of Ramon Vargas lookalikes to serve as “doppelgängers” for the tenor in their upcoming production of Werther. [Contra Costa Times]
Tragic: The Gathering
The lovely and personable Jumping Clapping Man will act as host/coordinator of the first-ever Norcal Parterre.com Gathering Demented Mini-Conference (as seen in the above artist’s rendering). Details after the jump (and clap).
Touch or go?
Mlle. La Taupe continues to report from San Francisco’s Die Walküre: “I neglected to comment about the photos of the fallen heroes, posted upon the jungle gym-like structures on the Walkuerenstein. To be noted as they are photos of fallen soldiers in recent American wars. Pictures are shown by courtesy of and with permission from […]
Side Partitur
Take a Wild Ride with a Valkyrie!! Yes, that’s what all the signs say around Old Baghdad-by-the-Bay…. So, fasten your seatbelts, y’all, it’s going to be a bumpy night! As it turned out, Die Walküre was an unexpectedly wonderful ride, marking the debut of someone who could be a very important new Brünnhilde, Nina Stemme. […]
Frau Minnie
After the jump, a preview glimpse of Deborah Voigt and company in San Francisco Opera’s production of La fanciulla del West.
Ces lettres, ces lettres…
David Gockley has accepted Elina Garanca‘s withdrawal for “personal reasons” from San Francisco after discovering a “series of European concerts has been recently announced on Ms. Garanca’s website during the Werther performance schedule.” [La Cieca earlier reported this story as Gockley’s giving “the boot” to Garanca, which was not accurate.]
Unitasking
If you’re wondering why the relatively inexperienced George Steel was tapped for the demanding job of hauling the New York City Opera out of the basement — instead of front-runner Francesca Zambello, well, maybe this is why: Zambello, currently in London creating a joint Royal Opera and Royal Ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s comic rarity “The […]
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
