A Tale of Two Opera Houses

War Memorial Opera House

View from the Stage

Photo courtesy of the War Memorial

If you read this blog, you know that my home opera house is San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House. The WMOH opened in 1932 – yes, there's a significant birthday coming up; watch for a nice funding raising campaign* – and seats roughly 3200 people in sections called Orchestra, Box, Grand tier, Dress Circle, Balcony Circle and Balcony.

In the photo above, you can see that the orchestra is fairly deep and there's a significant overhang of the box level over the back of the orchestra. In the level above the boxes, the Grand Tier is in front, then, across an aisle, the Dress Circle rises above it.

Above that, there's the Balcony Circle, and behind it, the Balcony. 

For marketing and sales purposes, each of the levels is subdivided in various ways, to provide different price points depending on the desirability of the seats.

Metropolitan Opera House

View from the Stage

Allegedly Opening Night, 1966

The photo above is New York's Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1966. The Met seats 3800 people across six similarly named levels, but each named level gets its own separate physical tier. The Orchestra is extremely deep, with the back of Orchestra level a lot farther from the stage than the back of the WMOH orchestra level is from the stage. 

At the Met, the Parterre level houses the main box level, though, interestingly, every level up to the Balcony has boxes along the sides of the house. So, the Met levels are Parterre, Grand Tier above that, Dress Circle above that, Balcony above that, and waaaaay up there, the Family Circle. I do not have height measurements for the interior of the two houses, but the Met's Family Circle, and probably the Balcony would be above the roof of the WMOH.

Basically, any time you're in one of the tiers, even the $$$$ boxes, you're farther from the stage at the Met than at the WMOH.

I recently took in the Met's productions of Tristan und Isolde and Innocence, sitting in the Family Circle for my first Tristan and the Dress Circle for my second, in the Dress Circle for Innocence. I bought my own tickets, because, without a paid review, it was not clear when I asked for them that I would be able to get press tickets. 

Hoo boy, the sheer size of the house created quite the distance, physical and emotional, from what was happening on stage.

For Innocence, the Met used Simon Stone's production, which was created for the 2021 Aix-en-Provence world premiere, and which has been used by the commissioning opera companies. The Met was a "sponsor" of the production, and I admit, I don't know exactly what that means.

It's the production we saw in San Francisco, the one with the giant rotating set; I attended the dress rehearsal and opening night (I can't recall what I did with my subscription ticket), then watched a performance from backstage and wrote about it for SFCV. 

Everyone sang well, but I was shocked at how little impact the singing actually had. I've seen the Danish bass Stephen Milling several times and he's always been magnificent, pulling off such feats as stealing the show while singing Hagen in Götterdämmerung. But here? It could have been any good bass on stage; there was nothing like the dramatic or vocal impact Milling brings to everything he does. I was far more moved by Kristinn Sigmundsson in SF.

So, this was the last time I'll be up in the tiers at the Met; in the future, no matter the cost (if I can't get press tickets), I'll be in the orchestra somewhere, where I'll be able to actually connect with the music and singers.

More about Tristan, eventually.

 

Adriana Mater

Cover art c/o Deutsche Grammophon

Black & white photo of Kaija Saariaho

Text on photo:

Kaija Saariaho

Adriana Mater

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Fleur Barron Axelle Fano Nicholas Phan  Christopher Purves

San Francisco Symphony    San Francisco Symphony Chorus

DG logo

The world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater was released a few weeks ago by Deutsche Grammophon. It's drawn from performances at the San Francisco Symphony in June, 2023, just days after Saariaho's death from glioblastoma. The performers are listed above in my description of the artwork accompanying the release; I think that alt text doesn't actually work on Blogger.

The performances were a deeply emotional event for the performers and director Peter Sellars. Salonen and Saariaho had been friends since their school days and Sellars directed the premieres of her first two operas, L'amour de loin and Adriana. 

The recording is currently available only as a download, but physical media will become available next year.

UPDATE, February 8, 2025: This recording won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. You can stream it on major platforms. I haven't seen anything yet about physical media; I'll buy the CDs if that format is available.

 

Backstage at San Francisco Opera

 

The stage crew taking a bow at the end of Kaija Saariaho's Innocence.

Photo: Matthew Shilvock, courtesy of San Francisco Opera

June, 2024

Here's an article I've been working on for a while––perhaps since Matthew Shilvock inadvertently handed me the lede back in June. It's about everything that happens during an opera––or any theatrical performance––that you don't see, but which is vital to whatever you do see.

