Davóne Tines and Ruckus: "What is Your Hand in This?"

Davóne Tines, Ruckus, Members of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Concert Choir

Photo by Michael Strickland

This recital was scheduled opposite Joyce DiDonato in Kevin Puts's new song cycle to poems of Emily Dickinson. One throws up one's hands at having had to make such a choice. I probably should have gone to JDD, whom I interviewed last fall for an article about portraying Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, but this was a wonderful concert.

• Michael Zwiebach, SFCV
• Lisa Hirsch, Parterre Box
• Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center
• Patrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills

The Best of 2025

Kang Wang as the title character

The Monkey King

San Francisco Opera

Photo: Cory Weaver, courtesy of SFO

 

SFCV published the writers' collective opinions of the best performances of the year. The Bay Area list is here. My five choices were these:

• Esa-Pekka Salonen's Mahler 2
• Poiesis Quartet at Noe Music
• The Monkey King at San Francisco Opera
• Pivot Festival, Carla Kiehlstedt's 26 Little Deaths
• Tartuffe, Pocket Opera

It was a tough call. Here's the rest of my long list:

• La bohème at SFO; a seriously great run, beautifully directed, with two terrific casts.
• MTT 80, a deeply touching celebration of the man.
  
• Parsifal at SFO
• Rigoletto at SFO
• Bluebeard's Castle at Opera San José
• Turn of the Screw at SFCM, better staged and conducted than what I saw at Santa Fe over the summer.
• John Adams third piano concerto, After the Fall, at SFS. I couldn't include the concert on my short list because the second half was (&)%$)_@_ Carmina Burana.
• Dalia Stasevska at SFS, in the Thorvaldsdottir cello concerto and RWV's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.
• Cabrillo Festival, Becoming
• Hello, Star at OP. Just a perfect 45 minutes of opera begging for a larger orchestra. A wonderful libretto, beautiful music, great direction on a tiny stage.
• Donald Runnicles and Irene Roberts at SFS

As you can see, I named four of the last six operas at SFO as among the best things I saw; Dead Man Walking was also superb. SFO had a stupendous year and in fact has been on a roll since the centennial season. Hats off to Matthew Shilvock and his team for this long string of artistic successes, which has also included a fair number of sellouts.

As for the flip side, I am going to pass on flagging concerts I found disappointing or wrong-headed. There's not much doubt that the worst event of the year was Esa-Pekka Salonen's departure from San Francisco Symphony after just five years as music director. He reinvigorated the orchestra's programming, led many great concerts, hired many terrific musicians, and thanks to the short-sightedness of the board and management, which couldn't figure out how to fund his ambitions for the future, he is gone.

• Joshua Kosman's picks
• SFCV Los Angeles writers' picks
• Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center

Dido Reimagined

I reviewed this well-programmed concert by Dawn Upshaw and the Brentano String Quartet the other day. Here are links to my review and Patrick Vaz's blog post about it. The texts of the program are available at the web site of SF Performances.

• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV
• Patrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills. I very much admire his long discussion of the text.

It's Not Over Yet.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine, that is. San Francisco Performances has just canceled or postponed the following performances, some of which I would have loved to see

CANCELLATIONS
April
Natasha Paremski, piano | Sat, April 10, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Sean Jones, “Dizzy Spellz,” trumpet | Fri, April 16, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain | Sat, April 17, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Aaron Diehl, piano | Wed, April 21, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Dreamers’ Circus | Fri, April 23, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor, Attaca Quartet and Timo Andres, piano | Thurs, April 29, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

May
Chiaroscuro Quartet | Sat, May 1, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Golda Schultz, soprano and Jonathan Ware, piano | Tues, May 4, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Thibault Cauvin, guitar | Sat, May 8, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre
Presented in association with OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts

Danish String Quartet | Thurs, May 13, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre
---------------------
 
POSTPONEMENTS
 April
The Romeros with Isabel Leonard, soprano | Thurs, April 8, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre

Alexander String Quartet/Robert Greenberg | Sat, April 10, 2021, 10:00am 
Herbst Theatre

May
Alexander String Quartet/Robert Greenberg | Sat, May 1, 2021, 10:00am 
Herbst Theatre

San Francisco Performances: I'm Scratching My Head

SFP cancels several performance and reschedules one....in March?

