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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

MTT Lovefest


Michael Tilson Thomas
Davies Symphony Hall, SF
January 26, 2024
Photo by Lisa Hirsch


Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Mahler's 5th symphony with the San Francisco Symphony last week, 50 years, more or less, after his first concert with the orchestra, in which he conducted Mahler's 9th. The concert represented a full circle, a mission completed, an acknowledgement of where MTT and SFS are right now.

As I expect anyone reading this knows, MTT was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2021, and the following year he disclosed that it's glioblastoma multiform, an aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. That he's still here and still conducting is a marvel. SFS has announced that these are his last subscription concerts, leaving open the possibility of a spontaneous addition to the schedule in the future, if MTT remains able to conduct.

The concert was very much a lovefest and tribute to MTT, as much as it was a concert that he led. The audience gave him a standing ovation when he came on stage and a standing ovation at the end of the concert. In the right-hand terrace, a couple of fellows in rainbow garb unfurled a handmade sign saying "We Love MTT". 

Damn right we do. This 50-year relationship, which included many guest appearances before, and a few after, his amazing 25 years as music director, has been an incredibly fruitful one. His leadership did a great deal to make the orchestra what it is today, building on the work of Herbert Blomstedt to make it one of the country's and world's great orchestras.

The Mahler I heard on Friday night wasn't the best I've heard from MTT - the symphony was on the slow side, could have used more tension, and had loose ensemble at points - but it didn't matter. We were there for Michael Tilson Thomas, and so glad to hear Mahler from him, very possibly for the last time.

 

Monday, January 29, 2024

Museum Mondays


Assyrian sculpture, detail
Metropolitan Museum of Art
February, 2018

 

Friday, January 26, 2024

Friday Photo


New Mexico Sky, Moon, and Clouds
August, 2019

 

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Even More Music Director Updates

 Some new reports:

  • Jun Märkel becomes music director of the Indianapolis Symphony, effective September 1, 2024. He has been their artistic advisor since 2021. His predecessor was Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Andris Nelsons renewed his contract with the Boston Symphony. He's now on an everygreen rolling contract, which will continue as long as he and the orchestra are happy with each other. MTT had one of these at SFS.

Open positions:

  • Phoenix Symphony
  • Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
  • Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
  • Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
  • Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
  • Hallé Orchestra, when Mark Elder leaves.
  • Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
  • Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
  • Indianapolis Symphony, where Jun Märkel is artistic advisor.
  • Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey.
  • Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Riccardo Muti left at the end of 2022-23.
  • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024 when Louis Langree steps down.
  • Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
  • Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
  • Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
  • Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
  • Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
  • Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.
Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.
  • Tito Muñoz 
  • Andrey Boreyko
  • Osmo Vänskä
  • Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
  • MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
  • Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
  • Lionel Bringuier
  • Sian Edwards
  • Ingo Metzmacher
  • Jac van Steen
  • Mark Wigglesworth
  • Peter Oundjian
  • Ilan Volkov
  • Aleksandr Markovic
  • Lothar Koenigs
  • Henrik Nanasi
  • Philippe Jordan, eventually
  • Franz Welser-Möst, eventually
And closed:

  • Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
  • Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
  • Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
  • Warsaw Philharmonic, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
  • Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
  • New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
  • Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
  • Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
  • Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
  • Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano in September, 2025.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The VPO at Cal Performances

Cal Performances has done a pre-announcement of one item on the 2024-25 schedule: the Vienna Philharmonic will be back, this time conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whom, as well all know, hasn't got enough to do as music director of both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera. At least it's not Christian Thielemann, who led the worst concert I have ever heard from an orchestra and conductor of their respective statures.

The programming for their concerts, though - WTF. The most recent work is Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, composed in 1898. Nothing from the 20th century, let alone the 21st century. Not to mention that it's all by white guys sorta like the orchestra, all of them dead.