The photo above didn't make it into the article, but I have such admiration for what the stage crew did during Innocence.

Enormous thanks to everyone at SF Opera who helped me: Jeff McMillan and Teresa Concepcion, SFO communications; John Keene, chorus director; Andrew King, prompter/music staff; Darin Burnett, stage manager; Jeanna Parham, wig, hair, & makeup; Lori Harrison, properties head; Matthew Shilvock, general director. I also spoke with John Fulljames, who directed The Handmaid's Tale, and Poul Ruders, who composed it. I wish I had been able to speak with the late Kaija Saariaho about Innocence.

Huge respect to Chloe Lamford, who designed the sets for both Innocence and The Handmaid's Tale. The Innocence set is particularly amazing. Watching the opera from backstage––only half-hearing it, seeing the reverse of what the audience saw––was a great experience.

I want to also thank Matthew Shilvock and SFO for bringing both of these operas to the War Memorial Opera House. They are complex works on difficult subjects, but so necessary in these times.

Innocence Livestream

"Innocence" by Kaija Saariaho, Sofi Oksanen, and Aleksi Barrière.

Photo includes Vilma Jää and Ruxandra Donose

The livestream of this great opera is on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, starting at 7:30 pm Pacific Time. I think that Innocence will look good on video. The cost is only $27.50 and the video will be available for 48 hours.

San Francisco Opera: Innocence

 

Innocence, by Kaija Saariaho, Sofi Oksanen, and Aleksi Barrière

Innocence opened at San Francisco Opera on June 1, and it is a magnificent achievement in every way.

• Steven Winn, Chronicle
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV
• Opera Tattler
• Opera Tattler (Innocence again)
• Patrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills
• Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center
• Caroline Crawford, Bay City News
• Harvey Steiman, Seen & Heard International
• Michael Anthonio, Parterre Box
• Richard S. Ginell, Classical Voice North America
• DB at Kalimac's Corner
• Emily Wilson, "How SF Opera is Preparing the Cast and Audience for Kaija Saariaho's Innocence", SFCV

Previously:

• Alex Ross, The New Yorker
• Zachary Woolfe, NY Times
• Alastair Macaulea, Financial Times
• Andrew Clements, Guardian
• Colin Clarke, Seen & Heard International
• Mark Berry, Boulezian

Kaija Saariaho

Courtesy of San Francisco Opera

No photographer credited.

A year later, I still can't quite believe that Saariaho is gone.

I dress up a bit when I'm reviewing but for this occasion, I made an exception, wearing a t-shirt under a light black jacket:

Jules Harlow

Rabbi Jules Harlow died at 92, on February 12, 2024. From his NY Times obituary:

Many of Rabbi Harlow’s liturgical innovations were in “Siddur Sim Shalom,” a daily and Sabbath prayer book published in 1985. 

 ...

The volume also included several original poems by Rabbi Harlow, among them “Changing Light,” which was offered as an alternative to parts of the evening service known as ma’ariv:

Resplendent skies, sunset, sunrise
The grandeur of creation lifts our lives
Evening darkness, morning dawn
Renew our lives as You renew all time.

The full poem was even set to music, by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The piece had its world premiere in Helsinki in 2002, on the first anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, and its American premiere at Carnegie Hall in 2003.

More Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho and librettist Amin Maalouf

Adriana Mater Symposium

Santa Fe, July 2008

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Amid all the sadness about Kaija Saariaho's death were many reports of her kindness and generosity to others, particularly other composers and performers. I want to also note that it's not everyone who has their adult children as artistic collaborators, but Saaiaho did. Her son Aleksi Barrière worked on translations for Innocence and her daughter Aliisa Neige Barrière is a conductor and violinist who was assistant conductor for the SFS bring-up of Adriana Mater. 

Joshua Barone's review of Adriana mentions that there will be a recording based on the performances, which fills a gap in recordings of Saariaho's works.

• Statement from Saariaho's family at the composer's web site
• Announcement at Chester Music, Saariaho's publisher
• Announcement at Wise Music
• Joshua Barone, NY Times obit
• Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle obit
• Tim Page, Washington Post obit
• Joe Cadigan, Opera News obit
• Alex Ross, blog post
• Alex Ross, The New Yorker

Adriana Mater at San Francisco Symphony

 

Nicholas Phan, Fleur Barron, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Axelle Fanyo, Christopher Purves

Cast and Conductor of Adriana Mater

June 8, 2023

Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony

San Francisco Symphony performed a semi-staged version of Kaija Saariaho's second opera, Adriana Mater, the other week. It was quite an emotional occasion: Esa-Pekka Salonen had known Saariaho since they were in school together. Peter Sellars, who directed, had known her since the 1990s. 

