Vallejo Festival Orchestra Plays Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Next month, Thomas Conlin leads the Vallejo Festival Orchestra in a program of Brahms. Highly recommended! Remember, last year I heard the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vallejo Festival Orchestra in the same week....and the Vallejo Festival Orchestra concert was by far the more satisfying. 

Here's the program:

• Brahms, Violin Concerto, Nigel Armstrong, soloist
• Brahms, Symphony No. 4

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Empress Theater

330 Virginia St, Vallejo, CA 94590

Tickets are $35-$95, BUT there is a 20% discount code for remaining tickets, for readers of this blog! Buy your ticket starting on August 23, and use the code BRAHMS at checkout, starting at the VFO site http://www.EmpressTheatre.org/Vallejo_Festival_Orchestra/.

 

Friday Photo

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

London, July, 2024

The initials on the curtain are still ER. They will eventually be swapped out to read CR, I presume.

 

Museum Mondays

London Mithraeum

Bloomberg Building

London, July 2024

The London Mithraeum was discovered in the 1950s during excavations in the bomb wreckage around St. Stephen's Walbook, near Bank Station, Mansion House, the Royal Exchange, and the Bank of England. It was removed from its site and moved elsewhere. When the Bloomberg Building was constructed about a decade ago, arrangements were made to move it back to its original location about 20 feet under the modern London surface and create a museum so it could be visited. It's free, but you need to make a reservation. It is very cool, and the site I link to includes film of its original discovery.

One of many things that I love about London is that you can't dig there without stumbling across Roman ruins. This is just one example.

 

Belated Friday Photo

Bank Interchange

London, July, 2024

Royal Exchange with skyscrapers behind it.

 

Schoenberg Series at The Hillside Club, Berkeley

Jonathan Khuner, music director of West Edge Opera, has put together a five-part lecture/recital on Arnold Schoenberg at Berkeley's Hillside Club, starting on September 1, 2024. Here are the programs:

Sunday, Sept. Ist at 3pm - - Recital/Lecture 1: Piano Works

Jonathan Khuner

Saturday, Sept. 7th at 7pm - - Recital/Lecture 2: Songs

Charlotte Khuner and Jonathan Khuner/Lecturer

Sunday, Sept. 15th at 7pm - - Recital/Lecture 3: Chamber Music

Earplay New Music Ensemble, Bruce Bennett Lecturer

Sunday, Sept. 22nd at 7pm -Recital/Lecture 5: Choral Works

Voices of Silicon Valley, Cyril Deaconoff Director/Lecturer

Sunday, Sept. 29th at 7pm -Recital/Lecture 5: Cabaret

Nikki Einfeld, Left Coast Ensemble, Matilda Hofman Director/Lecturer

You can get tickets from Allevents. $60 general administion, $40 seniors/students, free to Hillside Club members. Those prices are for the entire series! Even if you can't get to all of them, that is a bargain.

You'll have noticed that Schoenberg, an immensely important 20th c. composer, hasn't gotten a lot of love in the Bay Area this year, the 150th anniversary of his birth. West Edge and SF Symphony have both staged his monodrama Erwartung. The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players did a pair of concerts about Pierrot Lunaire and its influence. Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (see above) is also performing Pierrot later this year. The LA Phil is performing Gurrelieder twice in December (Zubin Mehta conducts).

I doubt that I can get to all of these programs, but I'm going to try to get to what I can.

The Real Reason Things are Going So Well for the Democrats.

On July 6, I bought a "Dems in Disarray" t-shirt.

I did, really! But seriously, it has been amazing to see how fast the Democrats have come together behind Kamala Harris and just-announced VP candidate Tim Walz (pronounced walls, not waltz, and there go all of my good musical jokes), and how much money has been thrown at the campaign. ($300 million?!?!) It is just over two weeks since Biden stepped down.

Harris and Walz go together well, and as someone on xTwitter said, "It's the fun aunt/supportive Dad ticket versus the creepy uncles you can't be left alone with ticket." Right she is, although I might have said the Mamaleh/supportive Dad ticket! The Emhoffs are very, very clear that Harris is one of Ella and Cole's parents.

I missed her speech today, but caught his, and nearly fell on the floor when he said the word "couch." The two of them will just shred the creepy uncles if they debate.

