SFS Ticketing Update

 

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by me

So I managed to buy my SFS tickets today, on the last day of their free ticket offer. The process was painful:

1. Log in.
2. Proceed to subscription page.
3. Pick the day you want your tickets on. (Note: Fridays are more expensive than Saturdays, so I picked Saturday.)
4. Click the button for the subscription you want.
5. Pick your first choice section. (Note: You can't choose your seat because people who already hold subscriptions get to keep their seats. So until their orders are committed and fulfilled, SFS doesn't know which seats are unavailable and can't give you options.) 
6. Pick your backup section, in case your first choice is full.
7. Click Add to Cart. That takes you to your cart.
8. Scroll to the Add another series button and click it.
9. Go through steps 3 through 8 again. And again. And again. Because there's no way to select all four series and sections that you want at one time.
10. Select a couple of other concerts you want to see. Go through section choice flow for each of them.
11. Decide you can't stand it any more even though you know your missed something you want to buy.
12. Realize that there was nothing about free tickets, even though the SFS web site says that when you buy 18 or more tickets, you get eight free tickets. (Click through and scroll down.)
13. Call the box office, where what you find out leaves you shaking your head.
1. The free tickets aren't offered as a discount on your subscription, that is, buy 28 concerts, get eight of them free.
2. They are add-ons. Sometime after you buy, you get a voucher or something like that enabling you to request eight additional tickets at no charge. Yay, you can take friends free. 
3. That's nice, but none of the advertising makes this clear, nor does the web site.
14. Buy your seats.
15. Write this blog post.

You'd Think This Would Be Easy.

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by me

I might have mentioned that San Francisco Symphony has an unbelievably schedule this year, with a great assortment of works, performers, and conductors, starting with Esa-Pekka Salonen, continuing through the SFSoundbox series, including a ton of new and new-to-SFS works.

I've been trying to figure out what to buy tickets to, and how much to spend, so I finally printed out the calendar, which shows every Davies performance plus chamber music programs that are elsewhere. It's in chronological order and there's nothing fancy about it. It took me about 15 minutes to scan and mark up. It turns out that there are around 25 orchestral programs that I want to see, plus a couple of youth symphony programs, a couple of Great Performers programs, some chamber programs, and a couple of films. The General with organ accompaniment? Hell, yes!

Then I called the symphony box office to ask what I thought should be an easy question to answer: which Friday and Saturday subscriptions will give me largest number of orchestral programs? And the first answer was "Open your printed season guide...." even though I had said "I am working from the calendar." I said that I didn't have it,* and the representative offered to email it to me. I said that I know where it is on line (I had been looking at it earlier and realized I wanted the quick and easy answer.)

I pressed the rep for a more....definitive answer, and clearly the person had to look this up, because they started to tell me the options. The person was figuring it out on the fly. I can do that myself, so I finally just said, "Okay, clearly I have to figure this out myself, if you can't answer this quickly, so thank you and goodbye."

Come ON. SFS, you can do better than this. I want to buy tickets THIS WEEK because it's possible to qualify for some benefits, and your rep can't say "To get all of the SFS orchestral programs on a Friday or Saturday, here are the subscription combos that work." Considering that it's pretty hard to sell subscriptions, you should be jumping to answer this question.

* It's actually weird that I don't, unless it's buried here someplace.

Update: It turns out that the answer to my question was simple: buy series A, B, C, and D on either Friday or Saturday. That's how you get tickets to all of the Orchestral Series programs. Two SFS reps whom I spoke to couldn't answer this. One of my readers did know the answer but didn't initially understand the question. 

 

desert in

desert in teaser

Courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera and Long Beach Opera

A new review of mine at SFVC, of the collaborative opera miniseries desert in.  It's very cool! Go see it (in the comfort of your own home)!

Museum Mondays

Medications

Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett

London, November, 2019

 

Artist Change at SFS

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

You may have seen a few cast changes like this one before:

Concert Update: Cellist Joshua Roman joins the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Lina González-Granados in concerts on July 30 at Davies Symphony Hall and July 31 at Frost Amphitheater. He replaces the previously announced Pablo Ferrández, who is unable to perform these concerts due to visa and travel complications. The concert program remains the same and features Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto with Mr. Roman, along with music from Manuel de Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat and Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta. 

