The Opera Tattler

* Notes *

Ten weeks of opera training culminated last Saturday with the Merola Grand Finale at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. All the singers are at a high level, but there were still a few stand outs.

The orchestra sounded fine under Maestro William Long, the playing was idiomatic for all the different sorts of music we heard, whether it was opera arias or showtunes. There were some nice soli from woodwinds and strings. The musicians did not overwhelm the singers Claire Choquette’s stage direction was effective, the amusing bits were particularly fun

Soprano Abigail Raiford has a wonderful ease and clarity. She made for a delightful Blonde opposite the reedy bass Theo Harrah as Osmin in “Ich gehe, doch rate ich dir.” She sounded equally lovely in “Ah, perdona ai primo affetto” from La Clemenza di Tito with mezzo-soprano Stella Fitzgerald as Annio.

The quartet “Un dì, si ben rammentomi / Bella figlia dell’ amore” (pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) from Rigoletto was impressive, featuring Raiford and Harrah as Gilda and Rigoletto, plus mezzo Theo Claveles as Maddalena and tenor Chester Seungyup Han as the Duke. Han’s voice is strong and distinct.

Han sang well in “Alerte! Alerte! Ou vous êtes perdus!” with Anna Thompson as Marguerite and John Mburu as Méphistophélès.

I also liked hearing “Nuit d’ivresse et d’extase infinie” from Les Troyens with Claveles and tenor Matthew Sink. Both these singers were featured in Ariadne auf Naxos, and it was interesting that soprano Adia Evans was not also in the Grand Finale.

The duet from Hamlet between soprano Jennifer Robinson and baritone Enes Pektaş (“Monseigneur! Ophélie!… Doute de la lumière”) was very lovely. Pektaş distinguished himself, he has a unique sound. It was also quite unusual to hear a piece in Turkish that he sang later in the night, “Şeyh Bedreddin Destanı” by Murat Cem Orhan.

* Tattling *

Someone’s phone on the right side of the orchestra level rang at least five times throughout the evening. It seemed that any time there was an exposed moment, that device was chiming.

* Notes *

Merola Opera Program continued the summer season with La Tragédie de Carmen (soprano Anna Thompson as Micaëla and mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach as Carmen pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) on Thursday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This reimagining of Bizet’s Carmen by Peter Bronk is concise and provocative. The singing was exceedingly strong.

Director Mo Zhou made use of projections and used much imagery around roses and knives. She gave more agency to Carmen than one normally sees. The revised score from composer Marius Constant had the small orchestra under Maestra Stephanie Rhodes Russell sounding rather exposed. There was some shakiness and tentativeness at times, but the singers always sounded robust. The brass was clear, as was the percussion.

This format gave us the opportunity to hear many beloved snippets of this opera. There was no telling what order the music would come in, and sometimes arias were combined to create duets and sometimes we heard pre-recorded music. Mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach was impressive in the title role, with very rich low notes and beautiful high notes as well. She is quite sultry, which works for Carmen.

Tenor Charles Styles is suitably maniacal as Don José, his sound is brash and brassy, while soprano Anna Thompson (Micaëla) is clear and crystalline without a hint of shrillness. Baritone Raúl Morales Velazco is dashing as Escamillo and had good volume. Tenor Logan Wager as Lilas Pastia is sympathetic; he showed up throughout this rendering.

* Tattling *

There was some rustling of cough drop wrappers at one point, but very little other noise or bad behavior from the audience.

* Notes *

Merola presented a charming evening of Neapolitan-inspired songs entitled “L’Anima Napoletana” (tenor Chester Seungyup Han and soprano Shannon Crowley pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) on Thursday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The young singers all have a lot of power and conveyed emotions of the texts with ease.

The recital, curated by Mario Antonio Marra, was accompanied by the various collaborative pianists in the Merola program. The performance started strong with the lilting “Santa Lucia” sung by mezzo-soprano Stella FitzGerald with pianist Deven Shah. Her voice has some beautiful resonances.

They were joined by tenor Cole McIlquham in a scene of romantic love, and toward the end of the set the piano was taken up by Sakurako Jayne Abe. FitzGerald and McIlquham are well-matched, both are loud but they did not overpower each other in their duet “O paese d’o sole” by Vincenzo D’Annibale.

All the tenors were quite distinct. Tenor Logan Wagner is more plaintive than the aforementioned McIlquham. His “Occhi di fata” is expressive. Tenor Chester Seungyup Han has a lot of charisma, his sound solid and well-supported. His duet with soprano Shannon Crowley “‘O marenariello” was delightful.

Likewise the two sopranos were rather different from each other, Charlotte Kelso has an icy tone while Shannon Crowley is brighter and very full.