Museum Mondays

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth

Photo of a photo

John Singer Sargent and Fashion

Tate Britain, July, 2024

 

The Veepstakes

Here we go: within about two days, we'll know who Kamala Harris is naming as her running mate. The candidates are, apparently, Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Gov. Tim Walz (DFL-MN). Note that those names are in alphabetical order. I do not have a personal favorite among them.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw both letters to the NY Times (gift link) and posts on Facebook supporting the notion that Harris should choose a Republican as her running mate. The names I saw included Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski, Larry Hogan, and Mitt Romney.

And what I have to say to my fellow Democrats is: Get a grip. And after you have gotten a grip, take a look at the platforms each of those people espoused during their political careers. They are Republicans through and through; anti-abortion, pro-military, anti-Voting Rights Act, anti-transgender rights, anti-diversity, anti-social spending, and on and on. You really don't want someone with those politics one illness, accident, or assassination from the presidency, not if you're a Democrat. Just stop with fantasies of some kind of bipartisan unity ticket.

I get that there are things to appreciate, and even admire, about each of them. Kinzinger and Cheney gave up their political careers because they recognized that January 6, 2021 was an attempted coup and they recognized that Donald Trump is a danger to democracy and to the whole world. That took guts, and yes, I do admire them for it. I'm grateful to them, even. It's good that there are a few Republicans who publicly recognize just how bad Trump is and the lengths to which he is willing to go. 

Romney has roughly half a spine, and it's true that he has done a few good things, including the universal health bill he signed when he was governor of Massachusetts. I own that Hogan and Murkowski are to the left of the others, but none of them are Democrats and they don't share the values of the  Democratic Party. We should never, ever, offer them the vice presidency or do anything to help them get elected to public office.

Friday Photo

Columns, Bank of England

London, July 2024

 

San Francisco Symphony: New and Outgoing Musicians

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

An assortment of news from San Francisco Symphony, the first two items of which I would have bet folding money on:

• Associate Principal Horn Mark Almond, who has been on leave for the last year, will not return to the orchestra. He is now the Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• Utility Horn Daniel Hawkins, who has been on leave for the last year, will not return to the orchestra. He is now the Principal Horn of the Houston Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Almond and Hawkins will be missed, but I have to say: Congratulations! These are promotions and given everything going on at SFS, why would they come back if they've got tenure as principal horns?

There are also seven new musicians joining the orchestra:

• Christopher Bassett, Bass Trombone

  Christopher Bassett joins the San Francisco Symphony trombone section at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. He previously served as bass trombone with the St. Louis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Santa Fe Opera, and has also performed with the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony. Last season he appeared as a substitute musician with the SF Symphony, including on the March California tour.  

  
  

  A native of Oceanside, California, Bassett earned a bachelor of music from New England Conservatory and a master of music from Columbus State University, where he studied with James Markey and Bradley Palmer respectively. He won grand prize in the Zellmer Trombone Competition and first prizes in the Edward Kleinhammer and ITA Trombone Quartet competitions.  

  
  

  Bassett is cofounder of the Southwest Trombone Conference in Albuquerque and frequently serves as a guest artist, clinician, and soloist worldwide. As a dedicated teacher, his students are consistently admitted to top festivals and college music programs. He is a performing artist for Edwards Instrument Co., Griego Mouthpieces, and Peck Custom Designs. His recordings include Tres Amigos by the Santa Fe Trombones and an upcoming solo debut, In Dreams. Bassett’s interests include neuroscience and how it can help create more efficient and effective ways to practice for musicians. 
  
  

• Anne Richardson, Associate Principal Cello (This was the position held for many years by Peter Wyrick, who stepped back in the section for his last year and has now retired.)
  

  
  Anne Richardson joins the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Cello, holding the Peter & Jacqueline Hoefer Chair, at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. She was most recently an academy fellow with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and has performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Pittsburgh Symphony. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Louisville Orchestra, Massapequa Philharmonic, Bryan Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard Orchestra, and has been featured by Lincoln Center’s Great Performance Circle, Juilliard in Aiken Festival, and Vail International Dance Festival. She has also performed extensively as a chamber musician at the Nymphenburger Sommer in Munich, Tegernsee International Music Festival, Wasserburg Rathauskonzerte Series, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, United Nations Chamber Music Society, and with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. 

  
  

  A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Richardson completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School as a student of Richard Aaron, and earned a doctor of musical arts at the University of Michigan. She was named the Kentucky Center’s Gheens Artist in Residence in 2019 and was a guest faculty member and artist in residence at the 2018 Tennessee Cello Workshop. 
  