Friday Photo

 

Car Wash

December, 2020

Oakland, CA

Ian Robertson Retiring

Sigh. San Francisco Opera announced today that their longtime chorus director, Ian Robertson, is retiring at the end of this year. He started with the organization in 1987, which probably makes him the longest-serving person on the music staff. He has outlast four general directors and three music directors:

• Terence McEwan (1982-1988)
• Sir John Pritchard (1986-1989)
• Lotfi Mansouri (1988-2001)
• Sir Donald Runnicles (1992-2009)
• Pamela Rosenberg (2001-2005)
• David Gockley (2006-2016)
• Nicola Luisotti (2009-2018)

During his tenure, Robertson prepared (or will prepare) the chorus for an astonishing 342 productions.

There will be concerts in Robertson's honor - conducted by him - later this year:

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA CHORUS IN CONCERT: CELEBRATING IAN ROBERTSON

Saturday, December 11 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 12 at 2 pm

Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater

Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera

Veterans Building (4th floor), 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

 

General admission: $39

 

Chorus Director Ian Robertson, conductor

San Francisco Opera Chorus

 

The concert program highlights beloved opera choruses by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi and more contemporary works by Florence Beatrice Price, Joan Szymko and Kate Rusby.

 

To purchase tickets, call the San Francisco Opera Box Office at (415) 864-3330. Additional information can be found at sfopera.com/chorusconcert.

Update: Joshua Kosman covers the story, chats with Robertson and others.

Press release after the break.

Oof.

War Memorial Opera House Interior

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

A dismaying press release from the Merola Opera, SFO's young singer training program. This sounds....bad:

Based on an abundance of caution the acclaimed Merola Opera Program has announced a programming update for its Merola Grand Finale, to be presented live July 31 atthe Golden Gate Park Bandshell. Following an occurrence in which artist health and safety COVID protocols were compromised by a number of participants, the decision has been made to prioritize the well-being of young artists, faculty, staff, and other participating artists, and to proceed with a reduced number of onsite participants and a greater focus on virtual training for the duration of this year’s program. 

 

After exploring numerous possible alternatives, it has been determined that this difficult step would help ensure the safest environment for the final week and a half of the summer training program and the Merola Grand Finale. Says Jean Kellogg, Executive Director of the Merola Opera Program, “It was a heartbreaking decision, but the safety of our young artists and production team is paramount.” 

I mean...health and safety protocols compromised by a number of participants? A wild party of some kind? People drinking to excess? Everybody leaving their masks home? Ouch, in any event. The press release continues: 

The public will still have the opportunity to enjoy a free outdoor performance featuring outstanding young artists from the Merola Opera Program performing a thrilling array of selections from some of opera’s most brilliant works. The Merola Grand Finale will be presented at 2:00pm, Saturday, July 31, at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell, John F. Kennedy Drive and Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco. Admission is FREE and open to the public. (Limited reserved seating is available for Merola members Gold Circle and above.) 

 

All Merola participants can be seen next month in “Back Home: Through the Stage Door,” a digital production filmed on location in early July at the historic Herbst Theatre, with the entire 2021 Merola ensemble performing classics and lesser known gems. Free on-demand streaming of “Back Home: Through the Stage Door” will be available to Merola members beginning August 13, and free to the public beginning August 27. For more information or to become a Merola member, visit www.merola.org.

 

San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson and General Manager Markus Beam noted, “The health and well-being of our artists, faculty, and staff has been and must remain our top priority,” adding that some participants will continue their Merola summer training virtually. The 2021 Merola Stage Director Audrey Chait, as originally announced, will direct the Merola Grand Finale. 

 

Museum Mondays

Anesthesia Set (19th c.?)

Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett

London, November, 2019

 

Friday Photo

1990s Advertising Displays

Discarded recently; now I'm a little sorry about it.

 

Mark Hanson Leaving SFS

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Oh, now, this is a big shock:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—On behalf of the San Francisco Symphony, President Priscilla B. Geeslin announced today that the Board of Governors has accepted Mark C. Hanson’s resignation from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective August 31, 2021. 

