Serbian-born Montreal-based composer Ana Sokolovic's a cappella chamber opera Svadba-Wedding opened last Saturday night as the second offering in SF Opera Lab's inaugural season in the new Taube Atrium Theater.
The charming and resonant portrayal of a young Balkan bride's prenuptial get-together with her girlfriends premiered in Toronto in June 2011, and its producer, Toronto's Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, later toured it to Dublin, Orleans, Paris, Belgrade and Western Canada (Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver). The U.S. premiere in Philadelphia in 2013 was remounted in an experimental performing space installed in an old pumping station under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The stage director Marie-Josee Chartier assisted originally on the Toronto production.
For San Francisco, Svadba-Wedding has been completely restaged by the world premiere's director, Michael Cavanaugh. Site-specific for the versatile Taube Atrium, the latest incarnation, with the audience seated at cafe tables, attests to Cavanaugh's creative range. His previous San Francisco Opera productions include Lucia di Lammermoor (2015) and the striking Susannah (2014) and Nixon in China (2012).
With the simplest of means �" evocative projection, set and lighting design by Alexander V. Nichols and attractive contemporary costumes by Kristi Johnson �" Cavanaugh has given fresh individual personality and warmth to the impressive cast of six women, all making their SFO debuts. Like any bachelorette party, there is some inexperienced tippling, playful banter, game-playing and even a few hints of resentment towards the bride. What makes Svadba-Wedding unique is Sokolovic's musical language, incorporating Balkan folk-music rhythms with modernist harmonies and fantastical vocal punctuation.
Seven seamless scenes trace an arc from the interactions and rituals of the bridal shower to the morning of the wedding. Simple and mysterious customs, including communal bathing and preparing the bride's hair and dress, are surprisingly poignant as the women remember happy times and express bittersweet feelings about the future.
Set to a Serbian text and the composer's own imaginary language (a wonderfully percussive and inventive sort of pitched scat singing), the score is both dramatically expressive and good-humored. The lyrical closing scene ends with the only real aria, translated as, "Blow, blow the gentle wind," and it is hauntingly beautiful.
Milica, the intended bride, says goodbye to her old life as her friends depart and admonish her to shed no tears. It is a lovely and timeless moment underlining the universal humanity of sisterhood and shared rites of passage.
Cavanaugh's arresting stage pictures and graceful physical movements are subtly stylized and unfussy while adding necessary cohesion. Bright splashes of color, moody projections and inventive uses of drapery by designer Nichols match the director's vision.
Dairine Ni Mheadhra and John Hess are co-music directors, and they, too, serve the composer with remarkable understanding and control. Beautifully rehearsed and perfectly executed, it is amazing how lush the music sounds with only six unaccompanied female voices.
The women get their own distinct and characterful moments in a truly ensemble work. It wouldn't succeed without their individual excellence, but it is their blended voices that create an enigmatic and engaging sound world. If there is a standout role, it is rightfully assigned to Jacqueline Woodley as Milica the bride. Her purity of tone is perfectly suited to the gorgeous closing song, and her acting is delicately understated.
Liesbeth Devos (Danica), Laura Albino (Lena), Pauline Sikirdji (Zora), Andrea Ludwig (Nada) and Krisztina Szabo (Ljubica) share the same gift of communicating expressively without any hint of distorting vibrato. They also inhabit their parts with warm-blooded commitment, and each alluring voice combines to astonishing effect.
Svadba-Wedding is a cheering theatrical experience, more cantata than opera, and the "in the round" staging and unobtrusive Meyer Sound Constellation system heighten the intimate mood of celebration. Audience members are invited to an after-party after each performance featuring complimentary champagne and croquembouche wedding cake with DJ @TedSF. Since I didn't stay, I can't tell you what croquembouche is, but it certainly sounds intriguing.
Svadba-Wedding continues Fri. & Sat., April 8 & 9, at 8 p.m., and Sun., April 10, at 3 p.m. Info: sfopera.com.