  

• Yuhsin Galaxy Su, Second Clarinet (This was the position held for many years by Luis Baez David Neuman, who retired during the pandemic.)
  

  
  Yuhsin Galaxy Su joins the San Francisco Symphony as Second Clarinet at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. She recently completed a master’s degree at the Colburn School of Music, where she studied with Yehuda Gilad, and before that studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Anthony McGill.  

  
  

  During her time at Curtis, Su was selected for the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble and performed Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire in fully choreographed productions at the Kimmel Center, Columbia University, Kennedy Center, and Curtis Field Recital Hall. She has also been a soloist at the Musique et Vin Music Festival and Marlboro Music Festival. She won top prizes in the 2013 and ’14 HSNU Concerto Competition, third prize and audience prize at the International Morningside Music Bridge in Canada, first prize at the Young Classical Virtuoso of Tomorrow Music Competition, and two Chimei Arts Awards. 
  
  

• Davis You, Fourth Chair Cello
  

  Davis You joins the San Francisco Symphony cello section, holding the Lyman & Carol Casey Second Century Chair, at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. He recently received his bachelor of music from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz, and regularly appeared as principal cello of the NEC Philharmonia. He was a member of Quartet Luminera, which won the silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  

  
  

  A Bay Area native, You began his cello studies with Irene Sharp and Jonathan Koh. He has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, San Francisco International Piano Festival, Wellesley Chamber Players Series, Taos Chamber Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Chamber music collaborators have included Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, and the Borromeo String Quartet.  

  
  

  You has also been a prizewinner of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, National YoungArts Foundation Competition, Borromeo Quartet Guest Artist Award Competition, and NEC Honors Ensemble Competition. 
  
  

• Bowen Ha, Fourth Chair Bass 

  Bowen Ha joins the San Francisco Symphony bass section, holding the Lawrence Metcalf Second Century Chair, at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. He is currently a master’s student at the Juilliard School, studying with Timothy Cobb and Harold Robinson, and has appeared as a substitute musician with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony.  

  
  

  Born in Shanghai, Ha studied at the Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory and then moved to the United States to study at Interlochen Arts Academy. He subsequently earned a bachelor of music at Juilliard. He has participated in festivals including the Pirastro Strings Elite Soloists Program at the University of North Texas, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and Aspen Music Festival as an orchestral leadership fellow.

   

  Ha has been a prizewinner at numerous competitions including the Tang Rhyme Carnival International Double Bass Competition, Shanghai Conservatory Concerto Competition, Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Louisiana Bass Fest, International Concerto Competition of the Master Players Festival & School, and Juilliard Double Bass Concerto Competition. 

  
  

• Orion Miller, Section Bass  
  

  Orion Miller joins the San Francisco Symphony bass section at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. He previously performed with the London Symphony as a Keston Max Fellow, as a substitute musician with the Houston Symphony, and with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a side-by-side performance at Carnegie Hall. He also served as principal bass for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and the New York String Orchestra Seminar.  

  
  

  Miller began playing cello at the age of three and switched to bass at age 11. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with Timothy Pitts. He has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of West, and Aspen Music Festival. His accolades include first prize in the Ruth Burr Competition and second prizes in the Lynn Harrell Competition and International Society of Bassists Orchestral Competition. He is also a two-time finalist and winner at the National YoungArts Foundation. 
  
  

• Jeein Kim, Section First Violin 
  

  Jeein Kim joins the San Francisco Symphony first violin section, holding the Isaac Stern Chair, at the beginning of the 2024–25 season. She was previously a member of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and has been a substitute musician with the Chicago Symphony.   

  
  

  As a soloist, Kim has performed with Praha Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra, Yonsei University Orchestra, Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, JK Chamber Orchestra, and Northwest Sinfonietta. She studied at Yale School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Yonsei University, and attended the Taos School of Music, Heifetz Summer Institute, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She has won top prizes at the Menuhin Competition, Seoul International Music Competition, and Northwest Sinfonietta Youth Competition.

 

Museum Mondays

Detail, Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth Costume

John Singer Sargent and Fashion

Tate Britain, July, 2024

 

Friday Photo

Doorway, Bank of England

London, 2024

 

Forthcoming from Raehann Bryce-Davis

Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis

I've seen the wonderful mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis twice, first as a terrifying Ježibaba in Santa Fe Opera's brilliant production of Rusalka, then in recital in SF in January. The recital was sadly underattended, because it was scheduled opposite one of Michael Tilson Thomas's performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 5, which are expected to be his last San Francisco Symphony performances. 