My editor was sitting close enough that he could see that the cast and Salonen were in tears when Adriana was over. Nicholas Phan said on Twitter than the experience of learning and performing the opera had been life-changing. 

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle
• Joshua Barone, NY Times
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV, 2023, San Francisco Symphony
• Patrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills
• Charlise Tiee, Opera Tattler
• Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center 
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV, 2008 Santa Fe Opera
• Molly Colin, SFCV preview, 2023

Peter Sellars and Kaija Saariaho

Adriana Mater Symposium

Santa Fe, July 26, 2008

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho and librettist/poet Amin Maalouf

Santa Fe, July, 2008

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

They're listening intently to Peter Sellars (not shown)

Terrible news this morning: the great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has died, age 70, of glioblastoma diagnosed in 2021. This explains why her daughter represented her at an event a couple of months ago, where she was awarded an important title by the president of Finland.

She was among the best and most important composers of her generation, perhaps best known in the U.S. for her operas. Adriana Mater had its U.S. premiere at Santa Fe Opera in 2008; some years later, the Met produced L'amor de Loin, her first opera. Her most recent opera, Innocence, is coming to San Francisco Opera next year and to the Met in a future season. Both companies are co-commissioners.

I heard a number of her chamber works in 2007, when they were performed at Disney Hall in LA as part of the Sibelius Unbound Festival; I reviewed Adriana the following year.

She was important to so many; to other composers, to many critics, and of course to her friends and family. Deepest condolences to her family; her husband and children issued the following statement this morning:

We are crushed to announce that Kaija Saariaho has passed this morning. She slept away peacefully in her own bed, at home in Paris. As her family, we are issuing this as our solestatement, and request the peace of our time of mourning be respected. 

In February 2021, Kaija was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, found from the onset to be uncurable and lethal. With characteristically strong determination, she fought daily to both slow its growth and live fully. The multiplying tumors did not affect her cognitive faculties until the terminal phase of her illness; they were located in the area controlling her motor skills on the right side of her body, which led to growing difficulties in walking and talking, in turn exacerbated by ensuing falls and broken bones. Kaija's appearances in a wheelchair or walking with a cane have prompted many questions, to which she answered elusively: following her physician's advice, she kept her illness a private matter, in order to maintain a positive mindset and keep the focus on her work. Her case should however help raise awareness concerning the nature and detection of brain tumors. It should also highlight the plight of immunocompromised individuals: twice Kaija has contracted Covid in public events where insufficient measures were taken, if at all, to protect the most fragile among us. Her experience as a wheelchair user also made her more aware of the inadequacy of many locations she visited, including cultural venues. All of this she would now want publicized. She also hoped that, through the experimental treatment protocols she underwent at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, she could, on a small scale, help advance research on conditions such as hers. 

Kaija, who was born in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, died prematurely at the age of 70, but lived a full life. Her early trajectory brought her from the avant-garde music circles of Finland to the European stage between Freiburg, Darmstadt and Paris, giving her the opportunity to contribute to the golden age of computer music, and later integrate a new understanding of harmony and psychoacoustics into the tradition of modern orchestra and opera writing. She achieved universal recognition among her peers and both public and critical success, all while never ceasing to challenge herself to explore new directions. 

During the time of her illness, Kaija had the joy of being surrounded by a close circle of faithful friends and collaborators, and even of expanding it. She was involved in many new productions of her music, and in the premiere performances of her latest works: the Saarikoski Songs, the chamber music piece Semafor, the orchestra work Vista, the madrigal Reconnaissance, the re-creation of her first music theatre piece Study for Life, and her acclaimed last opera Innocence. She also did not relent in her commitment to teaching and passing the torch. One of her last endeavors was to lead the jury of an organ composition contest she initiated for the inauguration of the Helsinki Music Centre's new organ, an instrument she helped fund.

The final months of Kaija's life were devoted to the completion of her trumpet concerto. HUSH, which will be premiered in Helsinki on August 24* by Verneri Pohjola, with Susanna Mälkki conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Kaija is survived by all of us who loved her and were blessed with her relentless generosity and insightful artistic support. But more importantly, we will all be survived by the bold, sensitive, exploratory music she has created, termed a classic of this century already in her lifetime. 