The one bass, Theo Harrah, has a pleasant reedy tone. He seemed much beleaguered in his love triangle scene with Crowley and Han.

* Tattling *

There was someone in the first row that kept taking photographs on his phone during the performance, but since he was off to the side, it wasn’t too distracting. Otherwise, the Merola audience tends to be respectful and quiet, which is very welcome.

* Notes *

A staged production of Alcina (Nikola Printz and Courtney Miller pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) opened at Festival Opera in Walnut Creek on Friday evening. The singers were all perfectly cast and the playing clean and neat

The Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts is a good fit for this Baroque opera, being a nice size but not too cavernous and having an orchestra pit. Conductor Derek Tam had the period ensemble sounding crisp and square, the intonation was good and the musicians together. It was nice to be able to hear the music as it is on the page, but perhaps a little more liveliness would have been welcome.

The performance had all of the recitative but many B sections and da capo returns of several arias were cut. This made the opera only 3 hours long with two intermissions. The result was somewhat unbalanced, though I do appreciate the narrative being somewhat more cohesive keeping all the recit, I really missed the fullness of the arias, as the music is so beautiful.

The production from Zachary Gordin is full of fun and absurdity. There is no real set, every scene is changed by the video projections on screens upstage, so there was not much spectacle in that sense. However, the costumes, especially for Alcina and Morgana, were elaborate. The direction as far as acting was strong. Contralto Sara Couden is hilarious as scorned lover Bradamante, she can simply lift an eyebrow or shoot a look and it made the whole audience giggle. Soprano Shawnette Suiker also garnered many laughs for her lovelorn and silly Morgana, who minces and titters.

All the singing was great, Couden has a rich depth and Sulker light and bird-like. The latter hit some low notes for comic effect, and this was hilarious. Bass Isaiah Musik-Ayala has a pleasant gravelly sound as Melisso. Mezzo-soprano Nina Jones (Oberto) sang with sweetness and warmth, while tenor Spencer Greene (Oronte) had a brighter warm tone.

Mezzo-soprano Courtney Miller is a convincing Ruggiero, with a clear, lucid voice and a masculine stage presence. Best of all is mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz in the title role, who has all the high notes for Alcina and a resonant lower register as well.

* Tattling *

There was some light talking from the people in G 1 and 3, and much unwrapping of cough drops at a certain point.

* Notes *

An impressive revival of Elektra (pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) opened at San Francisco Opera on Sunday afternoon. The orchestra sounded lush but clear under the baton of Maestra Eun Sun Kim and the singing was stellar.

The opera is situated in a museum of Ancient Greek artifacts juxtaposed with different scenes portraying Americana, a mid-century kitchen and an eighties teenage girl’s bedroom are popped into the mix.

The enormous orchestra had a veritable army of clarinets, oboes, and brass instruments of all sorts. There were two timpanists and it was so much fun to sit in Box Z and watch all the players at work. The soli from the oboe and clarinet were particularly gorgeous. I also very much loved the sound of the cello players here.

There were no weak links in the cast. Tenor William Burden used his bright, plaintive voice to be a pathetic and whiny Aegisth. Soprano Michaela Schuster (Klytemnestra) was absolutely terrifying. Bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen is sympathetic as Orest, singing with clarity and elegance.

Soprano Elena Pankratova sang the title role with brilliance and depth. Her powerful voice is very much well-supported and is both bright but full. I was most impressed with soprano Elza van den Heever as Chrysothemis. Her voice has truly come into its own since her days as an Adler some twenty years ago. The bloom of her sound has a wonderful lucidity.

* Tattling *

A phone rang twice during the Orest’s entrance.

* Notes *

The Barber of Seville (finale pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) was performed for the third time this summer at San Francisco Opera. It was fascinating to hear the first cast, which I missed last week. The singers are so different and it is such a joy to hear the various interpretations of Rossini’s work.

The orchestra under Maestro Benjamin Manis was still less than crisp, though less mushy than the Wednesday performance.

Baritone Renato Girolami was amusing as Doctor Bartolo by taking himself very seriously, with a gravity that suited the pompous character. Tenor Levy Sekgapane (Count Almaviva) is plaintive, reedy, and quite light. His sound is unique, quite distinct from the tenor in the other cast. He did well in his Act II aria “Cessa di più resistere,” which is often cut.

Mezzo-soprano Maria Kataeva has a sultry voice with much depth and a certain throatiness. She moves well as Rosina, whether it is twirling her hair or playing castanets, she is convincing.  Baritone Joshua Hopkins is charismatic in the title role. He did sound a little constrained in his upper register to start but his patter is incredibly fleet and impressive.

* Tattling *

A phone rang during the trio of Rosina, Almaviva and Figaro in Act II.