For Bay Area opera-lovers or anyone curious about the state of the art, August is full of promise. Whether your taste runs to the traditional or contemporary cutting-edge, local companies are offering an exciting variety of musical events.
West Edge Opera, the bold East Bay organization led by General Director Mark Streshinsky and Musical Director Jonathan Khuner, presents three productions for Summer Festival 2018, Aug. 4-19. Two modern operas and a rarely performed 20th-century masterpiece are given three performances each in repertory at the Craneway Conference Center, a former Ford assembly plant on the Richmond waterfront. Known for offbeat venues, West Edge is proud to announce indoor plumbing for the first time. That is good news, as beer and wine are free at the site. Shuttle buses from Richmond BART ensure easy access to and from the Richmond Marina.
Claude Debussy's shadowy "Pelleas and Melisande," adapted for chamber ensemble by WEO's Jonathan Khuner, who will also conduct, opens the season. Director and choreographer Keturah Stickan makes her WEO debut. Her impressive work in Jake Heggie's "Moby Dick" at San Francisco Opera signals an imaginative staging. Mezzo-soprano Kendra Broom (discovered by none other than Frederica von Stade) is Melisande, tenor David Blalock sings Pelleas, and former SFO Adler Fellow baritone Efrain Solis sings the role of Golaud.
Composer Matt Marks' and librettist Paul Peers' "Mata Hari" opens next, on Aug. 5. Premiered at New York's Prototype Festival in January 2017, WEO keeps the original production's actress and dancer Tina Mitchell in the title role, and Peers reprises his stage direction. Mezzo-soprano Molly Mahoney and tenor Samuel Faustine as Mata's lover Vadime flesh out the story of the legendary WWI temptress and spy. Emily Senturia, Bay Area native with a national conducting career, leads an orchestra that includes accordion and electric guitar.
Opening Aug. 11, Luca Francesconi's "Quartett," directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer (first Director of Programming for SF Opera Lab, and a big hit with WEO's 2016 "Powder Her Face"), is based on the play by Heiner Muller using characters from "Les Liaisons dangereuses." The Marquise de Merteuil and the Viscount de Valmont engage in a viciously seductive game, taking on the parts of the lovers Tourvel and Volanges themselves in role-playing scenes. No holds are barred, and no prisoners will be taken.
Returning WEO favorite barihunk Hadleigh Adams is Valmont, and "lithe and impactful" soprano Heather Buck is Merteuil. John Kennedy conducts the daring score, which features a live chamber orchestra with electronics, and a recorded full orchestra and chorus created for the La Scala Premiere in 2011. Tickets for individual operas or packages are available. westedgeopera.org
The Bay Area's beloved Lamplighters Music Theatre presents Gilbert & Sullivan's classic comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty" in Walnut Creek (Aug. 4-5), Mountain View (Aug. 11-12), San Francisco at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (Aug. 18-19), and Livermore (Aug. 24-25). Nicolas Aliaga Garcia directs his first Lamplighters production with a nod to #MeToo, highlighting the late-19th-century model of the "New Woman." Spirited young "ladies," equal to any male, face endearingly inept buccaneers in some of Sullivan's best melodies and Gilbert's wittiest lyrics. Colorful period sets, luxuriously detailed costumes, and full orchestral support maintain the Company's award-winning tradition. The deadpan British humor (think Monty Python) and instantly hummable tunes are timeless, too. lamplighters.org
Merola Opera Program 2018 presents a fully-staged "The Rake's Progress" by Igor Stravinsky, W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Aug. 2 & 4. Mark Morash (Merola 1987) conducts, and Robin Guarino, who has staged opera and theatre, and produced and directed independent films, is director.
Merola's 61st season closes with the annual Grand Finale, Aug. 18 at the War Memorial Opera House. Conducted by Nashville Opera's Music Director Dean Williamson, directed by 2018 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Marcus Shields, the evening showcases the extraordinary talent of this year's bumper crop of Merolini. More on the grand night of singing: merola.org