Mark Hanson stated, “The San Francisco Symphony is a dynamic organization, and it has been a true honor to lead them through complex transitions and challenges. With the San Francisco Symphony now back up and performing as a full ensemble for live audiences following our successful pandemic pivots, I have decided that this is the right time to pursue my next professional opportunity within a different environment. I am proud of what we have been able to achieve over the past four years: from implementing a multi-year financial plan that put the organization on a path to restoring stability and establishing a multi-constituency Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Workgroup; to successfully celebrating the conclusion of Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas’ tenure, and more recently engaging new Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen.” 

San Francisco Symphony President Priscilla Geeslin said, “The Board fully understands Mark’s decision and thanks him for his steadfast work with appreciation for the experience, commitment, and passion with which he led the San Francisco Symphony over the past four years. We wish him all the best as he moves on.” 

To ensure continuity moving forward, Matthew Spivey has been appointed Interim CEO. Spivey is currently Chief Programming Officer of the San Francisco Symphony and has been with the organization for five years.

Here's a CEO who didn't have labor problems, made the most unexpected and fabulous music director hire, and kept the orchestra moving through the pandemic. I'm really flabbergasted. I mean, I sincerely hope that there isn't Bad Stuff we don't know about behind this change. (Update: I would like to note that if there were Bad Stuff, it's probable that he would have been fired and walked out of Davies immediately.)

Updated: Looks as though Joshua Kosman had an hour's lead on this, that is, not much more than the rest of us.

Raised Eyebrows

Santa Fe Opera House and Parking Lot

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

The new John Corigliano / Mark Adamo opera, The Lord of Cries, will have its world premiere on Saturday, July 17, 2021. That's in a little over two days from now. So it was...surprising....to receive the following in a press release from Santa Fe Opera:

Apprentice Singer Kathryn Henry will assume the role of Lucy Harker inJohn Corigliano and Mark Adamo’s world premiere opera The Lord of Cries opening on Saturday, July 17, replacing Susanna Phillips.

The rest of the press release is about the opera, the season, cast changes announced previously, etc.  The above doesn't include anything about why Phillips is being replaced, not even the usual "...has withdrawn for personal reasons."

The last time I can remember a singer leaving a production this close to opening for reasons other than illness or injury was back in 2007, when David Gockley fired Hope Briggs from that season's Don Giovanni right after the dress rehearsal, with Elza van den Heever (who was then an Adler Fellow) stepping in to replace her.

Update, July 21, 2021: Apparently there is an update of some kind attributing Phillips's departure to the ubiquitous "personal reasons." 

For the Day

 

Museum Mondays

Medieval Frieze

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

February, 2018

 

Friday Photo

Vegetables and fruit from Full Belly Farm

(Carrots, beets, oranges, butternut squash, eggs)

March, 2021

 

Santa Fe Opera 2021 Casting Updates

Santa Fe Opera has just announced some cast changes, all owing to international travel restrictions. From the press release:

Santa Fe, NM — The Santa Fe Opera announces the following casting updates for the 2021 Season opening on July 10 and running through August 27: Laurie Feldman will direct The Marriage of Figaro after a concept by French Director Laurent Pelly, who is unable to travel to Santa Fe due to international travel restrictions and has therefore been following rehearsals and the progress of the production from France. Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee makes his company debut in the title role in The Marriage of Figaro and Bottom inA Midsummer Night’s Dream, replacing British baritone Ashley Riches who is unable to travel to Santa Fe due to international travel restrictions. Baritone Lucas Meachem and soprano Sara Jakubiak replace French-Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis and Australian soprano Nicole Car in the roles of Eugene Onegin and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. The real-life husband and wife are unable to travel to Santa Fe due to international travel restrictions. They write, “We are saddened by the situation and wish wholeheartedly we could have been allowed to perform these special roles in such a special place.” Lastly, lighting designer Rick Fisher replaces London-based lighting designer Matt Haskins in Eugene Onegin; Haskins is unable to travel to Santa Fe due to international travel restrictions. 

Obits from the Last Couple of Weeks

Mimi Stern-Wolfe, pianist and impressario, died recently. She was a social activist whose callings included low-cost concerts, concerts in unusual locations (like the lower east side), and annual concerts devoted to composers who died of AIDS. RIP, Miriam Stern-Wolfe; you were one of the good ones. Read her obituary by Neil Genzlinger at the Times.