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, composer and multimedia artist, her husband; Aleksi Barrière, writer and director, her son; Alisa Neige Barrière, conductor and violinist, her daughter 

 

"An opera by an exciting female composer", Coming Soon to an Opera House on Van Ness Avenue

Peter Sellars (who has nothing to do with Innocence) and Kaija Saariaho

Santa Fe, July, 2008

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

At San Francisco Opera's 2018 annual meeting, held in April that year, Matthew Shilvock mentioned a commission from "an exciting female composer." I reported on the meeting and listed a few exciting female composers in this blog post.

Now we know, thanks to the 2020 season announcement of the Aix-en-Provence Festival: it's Kaija Saariaho, and the new opera is called Innocence. Susanna Mälkki will conduct in France, and I hope here. The casting is pretty great.

The Aix Festival and SFO aren't the only commissioning organizations; the others are the Dutch National Opera, Finnish National Opera (of course), and the Royal Opera.

This was in Opera Magazine in the fall, and I listed the news on my Operatic Future Seasons page, but this is the first time I've mentioned it on the front page. Maybe there will be something in tomorrow's season announcement about the commission.

Note that the whole Aix opera schedule is stupendous: Wozzeck, Poppea, L'Orfeo, Cosi fan tutte, The Golden Cockerel.

L'Amour de Loin HD Broadcast

Composer Kaija Saariaho and Librettist Amin Maalouf

July, 2008 Adriana Mater symposium, Santa Fe

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

I couldn't go to the live HD broadcast of Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf's L'Amour de Loin (Love from Afar) because I taught a self-defense class starting at noon that Saturday. I made it to the encore.

It's an amazingly beautiful score, and an opera in which almost nothing happens. Jaufré Rudel falls in love with his image of Clémence, Countess of Tripoli; the Pilgrim wanders between the two. Eventually, he takes ship and dies in Clémence's arms.

It is a seamless score, and in its way almost as static as the libretto. There is some musical drama, mostly toward the end. Or at least, after the intermission. I was shocked to see in the synopsis that there are five short acts. I like the entire score and really loved the sections where Saariaho is riffing on medieval musical styles. She does that brilliantly, with Spanish-Moorish motifs working their way into the score. Static or not, it is gorgeous and must sound even better in the theater.

Robert Lepage's set works much better than I would have thought, even on the broadcast. It looked good and I think it must have been more beautiful in person, without the camera and digitization intervening. But Lepage has to have a gimmick or two, and in this production, he has the strings of LED lights and the gantry from which Jaufré and Clémence sing.

Saariaho and Robert Lepage during rehearsals.

Jonathan Tichler / Metropolitan Opera

This photo amuses me a great deal, for some reason.

I think that what he wants out of his sets is to have the singers constrained as much as possible so that he does not really have to think about blocking and what might make sense. That works better in this than in the Ring. Still, the moving gantry is something of a distraction; other production of this opera have solved the problem differently. Peter Sellars's production for the Finnish National Opera put the leads in a pair of handsome towers, for example.

Tamara Mumford as the Pilgrim and Susanna Phillips as Clémence in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

That's the gantry. The ends go up and down, and it swivels, and it moves around the stage.

The fake birds and the fake Clémence diving into the waves looked laughable on the broadcast. Maybe they looked better in the house.

The singing was at least solid throughout, though I must say that I found Eric Owens uninteresting without being able to say just why. His French is not great and he seems to have only one facial expression (tortured), which, because of the closeups, you got to see a lot of.

Eric Owens

Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

The sweater does look better at a distance.

On HD, that sweater under his jacket looked like something his grandmother sent him. Did nobody realize that? It was a poor costuming choice.

Tamara Mumford and the jacket.

Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

Tamara Mumford's Pelerin (Pilgrim) was beautifully sung and acted; she has a certain austerity of manner and face that suited the character well. She looked almost shockingly like Renee Falconetti in Carl Dreyer's great film The Passion of Joan. (I wish I could steal that jacket she was wearing - it's very beautiful and would look good on me.) 

I liked Susanna Philips's singing a great deal; it's a beautiful voice, although the very top of the part wasn't easy enough for her. I did not like her facial expressions, which seemed too knowing and sometimes too smirky, except at the end. She needed more innocence, or more transcendence, or something. Or maybe she needed fewer close-ups.