Bryce-Davis was a knockout in both performances. She has it all: a beautiful voice with worlds of color in it, sterling dynamic control, and fabulous dramatic sense. I hope that you get to see her and I really hope that she'll sing at San Francisco Opera sooner or later.

In any event, she has an album coming out! I'm not exactly sure when, but she has released two singles from it. You can hear them on her web site, and I hope that they leave you wanting more. (If you want to see her in person, she's currently singing Amneris in a run of Aida at Oper im Steinbruch in St. Margarethen, Austria. Her schedule for the rest of the 2024-25 season is on OperaBase.

News from AFM 802, the NYC Musicians' Union

A couple of interesting items in press releases this week -

• U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced [on July 17] that the American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Plan, which represents nearly 50,000 union members in the entertainment industry from Broadway to musicians in orchestras, bands, film, and theaters across the country, will receive a whopping $1.5 billion pension-fix from the American Rescue Plan. Schumer said that this will ensure that musicians and their families receive the hard-earned benefits that they paid into their whole lives, but lost through no fault of their own and were set to go insolvent by 2034. “Sweet music! The American Federation of Musicians Plan that covers retirement benefits for nearly 50,000 musicians from Broadway to orchestras to film is getting the pensions relief they have needed to the tune of a whopping $1.5 billion dollars. So many AFM members thought it would lights out and closing curtain for their pensions by 2034, but because of the pension reform I championed in the American Rescue Plan they can now breathe a sigh of relief,” said Senator Schumer. “When I became majority leader, I promised I would not stop fighting until our union brothers and sisters and their families got the pension relief they needed and earned, and today it is music to my ears to hear they will finally get the relief they have long needed.”
• The union "enthusiastically" endorses Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Museum Mondays

Detail of Picture Frame, "Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth"

John Singer Sargent and Fashion

Tate Britain, July, 2024

 

Mahler 3 at San Francisco Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

SFS closed out the season last month with Mahler's Third Symphony, a 90+ minute monster. This was only Esa-Pekka Salonen's outing with the composer at SFS, following a Mahler 2 ("Resurrection") during the 2022-23 season. Sadly, the 2024-25 season will close with Mahler 2, Salonen's last program as music director.

• Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle
• David Bratman, SFCV
• DB at Kalimac's Corner
• Previously: Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle (Mahler 2)
• Previously: Lisa Hirsch, SFCV (Mahler 2)

I think we're all hearing the same thing in Salonen's Mahler: From Joshua's review in 2022: 

Where Thomas insinuates, Salonen speaks out bluntly. Where Thomas works in chiaroscuro — layering over the orchestral texture with faint shadows and whispers of countermelodies — Salonen works in bold, bright colors. Thomas is perhaps more attuned to the composer’s corrosive irony, Salonen to the forthrightness with which he proclaims his emotional themes.

Obviously, there is no right or wrong here. These are both legitimate ways to understand the slippery, protean voice that Mahler brings to all his orchestral music. A conductor has to choose, at least for the duration of a single performance, but we in the audience don’t.

How you feel about their different styles is very much a matter of taste. 

Salonen Conducts Schumann and Bruckner at SFS

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Photo by Minna Hatinen

Courtesy of San Francisco Symphony

Well, this was something of a surprise: I liked the Bruckner much more than the Schumann.

• Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle
• Rebecca Wishnia, SFCV
• DB at Kalimac's Corner

Fellow Travelers at Opera Parallèle

 

Opera Parallèle, with Jaymes Kirksey, Guest Conductor, and Brian Staufenbiel, Stage/Creative Director, in a dress rehearsal of “Fellow Travelers.” This image from left to right: Joseph Lattanzi, as Hawkins Fuller, Cara Gabrielson, as Lucy, Victoria Lawal, as Mary Johnson, and
Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, as Timothy Laughlin

©2024 Stefan Cohen/Photo Courtesy of Opera Parallèle

Gregory Spears's opera Fellow Travelers had its Bay Area debut last month. Reviews:

• Steven Winn, SF Chronicle
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV. My review should have mentioned the efficient and attractive set.
• The Opera Tattler

Friday Photo

National Gallery

Trafalgar Square, London

July, 2024

 

Michael Cavanagh

Irene Roberts (Dorabella), Nicole Heaston (Despina), Nicole Cabell (Fiordaligi)

Cosi fan tutte, November, 2021

Photo: Cory Weaver, courtesy of San Francisco Opera

Michael Cavanagh, who directed seven San Francisco Opera productions between 2012 and 2022, died on March 13, 2024. He was 62 and died of leptomeningeal cancer. This news didn't get a lot of attention in the Bay Area, because it dropped the day before the disastrous news that Esa-Pekka Salonen would be leaving the San Francisco Symphony.