MEDIA UPDATE
SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMANCES ANNOUNCES THE
FOLLOWING 2020/21 SEASON SCHEDULE CHANGES 
 
CANCELLATIONS
BEATRICE RANA, PIANO AND RENAUD CAPUÇON, VIOLIN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021, 7:30pm 
Herbst Theatre
 
NICOLA BENEDETTI, VIOLIN; LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH, CELLO; ALEXEI GRYNYUK, PIANO  
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2021, 7:30pm 
Herbst Theatre
 
DREAMERS’ CIRCUS 
FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2021, 7:30pm
Herbst Theatre
 
CHIAROSCURO QUARTET
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2021, 7:30pm 
Herbst Theatre
 
---------------------
 
DATE CHANGE
MODIGLIANI QUARTET
NEW DATE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2021, 7:30pm 
Herbst Theatre
(Originally scheduled Thursday, March18, 2021)

These changes are all because of health and safety requirements around COVID-19. I don't understand why March 18 isn't okay but March 17 is. 

Looking Forward

War Memorial Opera House (left) and Veterans Building (right)

San Francisco Performances and San Francisco Ballet haven't announced cancellations....but...it's inevitable.

Also.....the Los Angeles Philharmonic and LA Opera, too.

Repertory Madness

The three big presenting organizations in the Bay Area -- Cal Performances, SF Performances, and Stanford Lively Arts -- have announced their 2018-19 seasons. I will try to get some thoughts posted this week, but no promises as I've got a couple of reviews to write.

However, something jumped out at me, because it's unmissable: there are three cellists performing the complete Bach suites this season. Here they are:

• Yo-Yo Ma - September 30, 2018, Greek Theater (the perfect venue, right?) (Cal Performances)
• Jean-Guihen Queyras - October 30, 2018, Herbst (SF Performances)
• Alicia Weilerstein - May 1, 2019, First Congo (Cal Performances)

Yeah, I had to check to see whether Stanford Live had the same program with a fourth cellist. Nope. Maybe it's not too late for them to engage Clemens Hagen, or, for a little novelty, a Baroque cellist such as Pieter Wispelwey.

Does anybody think about the ticket sales implications of this? Especially when Ma is one of the cellists?

Civic Center BART Station and SF Performing Arts Groups

Back in December, 2015, I wrote a post here following a survey I'd received from San Francisco Opera. My contention is that the survey was basically about how patrons felt about safety in and around Civic Center BART. 

I was not exactly mocked, but readers certainly responded skeptically to the post. It was not long after this that SFS and SFO started sponsoring a little shuttle bus running between BART and the corner of Grove and Van Ness.

Now there's an article in the Chronicle that pretty much confirms my contention: local performing arts groups have safety concerns, and they're being exacerbated by BART's plans to close the Market St. entrance in front of the hotel and permanently close the already-blocked-off entrance in front of the Burger King across the street. There's this, from the Chronicle article:

Closing the western entrances to Civic Center BART will force cultural arts attendees to take unfamiliar and less direct routes through those problem areas. 

“We’re sending the message to people ‘Please come, and please use public transportation, but it’s a little scary,’” said Jennifer Norris, who runs the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.

And this:

Melanie Smith, president of San Francisco Performances, said the arts institutions have talked with BART for years about the need to improve Civic Center Station. She knows the problem extends well beyond the station’s walls but said the conditions inside are far from welcoming.

“They’re disgusting,” she said. “It’s tragic, it’s part of a bigger problem in the city, I understand that. But that said, the stations are filthy, it feels dangerous.”

