The San Francisco Opera called it a wrap recently for the 2014 fall season with a final matinee performance of the company's charming new production of Puccini's beloved La Boheme. It was a solid close for a year that also brought the not unexpected but still seriously thought-provoking announcement by General Director David Gockley of his retirement in July 2016.
Gockley will have been at the helm for over a decade by then, and his stewardship of the SFO has benefited vastly from his many years in the arts business. He is also a time-tested, sensibly conservative impresario with a loyalty to new compositions and American composers. Remember, it was Gockley who brought the Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to its rightful home on the opera stage back in his days as Director of Houston Grand Opera. He also brought the show to SFO, and a DVD/Blu-ray release in the company's growing archive of high-def performances documents the latest incarnation of the uncut edition that many consider the crowning achievement of the compelling leader's remarkable career. We still have plenty of time to assess his impact here. For now, let's look at some highlights of what he has done for us lately.
The opening of the 2014 season filled the stage of the War Memorial Opera House with a slow and stately production of Bellini's bel canto masterpiece Norma. It was left to the formidable cast to ignite the passion and torment of the tortured characters. For the most part they succeeded, and the SFO debut of Jamie Barton, whose Adalgisa at the Met was already well-reviewed, triumphed with her display of pure and thrilling singing. She matched beautifully with star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in what amounted to the closest we have come in years to a golden-age pairing of divas in Norma.
Hard on the heels of the beleaguered Druidic priestess, another, very different heroine appeared to struggle with her own problems with religious intolerance. Carlisle Floyd's all-American score for his most popular opera, Susannah, hauntingly evokes the work's rural Appalachian setting and provides a stunning showcase for a soprano with the necessary range for the title character's grueling assignment. Well, ta-da: SFO superstar and hardest-working act in opera business, soprano Patricia Racette came, saw and continued to conquer with a performance that was predictably fierce, but also marked by her trademark poignancy. Another local favorite, tenor Brandon Jovanovich, was just right as her drunken and vulnerable brother Sam, and bass Raymond Aceto gave a remarkably sympathetic interpretation of the itinerant preacher who robs what is left of her innocence.
The physical production was simple and striking, and the work of the SFO Chorus (Ian Robertson, director) added immeasurably to a swift, moving production that amply repaid Gockley's devotion to American opera. It was a real thrill to see the 88-year-old composer onstage for the curtain calls.
The other stand-out and surprise audience hit of the season was a rollicking production of Handel's comedy of romantic mores and morality, Partenope . Danielle de Niese was elegantly seductive in the title role, and she navigated Handel's vocal pyrotechnics beautifully. International star countertenor David Daniels was also at ease with his thoughtful portrayal of one of Partenope's numerous suitors, but another countertenor simply stole the show away from both of them. Anthony Roth Costanzo scampered, mooned, fell upstairs during a difficult aria, sang shirtless, and even proved a credible tap dancer as the lovably dorky guy who ultimately gets the girl. Partenope may have been out of his league at the beginning, but hard work and dedication won the day, and Roth Costanzo's hilariously endearing performance had us rooting for him all along.
Another rapidly rising star, tenor Michael Fabiano, was part of a two-cast extended run for the fine new La Boheme that closed out the year. His stellar Rodolfo set the seal on a new career that will have local aficionados crowing, "I saw him then" in years to come.
The summer season looks promising, with a big word to the wise: single tickets for Berlioz's epic Les Troyens (The Trojans): The Fall of Troy and The Trojans at Carthage are on sale now, and this should be the hottest ticket in town by June. Susan Graham and Sasha Cooke are only two reasons why I'm looking forward to the run with heightened anticipation. Maestro Donald Runnicles will be back in the pit, and it is also a rare opportunity to experience the majesty of an infrequently staged masterwork.
Big opportunity
Across Grove Street, the San Francisco Symphony has been moving towards the end of the first third of the 2014-15 season with a mixed bag of concerts that haven't really illuminated Davies Symphony Hall with the usual brilliance we expect from maestro Michael Tilson Thomas. It's a little surprising, considering this is the 20th anniversary of MTT's tenure with the orchestra, and he is turning 70. That's some big-time opportunity for partying in the characteristically sophisticated way of the SFS, and we have a hunch that life is going to get much livelier soon when the organization throws a gala party for him on Jan. 15.
Since the opening gala last September (marked by a delightful visit with singer and MTT pal Bonnie Raitt), the orchestra has presented a few months of reliably satisfactory concerts, and joined with the maestro on another successful American tour. My favorite evening at DSH to date was spent with MTT and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. The former gave his exciting insights to the orchestral genius of Beethoven, while the latter perfectly essayed the technical demands assigned by the composer to instrumental soloists.
In-between we were treated to a very 21st-century creation by so-called electronica composer Mason Bates. Alternative Energy proved to be a surprisingly rugged and textured piece from a composer I have taken a long time to warm to. It was a pleasant discovery finding a more mature Bates with deeper and often beautiful ideas transcending his more superficial pop influences.
We have plenty more Beethoven to look forward to this coming June, when another favorite pianist, Jonathan Biss, joins MTT as a guest star during the scheduled festival. The celebration includes performances of the glorious Missa solemnis (another happy chance to hear mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke) and a full-on, one-performance-only Beethoven marathon. The jewel in the crown should be the concert rendition of the composer's sublime only opera, Fidelio, with soprano Nina Stemme singing the role of Leonore, and Brandon Jovanovich as her imprisoned husband Florestan.
There is much more happening before then, and I am seriously up for Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale on a bill with the big-gestured Grand Pianola Music by John Adams in mid-January, but my lifelong adoration of Beethoven already has me breathless with anticipation.