Here's what Cavanagh directed at SFO:

John Adams’ NIXON IN CHINA (2011-12 season) – San Francisco Opera premiere

7 performances; opened June 8, 2012

 

Carlisle Floyd’s SUSANNAH (2014-15 season) – New Production

5 performances; opened September 6, 2014

 

Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (2015-16 season) – New Production

7 performances; opened October 8, 2015

 

Ana Sokolović’s SVADBA-WEDDING (2015-16 season) - SF Opera Lab premiere

7 performances; opened April 2, 2016

 

Mozart’s THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (2019-20 season) – New Production, *Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy

8 performances, opened October 11, 2019

 

Mozart’s COSI FAN TUTTE (2021-22 season) – New Production, *Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy

5 performances; opened November 21, 2021

 

Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI (2021-22 season) – New Production, *Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy

8 performances; opened June 4, 2022

I missed Susannah, because I had pneumonia that year, but I saw the rest. I thought that The Marriage of Figargo and Don Giovanni had significant flaws, but the other productions were all excellent, and Cosi was among the greatest productions I have ever seen, sly, human, very funny, and with the ambiguity the opera demands. RIP, Michael Cavanagh.

Livermore Valley Opera 2024-25

Livermore Valley Opera (LVOpera) has a two-opera season coming up for 2024-25. They're doing two classics: Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment, a comedy with an extremely silly plot redeemed by surprisingly lovely and complex music, and Mozart's Don Giovanni, which needs no introduction. 

I've only been out to LVOpera once, for an excellent production of Verdi's Otello. Yes, I regret missing their recent production of Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men. LVOpera performs in a 500 seat theater, and I really like the intimacy of seeing opera in a theater of that size.

Here are some details about LVOpera's upcoming season. 

Location (all performances): Bankhead Theater 2400 First Street, Livermore, CA 94550

Cost: Adults $25-$110. Tickets can be purchased through the company's website at www.LVOpera.com. Special ticket pricing: $25, ages 20 and younger; $45, ages 21-40. Bankhead Ticket Box Office: 925-373-6800.

Alexander Katsman conducts all performances.

The Daughter of the Regiment 

Véronique Filloux, Marie; Chris Mosz, Tonio; Lisa Chavez, Marquise of Berkenfield; Eugene Brancoveanu, Sulpice; Deborah Lambert, Duchess of Krakenthorp; Gilead Wurman, Hortensius.

Performances:

• September 28th, 2024 @ 7:30pm
• September 29th, 2024 @ 2:00pm
• October 5th, 2024 @ 2:00pm
• October 6th, 2024 @ 2:00pm

Don Giovanni

Titus Muzio III, Don Giovanni; Murrella Parton, Donna Anna; Cara Gabrielson, Donna Elvira; David Walton, Don Ottavio; Samuel Weiser, Leporello; Kirk Eichelberger, Commendatore; Phoebe Chee, Zerlina; Joseph Calzada, Masetto

Performances:

• March 1st, 2025 @ 7:30pm
• March 2nd, 2025 @ 2:00pm
• March 8th, 2025 @ 2:00pm
• March 9th, 2025 @ 2:00pm

Museum Mondays

Detail of "Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth"

John Singer Sargent and Fashion

Tate Britain

July, 2024

 

Return of Friday Photos

Regency Cafe

Westminster, London

July, 2024

 

Return of Museum Mondays

Detail of "Doctor Pozzi at Home"

John Singer Sargent and Fashion

Tate Britain

July, 2024

 

Salonen Conducts Mahler 3rd at SFS

San Francisco Symphony Program

Black & white photo of Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. 

Probably a rehearsal because he's wearing a t-shirt.

Photo: probably Minna Hatinen; the style matches her other photos of him

• Lisa Hirsch, SF Chronicle. In which San Francisco Symphony learns that all publicity is not good publicity. It is ham-handed to make threats against a 30-year-plus patron. They could have written a slightly sheepish request, but decided that a threat was the right way to go. Also, the bylaws don't specifically forbid signs in the hall, and I've seen quite a few recently. 
• David Bratman, SFCV
• Steve Winn, Musical America (paywalled; no link)