Two famous composers died in the last few weeks, composers whose works are widely admired. In the days following each of their deaths, we learned that both had been sexually inappropriate toward women.  One of them was emotionally abusive to some young composers at master classes, calling their compositions garbage and berating them. It's utterly beyond me why you would invite someone to teach after that kind of behavior. Don't tell me nobody knew. I expect that Rzewski's behavior, especially, was well known in the field. I'm not going to cite folks who discussed this on social media, but I have no reason to disbelieve them.

• Frederic Rzewski, obituary in the NY Times by William Robin
• Frederic Rzewski, obituary in the Washington Post by Tim Page
• Louis Andriessen, obituary in the NY Times by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

Monday Miscellany

Various events and other items that have landed in my inbox:

• The West Cork Chamber Music Festival in Ireland has a good line-up of performers and works, both in person and online, and if you're attending in person, you can see "their own neighboring ancient circle of standing stones [Kealkill Stone Circle in this case.]" Sounds good to me! (My long-ago visit to Orkney included both standing stones and the St. Magnus Festival, featuring music of the late Peter Maxwell Davies.)
• The Merola Opera Program's season starts...er, started on July 3. Watch their web site for information about upcoming live performances. It's very abbreviated compared to most years, owing to the pandemic.
• Pianist Ursula Oppens, whose long and distinguished career has been dedicated to new and recent music, has a new CD out, of music by composer Laura Kaminsky. I've very much enjoyed Kaminsky's chamber music and her opera As One.
• Speaking of distinguished pianists who focus on new and recent music, Sarah Cahill has a great program at Old First Church on July 16, 2021, at 8 a.m. She'll play the following:
  Anna Bon: Sonata No. 6 (1757)
  Leokadiya Kashperova: selections from Au sein de la Nature (1910)
  Ági Jámbor: Sonata (1949)
  Zenobia Powell Perry: Rhapsody (1960)
  Madeleine Dring: excerpts from Colour Suite (1963)
  Frangiz Ali-Zadeh: Music for Piano (1989/1997)
  Hannah Kendall: On the Chequer’d Field Array’d (2013)

Museum Mondays

Bed

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

October, 2019

 

Friday Photo

Foliage

Laurel District, Oakland

March 17, 2020

 

Whoa: San Francisco Symphony, 2021-22

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Music Director of SFS

Photo by Minna Hatinen, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony

The SFS home page currently has a beautiful rotating series of photos of Salonen conducting. 

This is one of them, made available to the press as part of the press kit.

I will post more later today, but after a quick look at the press release for the upcoming SFS season, I have nothing to complain about. With the riches on offer,  I can live without a visit from Susanna Mälkki, a favorite of mine, this year. Maybe I'll catch her in LA. There are a ton of premieres of various kinds, a great lineup of visiting artists, and a lot of music by folks whose music we haven't heard here before. (You might remember me complaining about this, especially during the season when there were more works by MTT programmed than works in total composed by women.) (I would be happy to see more works by our new music director programmed than there are this season.)

For now, I will just copy this from the top of the press release. I'll take a more careful look and examine the schedule later, but let's just say that I am excited.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners perform and curate programs throughout the season

2021 OPENING WEEK CELEBRATIONS

• Esa-Pekka Salonen and Collaborative Partner Esperanza Spalding join with Alonzo King LINES Ballet for Opening Week celebrations including Opening Night Gala and All San Francisco Concert 

ORCHESTRAL SERIES

• Esa-Pekka Salonen leads live and digital projects exploring the music of Igor Stravinsky, including semi-staged performances of Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms directed by Peter Sellars; Orchestral Series performances of The Rite of Spring and Violin Concerto, performed by Leila Josefowicz; and digital-only release of a new staged production of The Soldier’s Tale directed by Netia Jones
• Esa-Pekka Salonen leads two weeks of Orchestral Series performances exploring the Greek myth of Prometheus, including Ludwig van Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus, with animations by Hillary Leben; Franz Liszt’s Prometheus; and Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, The Poem of Fire performed by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
• Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the United States premiere of Collaborative Partner Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto, performed by Collaborative Partner Pekka Kuusisto 
• Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Collaborative Partner Claire Chase in San Francisco Symphony premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Aile du songe
• Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the United States premiere of Hannah Kendall’s Tuxedo: Vasco ‘de’ Gama
• Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Béla Bartók’s Piano Concertos 1 and 3, captured for future audio release
• Esa-Pekka Salonen leads Orchestral Series performances of works by John Adams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Unsuk Chin, Claude Debussy, Anders Hillborg, Hannah Kendall, Fang Man, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Olivier Messiaen, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Franz Schubert, Jean Sibelius, Steven Stucky, and Elizabeth Ogonek, among others