Vienna Philharmonic                                                                               Zellerbach Hall
Yannick Nézet-Séguinconductor                                   Bancroft Way at Dana Street
Yefim Bronfmanpiano                                                                                  Berkeley, CA 

Program: 

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 7:30pm 
Mozart/Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, Jupiter
Mahler/Symphony No. 1 in D major

Thursday, March 6, 2025 7:30pm
Schubert/Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D 417, Tragic
Dvořák/Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, From the New World

Friday, March 7, 2025 8pm
Cal Performances’ 2025 Gala
Beethoven/Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
                 Yefim Bronfman, piano
R. Strauss/Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

One way to look at it: In March, 2025, I get to hear Beethoven 3rd piano concerto for the fourth time in four years, with a pianist I have already heard play it, and the Dvorak "New World" symphony for the fourth time in four years, but it'll be YN-S and the VPO rather than [conductor] and SFS. So yay?

Monday, January 22, 2024

More Music Director Updates

Some new reports:

  • Franz Welser-Möst leaves the Cleveland Orchestra at the end of his current contract, which concludes in June, 2027. Oussama Zahr's review of their NYC concerts is....interesting.
  • Krzysztof Urbański becomes artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, succeeding Andrei Boreyko, in mid-2025.
  • Tito Muñoz leaves the Phoenix Symphony at the end of this season.

Open positions:

  • Phoenix Symphony
  • Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
  • Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
  • Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
  • Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
  • Hallé Orchestra, when Mark Elder leaves.
  • Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
  • Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
  • Indianapolis Symphony, where Jun Märkel is artistic advisor.
  • Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey.
  • Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Riccardo Muti left at the end of 2022-23.
  • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024 when Louis Langree steps down.
  • Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
  • Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
  • Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
  • Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
  • Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
  • Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.
Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.
  • Osmo Vänskä
  • Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
  • MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
  • Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
  • Lionel Bringuier
  • Sian Edwards
  • Ingo Metzmacher
  • Jac van Steen
  • Mark Wigglesworth
  • Peter Oundjian
  • Ilan Volkov
  • Aleksandr Markovic
  • Lothar Koenigs
  • Henrik Nanasi
  • Philippe Jordan, eventually
And closed:

  • Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
  • Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
  • Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
  • Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
  • Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
  • New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
  • Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
  • Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
  • Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
  • Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano in September, 2025.

Dalia Stasevska at SFS


Dalia Stasevska
Photo by Veikko Kähkönen, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony


Dalia Stasevska took over last week's SFS program, one of two that Michael Tilson withdrew from. (Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the other, which is in a couple of weeks.) I was extremely enthusiastic about her, and like pianist Seong-Jin Cho a lot. Reviews:
  • Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle. Total agreement about looking forward to hearing how many strings she has in her bow. 
  • Lisa Hirsch, SFCV. I really should have mentioned that this was also the third recent go-round for the Beethoven: Yefim Bronfman with Salonen season before last (I think) on the program with the Kongsberg Variations and Bruce Liu, subbing for Hillary Hahn on Rafael Payare's program last year. Liu played it like late Mozart, a defensible approach; Bronfman with great depth and profundity, looking forward.
  • DB at Kalimac's corner

San Francisco Opera Season Announcement Date


War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Well, this is a little bit of a head-scratcher: for many years, the San Francisco Opera season announcement has been made in the second or third week of January, whether there was a press conference or just an email announcement, or, during the pandemic, a livestream. I think that the last press conference was in January, 2017; in attendance were John Adams and Peter Sellars, because of Girls of the Golden West, and Francesca Zambello, because of the June, 2018 Ring.

Today, I got an email saying that the announcement will be made on February 20, about four weeks from now. I don't know whether this indicates a permanent change in the announcement date, or if something about the 2024-25 season is still up in the air, whether it's casting for a particular opera, or decisions being made about which operas are on the schedule, or decision over when each opera will be seen during the season. Or even some combination of those possibilities! You know: "We can do six performances of mumphy-ump with Tenor A and Soprano A, followed by 3 with Tenor B and Soprano B, OR we can split those roles up among a different number of singers, but Baritone A can't sing on dates 1, 2, and 3...."

 

Museum Mondays


Slightly creepy overdressed doll on.a fainting couch?
International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM
August, 2019

 

Friday, January 19, 2024

Friday Photo

 


Three trees
Grand Ave., Oakland, CA
Lake Merritt in the background

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Peter Schickele

Awwwww: composer Peter Schickele, better known to the general public as his alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, has died at 88. 