“We hear from them that they don’t want to drive because parking and traffic are a nightmare,” she said. “So the fact that BART is so unpleasant means they just don’t come.” 

I will stand by what I said about the original survey:

Well, okay. So this survey isn't really about transportation. It's really about the failure of San Francisco's city government to provide adequate housing and mental health care to homeless people living in the Civic Center area, and about the failure of BART to keep its station in decent condition, free of stink and with the escalators all working.

Nominally, that survey was about transportation; in reality, it was about the terrible conditions around the BART stop and patron fears, plus, the city's failure, etc.

P. S. Somebody might alert the Chron to the fact that their headline writer made an error in subject/verb agreement in that headline.

Antonacci Cancels Recital Tour

If you have a ticket to Anna Caterina Antonacci's recital, scheduled for May 6, 2016, you now have a ticket to see the US recital debut of Italian soprano Rosa Feola. She replaced Antonacci, who has canceled her entire spring, 2016 US recital tour, citing family reasons. This would have been Antonacci's local recital debut.

Feola's program is:

MARTUCCI: Ciclo Op. 84 Tre pezzi     
LISZT: Tre Sonetti del Petrarca
TOSTI: Sogno; Non t’amo piu’; A vucchella                             
VERDI: Ad una stella; Stornello; Deh pietoso, oh addolorata; La zingara
DONIZETTI: A Mezzanotte; Eterno amore e fe; Ne ornera' la bruna chioma
ROSSINI: L'invito (Bolero); La promessa; La fioraia fiorentina

From the press release:

SFP Founder and President Ruth Felt noted, “While we are extremely disappointed with the cancellation of Anna Caterina Antonacci’s highly anticipated debut, we are thrilled to be able to introduce this talented young soprano to Bay Area audiences. To have Rosa Feola graciously step in to perform a wonderful Italian program on the date originally announced for Ms. Antonacci is a remarkable treat for our vocal series audiences. I look forward to sharing this exciting new talent.”

And also:

San Francisco Performances is contacting all ticket holders of the change of artist. SFP subscribers and single ticket holders for the May 6, 7:30pm, 2016 recital should use their tickets on the same date and time for Rosa Feola’s recital. For more information ticket holders can email tickets@sfperformances.org, or call (415) 677-0325. 

End of an Era: Ruth Felt to Retire

Ruth Felt

Photo courtesy of SF Performances

Huge news just now from San Francisco Performances: a press release saying that Ruth Felt, who founded and has led the organization for an astonishing 36 years, will retire in the fall of 2016.

That's an amazing run for anyone in the arts. Starting a presenting organization is hard; keeping it going through thick and thin is harder. Think about the last few years, for example: the recession and its effects; the addition of new venues while Herbst was being renovated; the decline of the subscription model.

Felt has championed young and up-and-coming artists, including the Pavel Haas Quartet, Jonathan Biss, and many others. SFP presents the valuable Alexander Quartet surveys and famed performers such as Marc-Andre Hamelin, Anna Caterina Antonacci, and Anonymous 4. They've presented new music and old, all fearlessly.

The press release has lots of quotations from performers and others, and notes that the organization is in excellent financial condition, and that programming is largely planned for the next two seasons, as has been their practice. A search committee has been formed to find a new director of SFP.

Also, there will be a gala (and fund-raiser) in honor of Ruth Felt on September 30, 2016. I plan to be there.

Tetzlaff/Andsnes

SF Performances has a concert coming up that I can't attend, but you should: Christian Tetzlaff, violin, and Leif Ove Andsnes, piano, at Herbst Theater, 8 p.m., January 27, 2009. The program? MY GOSH:

• JANACEK: Sonata for Violin and Piano
• BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Opus 108
• MOZART: Sonata in F Major for Violin and Piano, K. 377
• SCHUBERT: Rondo Brillant in B minor for Violin and Piano, D. 895