The end of the opera is a bit odd: I feel that Saariaho could have ended it in the long silence after Jaufré's death, right before the chorus starts singing, as well as after Clémence's long closing rant. In any event, the ending as it is feels very medieval indeed, with Clémence's dialog with God, her cursing and her acceptance.

Saariaho Month

Kaija Saariaho is in residence at UC Berkeley this semester, and there will be quite a few performances and discussions of her music. Here's a press release from UCB, plus an addition by me, as they omitted the October 14 Berkeley Symphony program.

EVENTS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FEATURING SAARIAHO WORKS

Monday, Oct. 12, 8-9:3 pm. Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
Bloch Lecture 1, “Secret Gardens and Public Persona:“ Kaija Saariaho in conversation with
UC Berkeley’s Matias Tarnopolsky, Mary Ann Smart, and Edmund Campion

Wednesday, October 14, 8 p.m. Berkeley Symphony, Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley Campus, including Sarriaho's Magica Lanterna

Friday, October 16, 3-5pm, 125 Morrison Hall, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
Regents’ Lecturer Anssi Karttunen in Composers Colloquium

Wednesday, October 21, 8-9:30 pm, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
Bloch Lecture 2, “Making Music, Sharing Music:“ Kaija Saariaho in conversation with conductor
Susanna Mälkki, cellist Anssi Karttunen, UC Berkeley’s David Milnes and Matias Tarnopolsky

Friday, October 23, 8-10pm, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Tickets: calperformances.org
Cal Performances/ECO Ensemble, David Milnes, director
Kaija Saariaho Portrait Concert with guest soloist, cellist and Regents’ Lecturer Anssi Karttunen,
soprano Lauren Snouffer, and baritone Nikolas Nackley.
Program to include: /Sept Papillons/ for solo cello, /The Tempest Songbook/ for ensemble with soprano and baritone, /Notes on Light/, for cello and chamber orchestra.

Saturday, October 24, 7:30pm, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Tickets: sfcmp.org
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players Concert perform works for solo instruments and
video by both Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barrière, including /Six Japanese Gardens/ & /Time Dust./

Sunday, October 25, 8pm, Mill Valley and Monday, 10/26, 8pm, Tickets: leftcoastensemble.org
Left Coast Ensemble Chamber Music set including /Miroirs/ and /Sept Papillons/.

Wednesday, October 28, 12-1pm, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Free and open to the public
Free Noon Concert featuring Saariaho’s music with live video works of prize-winning Parisian
composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière; “/Chréode; Violance/, featuring guest soloists Camilla Hoitenga;
/Ekstasis/, for soprano, electronics & video on two texts by Simone Weil & Louise Michel featuring
soprano, Raphaële Kennedy.

Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31, 8pm, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
University Symphony Orchestra Concert, David Milnes, conductor
Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 4
Kaija Saariaho, /Leino Songs/ (2007), featuring soprano Ann Moss
Claude Debussy, /Jeux/
Tickets: $16/12/5, 510.642.9988

Friday, November 6, 3-5pm, Department of Music, 125 Morrison Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
Bloch Lecture 5, “Continuing Thoughts on Music:” Kaija Saariaho in conversation with Jennifer Koh
and UC Berkeley’s Matias Tarnopolsky
Free and open to the public

Wednesday, October 28, 8-9:30 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Free
Bloch Lecture 3, Intuition, Collaboration, Discovery: Kaija Saariaho in conversation with, flutist,
Camilla Hoitenga and UC Berkeley’s Matias Tarnopolsky

Friday, October 30, 3-5pm, 125 Morrison Hall, Elkus Room, UC Berkeley campus, Free
Bloch Lecture 4, “From the Avant-Garde through IRCAM, to the Present Moment:” Kaija Saariaho in conversation with composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière and UC Berkeley’s Adrian Freed, Edmund
Campion, and Deirdre Loughridge,

Friday, November 6, 3-5pm, Department of Music, 125 Morrison Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
Bloch Lecture 5, “Continuing Thoughts on Music:” Kaija Saariaho in conversation with Jennifer Koh
and UC Berkeley’s Matias Tarnopolsky

Free and open to the public

On Order

Saariaho: Château De L'âme, Etc / Salonen
Grisey: Les Espaces Acoustiques / Stefan
Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto, Gran Duo /
Saariaho: L'amour De Loin / Finley, Upshaw
Saariaho: Du Cristal, ...à La Fumé
Glass: Satyagraha / Keene, Reeve, Perry,