Monday, January 15, 2024

Van Zweden Takes the Fifth

 


Davies Symphony Hall

Jaap van Zweden, the outgoing music director the NY Philharmonic, was the guest conductor last week at San Francisco Symphony.

I heard JvZ live only once before, at the Chicago Symphony in November, 2016. At that concert, he conducted the instrumental version of the Prelude and Liebestodt fromWagner's Tristan und Isolde, Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, and the Brahms Requiem, the big piece on the program. I don't seem to have written a blog post about it, and it was months before I blogged about the primary reason I was in Chicago, performances at Lyric Opera of Berlioz's Les Troyens

I do remember not really liking anything on the program. The Wagner was stodgy, the Mozart had little sparkle, the Brahms was at best okay. The orchestra's ensemble wasn't great; nothing seemed to hang together.

My other experience with van Zweden was reviewing the first two installments of his concert performances, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, of Wagner's Der Ring des Niebelungen. I though the casting a very mixed bag (Matthias Goerne as Wotan? Petra Lang as Brünnhilde??); I thought the orchestra had a poor sense of style; I thought the conducting off in various ways. I was not at all surprised to learn that he'd never conducted a staged Wagner opera. They lack drama, and I disliked them enough that I declined to review Siegfried and Götterdämmergung. (Those reviews were published in Leitmotiv, the journal of the Northern California Wagner Society; if you'd like copies, let me know.)

All of this throat-clearing is prefatory to saying that did my best to go into Thursday's performance with an open mind, because you never know when you're about to see a great performance. Performers can surprise you!

And indeed, I was very, very pleasantly surprised by van Zweden's account of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. It was colorful, flexibly conducted, well paced, and with plenty of drama. It was an excellent performance and I have no complaints about it. I wasn't taking notes, and I also haven't got a lot of details to provide about it.

On the other hand, wow, the other big 5 on the program, the one by Beethoven? Ooof. I didn't like it at all, although I'll note that nearly everyone else in the audience gave it a standing ovation.

What didn't I like? Well, the whole darned thing sounded grayish, without a lot of color; the tempos, while not in Norrington territory, were fast and did not work well, because van Zweden trampled on a lot of fermatas and rests and did not give the music room to breathe or space for the fermatas and rests to make their various structural points. The gorgeous second movement came off as perfunctory and without nuance. There was little mystery in the initial statement of the scherzo, or in its ghost, which returns in the last movement.

It was not anywhere near as bad as the truly dreadful Schubert Great C Major Symphony that Manfred Honeck conducted last year, which was super-fast for its own sake and consequently lost all detail. It just wasn't really good, and the Shostakovich showed what van Zweden is capable of. I don't know if the Beethoven just got the short end of the rehearsal time stick, or what. 

I was also reminded that I missed the last performance of Beethoven's 5th, two years ago during the Omircron COVID surge. I believe that it was on a program with the Nielsen Fifth, a quirky and fabulous symphony, and that Herbert Blomstedt conducted it. I turned in my ticket, which I deeply, deeply regret.

Elsewhere:
  • Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle, is more enthused about the Beethoven than I am. I agree completely about principal flute Yubeen Kim, who has a gorgeous sound that he can vary at will.
  • Rebecca Wishnia, SFCV
  • DB at Kalimac
Previously:
  • Alex Ross, TNY, on van Zweden's appointment. Note the remarks in both New Yorker articles about Salonen, for whose presence in SF I am grateful, however long his tenure here might be.
  • Alex Ross, TNY, on various issues around the NYPO's search for a music director, including a review of a JvZ concert that included Beethoven's Fifth.
  • Zachary Woolfe reviews the same concert in the NY Times (gift link)

West Edge Opera Festival Schedule Change


Oakland Scottish Rite Center
July, 2022

West Edge Opera has announced that they're delaying their production of Charpentier's David and Jonathan to 2025, swapping in Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek's Jacqueline in 2024. The latter will star soprano Marnie Breckenridge and cellist Matt Haimovitz. From the press release:
Jacqueline dives into the real-life struggle between celebrity virtuosic cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the multiple sclerosis that ravaged her body, mind, and talent, robbing her of her identity, her breathtaking musical gift, and her life. This intimate piece for soprano and cello brings two contemporary virtuosi to the stage: celebrated soprano Marnie Breckenridge as Jacqueline, and renowned cellist (and former du Pré protégé) Matt Haimovitz as du Pré’s only constant companion, her cello.
 