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

• Collaborative Partner Julia Bullock performs a new version of History’s Persistent Voice, a program she created inspired by artwork and words penned by Black American artists and featuring the world premiere of two new San Francisco Symphony commissions

LIVE AND DIGITAL SOUNDBOX

• Collaborative Partner Pekka Kuusisto curates and performs in live SoundBox performances co-curated with composer and developer Jesper Nordin
• Collaborative Partners Claire Chase and Nico Muhly each curate and perform in digital-only SoundBox programs released on SFSymphony+ in Summer 2021

SIGNATURE MEDIA PROJECTS

• SFSymphony+ release of György Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna, Ramifications, and Clocks and Clouds; conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and featuring visual artwork by media artist and director Refik Anadol 
• SFSymphony+ release of new staged production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Netia Jones
• Video capture for future broadcast and release of Opening Night Gala conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, featuring Collaborative Partner Esperanza Spalding and Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas

• Four weeks of programming conducted by Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, including Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, William Grant Still’s Patterns, and Michael Tilson Thomas’s Notturno
• World premiere of Concerto for Trombone, written and performed by San Francisco Symphony Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins
• Featured soloists include Gautier Capuçon, Demarre McGill, and Yuja Wang 

San Francisco Symphony Conducting Debuts and Returning Conductors 

• San Francisco Symphony Orchestral Series debuts by nine visiting conductors: Gustavo Gimeno, Giancarlo Guerrero, Klaus Mäkelä, Michael Morgan, Perry So, Ruth Reinhardt, Daniel Stewart, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Xian Zhang
• Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin, Karina Canellakis, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Ton Koopman, and Simone Young return to conduct the San Francisco Symphony

Guest Artists Perform with the San Francisco Symphony

• Alonzo King LINES Ballet, J’Nai Bridges, Claire Chase, Aaron Diehl, Pekka Kuusisto, Demarre McGill, Víkingur Ólafsson, Esperanza Spalding, Wu Wei, and Melody Wilson, among others, make San Francisco Symphony Orchestral Series debuts
• Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yefim Bronfman, Gautier Capuçon, Leila Josefowicz, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang, and Alisa Weilerstein, among others, return to perform with the San Francisco Symphony 

Recitals: Great Performers Series and Spotlight Series

• Soloists and ensembles presented by the Great Performers Series include Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Joshua Bell, Ray Chen, Hélène Grimaud, Sheku Kanneh-Mason with Isata Kanneh-Mason, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Itzhak Perlman, and Yuja Wang 
• Collaborative Partner and classical singer Julia Bullock performs History’s Persistent Voice with members of the San Francisco Symphony
• Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke performs How Do I Find You with pianist Kirill Kuzman, a program of 17 world premieres written for Cooke during the Covid-19 pandemic
• New Spotlight Series features San Francisco Symphony recital debuts by pianist Drew Petersen, violinist Randall Goosby with pianist Zhu Wang, violinist Noa Wildschut with pianist Elisabeth Brauss, and cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing with pianist Minhye Choi

SoundBox

• Eighth season of experimental SoundBox series features four live programs, curated by drummer and producer Quentin Baxter, composer and conductor Jamie Man, Collaborative Partner and violinist Pekka Kuusisto with composer and developer Jesper Nordin, and composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey

Premieres and Commissions

• World premiere of San Francisco co-commission Song of the Flaming Phoenix (火凤凰的笙音), a new concerto for sheng written by Fang Man, performed by Wu Wei, and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen
• World premiere of John Corigliano’s Saxophone Concerto, a San Francisco Symphony commission performed by Timothy McAllister and conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero
• World premiere of San Francisco Symphony commission Concerto for Trombone, written and performed by San Francisco Symphony Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins and conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas
• World premieres of new San Francisco Symphony commissions by Camille Norment and Cécile McLorin Salvant, alongside works by Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Jessie Montgomery, Carolyn Yarnell, and Pamela Z performed by Julia Bullock in History’s Persistent Voice
• World Premieres of 17 new works for voice and piano performed by Sasha Cooke and Kirill Kuzmin in How Do I Find You
• United States premiere of San Francisco Symphony co-commission Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto, performed by Pekka Kuusisto and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen 
• West Coast premieres of Unsuk Chin’s Subito con Forza, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, and San Francisco Symphony co-commission Piano Concerto by Mason Bates, performed by Daniil Trifonov and conducted by Ruth Reinhardt
• San Francisco Symphony Orchestral Series premieres of works by John Adams, Lili Boulanger, Unsuk Chin, Anna Clyne, Antonio Estévez, Adolphus Hailstork, Anders Hillborg, Hannah Kendall, Texu Kim, Zhou Long, Jimmy López, Fanny Mendelssohn, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Elizabeth Ogonek, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Astor Piazzolla, Florence Price, Kaija Saariaho, Carlos Simon, William Grant Still, Steven Stucky, Lotta Wennäkoski, and Takashi Yoshimatsu, among others

Belated Museum Monday

Plaster cast of a door

Musée national des Monuments Français 

Paris, February, 2019

 

San Francisco Opera 2021-22 Season

War Memorial Opera House

December, 2019

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Yes, it's several days after the season announcement and I'm just getting to blog about the upcoming SFO season. It is...incredibly cautious, in repertory, scheduling, and health. They are very clear that this is a "transitional" season. The centennial season, 2022-23, had better be a humdinger, after this. NOT THAT THEY ARE BREATHING A WORD ABOUT IT.

Regarding health, here's how the fall season will start, at least through the performances of the opening opera:

• Upon entry, patrons will be required to show proof of full vaccination (defined as two weeks after final shot) or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of performance or antigen test taken within 1 day of performance (paper or electronic/photo documentation), along with a photo ID.

• All patrons—including those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine—will be required to wear a face mask while attending performances.

• Safety protocols include enhanced cleaning practices and availability of hand sanitizer stations throughout the building. Ventilation systems in the War Memorial Opera House meet Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. All front-of-house and backstage employees will follow rigorous safety protocols including a vaccination requirement.

• The Box Office will seat one production at a time and use buffer seats (keeping one seat free between parties).

• Tickets must be purchased in advance either by phone or online; at this time, tickets are not available for in-person purchase.

• All ticket exchange fees are eliminated for the current season. Exchanges will be accepted up to two hours before the performance. 

• For a touchless experience, tickets will be delivered digitally (print-at-home and mobile). In lieu of printed program books, a digital program will be available. 

• The Opera is working with the War Memorial and Global Gourmet to offer concessions to patrons, including limited food and beverage service. Plans for pre-opera talks are being developed. More information will be available soon.

SFS is selling seats up to capacity, for contrast. That business of the Box Office seating one production at a time? Yikes. That's a lot of overhead. Of course, the possibility of updating the above does mean that by August, SFO could decide to just send out a season's worth of tickets to subscribers.

The fall season will be done in stagione style, where only one opera at a time is performed. That will reduce costs: each production has to be set up and struck just once. Too bad if you're coming from another location: you'll have to return for each production instead of coming for a busy weekend with three operas.

I'm getting briefly up on a soapbox here to say that Global Gourmet, which replaced the previous food service provider, isn't as good. The buffet was diminished and the one dessert I had was allegedly panna cotta, but it had the texture of something much denser. Also, for a while coffee was served on an honor system of some kind, where you bought a cup and then served yourself. That reverted to the person behind the counter having to serve you, which wildly slowed down the lines. Look, Seattle Opera has had an honor system for coffee since 2003 and it works very well for them! There are multiple stations on every floor where you leave your cash, grab a cup, and drink as much as you'd like. I saw something like this in Disney Hall last time I was there, too. It works! Trust your patrons! Make life easier for us!

On the positive side

Eun Sun Kim takes charge as SFO's music director!

The seat replacement project is complete!

There are accessibility improvements!

On the not-so-positive side

On to the actual season, which, well, see for yourself:

• Aug. 21, 27, 29, Sept. 3, 5 - Puccini’s Tosca - Kim, conductor;  Shawna Lucey, stage director; Robert Innes Hopkins, production designer; the cast includes Ailyn Perez, Michael Fabiano, and Alfred Walker
• Sept. 10 - “Live and in concert: The Homecoming” in the War Memorial and a free live simulcast to Oracle Park, conducted by Kim,  featuring Rachel Willis-Sorensen and Jamie Barton
• Oct. 14, 17, 20, 22, 26, 30 - Beethoven’s Fidelio - new production,   Kim, conductor; Matthew Ozawa, stage director; Alexander V. Nichols, production designer; the cast includes Elza van den Heever,  Russell Thomas, Greer Grimsley, James Creswell, Soloman Howard,  Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Christopher Oglesby
• Nov. 21, 23, 27, Dec. 1, 3 - Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte - new production,  Henrik Nanasi, conductor;  Michael Cavanagh, stage director; Erhard Rom, production designer; the cast includes Nicole Cabell, Irene Roberts, Ben Bliss, John Brancy, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Nicole Heaston
• Dec. 10 - “The Future is Now” Adler Fellows Concert (in Herbst Theater)
• June 4, 10, 12, 15, 18, 21, 26. July 2 -  Mozart's Don Giovanni - new production, Bertrand de Billy, conductor; Michael Cavanagh, stage director; Erhard Rom, production designer ; the cast includes Etienne Dupuis, Adela Zaharia, Carmen Giannattasio, Amitai Pati, Luca Pisaroni, Christina Gansch, Soloman Howard
• June 14, 17, 19, 23, 25, July 1, 3 - Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber - Darrell Ang, conductor; Stan Lai, stage director; Tim Yip, production designer; cast includes Meigui Zhang, Yijie Shi, Hyona Kim, Karen Chia-ling Ho, Hongni Wu, Sabina Kim, Guang Yang
• June 30 - Verdi Concert, Kim conductor, with Nicole Car,  Arturo Chacon-Cruz, Soloman Howard

One Puccini, one Beethoven, two Mozart, one Sheng, plus concerts. That's right, it's a season of five operas. LA Opera, which generally has a much smaller budget than SF, and whose endowment is literally one-tenth of SF's, has a much more varied season, which is a shocker. 

What do I like here? Well, we'll see more of Eun Sun Kim. That Tosca cast is attractive, and it's nice that SFO has noticed that more than one tenor knows the role of Cavaradossi. (Fabiano should be wonderful.) Willis-Sorensen and Barton are both terrific singers. Elza van den Heever (welcome back) after thirteen years) and Russell Thomas, nice pairing! It's always good to revive a company commission, but I admit: I would have picked Dolores Claiborne over Dream of the Red Chamber. Still, I have to commend this.  I'm happy to see some of these singers back and I look forward to hearing those who are new to me.

What don't I like? Timidity. Also, Don Giovanni, which presumably will be in the international version, which is too long and incoherent for my taste. It's....kind of a dull season.

What do I hope for? Well, considering the works left on the sidelines by the pandemic: Der Zwerg, The Revolution of Steve Jobs, and The Handmaid's Tale. Maybe we'll get those in the centennial season or some other future season. It's no secret that SFO is one of several organizations that commissioned the new Saariaho opera, which the Aix-en-Provence Festival premieres this summer. What about the opera John Adams is allegedly working on for SF, Anthony and Cleopatra?

 

Sigh.

I've been to two live events in 2021, and as I started to get a ticket to a third, I was reminded of a....benefit (?)...of not having bought any tickets in the last year-plus: I spent just about no time in a state of annoyance at terrible organization web sites, ridiculous ticketing policies, and outrageous fees.

I was most of the way into buying a ticket to an event I would really like to attend when I hit one of the latter: $12 to buy an individual ticket on line ($20 if you're buying a subscription). Ticket prices for the event in question range from $25 to $105 and the fee you pay is $12 regardless of whether you're upstairs or downstairs.

So you could pay from 12%-ish to 50%-ish as the fee for your single ticket. I do not think that it costs the organization in question $12 to produce and send you the electronic version of your ticket. Maybe the fee was determined by taking the cost their ticketing system and dividing it by the number of tickets they might sell?

I can afford to pay the $12, but I'm really affronted by it. It's also not in the best interests of the organization to charge this: That $12 fee could keep someone from attending, if they can only afford to buy one low-priced ticket at a time. And of course annoying any of your patrons isn't a good idea: why  annoy audience members, the people you want to buy tickets and give you money and maybe get charitable matches from their employers?

I would really like every organization to reconsider their fees and the potential impact of these fees on ticket sales and good will.

Friday Photo

 

Lichen

January, 2021

(previously)