Inspired by the structure and emotional landscape of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Pulitzer Prize winning librettist Royce Vavrek chart the development of great prodigy and ultimately, great tragedy. Jacqueline references Haimovitz’s personal recollections of du Pré herself, from when he was a young prodigy under her wing. Colorful and at times fractured, the form of the work echoes du Pré’s iconic interpretation of the Elgar, using the concerto’s four-movement structure to navigate a prismatic and passionate, if all too short, life in music.
I've liked everything of Woolf's that I have heard, so I expect that this will be good. 

Also in the press release is the cast for Legend of the Ring, which looks very good:

Tracy Cox (Brunnhilde), Philip Skinner (Wotan), Alex Boyer (Sigmund/Siegfried), Mary Evelyn Hangley (Freia/Sieglinde), Stephanie Sanchez (Fricka), Kyle Bielfield (Loge/Mime), Peter Morgan (Alberich/Fasolt), Matt Lovell (Fafner/Hundig). Conducted by Jonathan Khuner, Directed by Sam Helfrich.

 

Museum Mondays

 


Mystic Nativity, by Sandro Botticelli
Angel and human onlookers
Palace of the Legion of Honor
December, 2023

Friday, January 12, 2024

Friday Photo


City Hall, San Francisco
January, 2024

 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Publication Catch-Up

I've published some reviews and articles without writing them up here. In reverse chronological order
 

Monday, January 08, 2024

Museum Mondays


Sandro Botticelli
Detail of Mystid Nativity, with demon
Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco
Botticelli Drawings
Painting lent by National Gallery, London
December, 2023


 

Saturday, January 06, 2024

Reduction in SoundBox



The last SoundBox concert I attended.
February, 2023
Photo by me.



Well, this is unfortunate:

SF Symphony cancels March 8 & 9 SoundBox program
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony’s March 8–9 SoundBox concerts, which were to be curated by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, have been canceled and will not be rescheduled. With Salonen's support, the Symphony decided to cancel this program as a means of offsetting the significant expenses associated with producing SoundBox. Going forward, the SoundBox series will include two programs each season. 
 
The final 2023–24 SoundBox series program features SF Symphony Collaborative Partner and roboticist Carol Reiley (April 5–6) and will proceed as scheduled. “Press Play: Carol Reiley and the Robots” will be a first-of-its-kind, human-machine interactive program showcasing various uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI). 
 
Ticketholders for the March 8–9 SoundBox program will be contacted with the option to exchange their tickets for a different concert, donate their tickets, or receive a refund for their purchase. All requests for ticket donations, gift certificates, exchanges, and refunds for these concerts must be received by July 1, 2024. For additional assistance with tickets, patrons can contact the Box Office by phone at 415.864.6000, email at patronservices@sfsymphony.org, or in person at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco. 

I've got some questions out to SFS. Joshua Kosman has a report in the Chron with some quotations from Matthew Spivey, the orchestra's CEO. My questions go into the incredible amount of money the orchestra made in a recent fiscal year (based on its most recently-filed form 990) and what that money is going to be used for.
 

Friday, January 05, 2024

Friday Photo


Cans of Red and White Menudo
Farmer Joe's Market, Oakland, CA
December, 2023

 

Wednesday, January 03, 2024

LA Phil Das Rheingold

 


Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Photo by Lisa Hirsch

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has performances of Wagner's Das Rheingold later this month, and gosh, the cast looks great. (Which of these singers will be in the next San Francisco Opera Ring bring-up? Place your bets now.)  There was a point when I would have said "this is in advance of a Paris Opera Ring, but we can't know whether any future Paris Ring productions will be conducted by Dudamel, who is no longer the music director there.)

I can't get there, but presumably others can. Scenic design by Frank Gehry should be interesting!

DUDAMEL LEADS DAS RHEINGOLD

Thursday, January 18, at 8:00 PM

Saturday, January 20, at 8:00 PM

Sunday, January 21, at 2:00 PM

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor