Elektra at the SF Opera

There are a few operas that demand a legendary performer at the top of their game to be effective. Bellini's 1831 opera Norma is one and Richard Strauss's 1909 Elektra is another. For instance, in 1991 the San Francisco Opera presented Welsh soprano Gwyneth Jones as Elektra in a great, terrifying production by Andrei Serban which stunned audiences, but five years later the exact same production was revived with the soprano Elizabeth Connell and the opera fell flat. Similarly, in 2017 soprano Christine Goerke let loose dramatically and vocally in a new production from Keith Warner that was electrifying, but the same show in a current revival with Russian soprano Elena Pankratova also deflates in comparison. (All production photos are by Cory Weaver.)

Warner's concept production with a handsome set by Polish designer Boris Kudlička is set in a modern museum of antiquities where a museumgoer hides out after closing time and proceeds to have a nervous breakdown while reflecting on her own personal family trauma. Goerke managed to power through most of the absurdities of the conceptual staging, but Pankratova seems to be channeling a middle-aged museumgoer rather than the vengeful bundle of rage that drives this opera's title role.

It's too bad because the contributions of everybody else involved in this production are stellar, starting with the outrageously huge orchestra led by Music Director Eun Sun Kim, who coaxed a performance that was an extraordinary balancing act between transparent clarity and loud, thunderous climaxes. After seeing the opera on a Thursday night from the orchestra section, I returned for the Sunday matinee and stood in the balcony where the sound is amazing, which confirmed the dullness of Pankratova's singing and the excitement of Kim's conducting.

The star of the show was soprano Elza van den Heever as Elektra's sister Chrysothemis who is trapped in the cursed house of Atreus with her murderous relatives. Elza may be the most celebrated Strauss soprano in the world right now, particularly after her recent Salome performances at the Met. It was a special treat hearing her large, gorgeous soprano sailing over the orchestra, an offstage chorus at one point, and the titular heroine. The performance was a complete triumph, and at a certain point I wished the opera had been about Chrysothemis.

One of Strauss's most endearing compositional habits is how he creates soprano roles for every stage of a career. There are a few singers who have sung Chrysothemis, graduated to Elektra, and ended with Klytamnestra, the murderous mother. It's a juicy role that can steal the show, and Michaela Schuster sang it well, but she didn't have much to work with when interacting with Pankratova, so her scenes didn't generate much excitement.

Over the first half of the one-act opera, there are no male voices at all, so the arrival of brother Orest, sung here by bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen, always comes as a sonic relief. Ketelsen sounded great and was convincing as a cool, professional killer bent on vengeance for the murder of his father Agamemnon.

In a bit of luxury casting, tenor William Burden appears briefly as Aegisth, Klytamnestra's lover and co-conspirator in Agamemnon's murder. The role often goes to famous old tenors at the end of their careers, but Burden looks and sounds like he's ready to keep singing for decades.

The first time I went to Elektra at the SF Opera in the late 1970s, I walked out after 30 minutes because there were no supertitles and it just seemed to be three women screaming in German over a monster orchestra. In 1991, I volunteered as a supernumerary slave in that legendary Serban production, and once the score of Elektra gets into your neural pathways, it never leaves. So even with subpar casting it was a pleasure to return to that overheated, decadent, maximalist music again.

Welcoming Elim Chan at the SF Symphony

A sold-out Davies Symphony Hall greeted the newly designated Music Director Elim Chan last Friday with a standing ovation before she uttered a word or began conducting. Her response was heartfelt and adorable. (Photo by Christopher M. Howard.)

The concert itself began with two greatest hits from Wagner's 1859 opera Tristan und Isolde, the Prelude and the Liebestod. The former was beautifully hypnotic while the latter was longingly ecstatic, although it was missing a soprano looking towards her love-death. (Photo by Stefan Cohen.)

The reliably exquisite mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke did appear to sing the six songs in Berlioz's 1841 song cycle Les Nuits d'été. Sixteen years ago a scheduled performance of Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette was scrapped at the last minute and was replaced by newly appointed principal viola Jonathan Vinocour performing the composer's Harold in Italy and Sasha Cooke singing Les Nuits d'été conducted by the late Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, who was one of Cooke's earliest champions. I wrote at the time: "Ms. Cooke was perfection, giving one of the most beautiful performances I've ever heard. She is also one of the few vocal soloists at Davies who somehow manages to fill the hall with sound when singing softly." The same was true sixteen years later. (Photo by Christopher M. Howard.)

At the end of that long-ago concert, MTT kissed the hem of Sascha's dress, and on Friday she played turnabout and kissed the hem of Elim Chan's dress. The two obviously adored working with each other. Then they performed an encore of an orchestratal song composed by MTT from the Rilke poem Widening Circle. (Photo by Stefan Cohen.)

The second half of the program was Debussy's 1905 La Mer in a satisfying performance by the full orchestra. (Photo by Stefan Cohen.)

After the concert, the entire audience was invited to an outdoor party on Grove Street with complimentary food and drinks.

The orchestra musicians showed up for the party too...

...along with Elim Chan who sweetly surged into the crowd and signed autographs. (Photo by Christopher M. Howard.)

We didn't stay long because a cold Pacific Ocean wind was tearing down Grove Street, but it was a joy to see such a celebration.

Shawn Ying, a volunteer SF Symphony chorister, wrote the following on his Facebook page after the concert, which sums up well the general feeling about Elim Chan's appointment: "The welcome to the Maestra was so enthusiastic and warm. At the end of of the performance, I felt that we had turned the page and finally the symphony family can move on and welcome the future. It has been quite a few bad years for the symphony family and the people who love and support them." Let us look to the future with anticipation and hope. (Photo by Stefan Cohen.)

SF Porchfest in the Mission

The rush of youthful energy at Saturday afternoon's SF Porchfest in the Mission district just about bowled me over after spending three weeks of geriatric serenity in Palm Springs. (Click here to see the band Kiori who were playing on somebody's porch near 20th & Valencia.)

The homespun music festival began in Ithaca, New York in 2007 and has since sprouted local variations in over 100 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The basic concept is for community members to host a musical act on their front porches, and yesterday's version in San Francisco was utterly delightful. (Click here for a Dozee video.)

On Valencia Street the remarkable young singer/songwriter Seth Kaminsky held court on the sidewalk while spectators stood on the stoops of a Victorian porch. (Click here for a Seth Kaminsky video.)

The smooth Latin band Los Rasquaches were esconced in a restaurant parklet playing to a large, appreciative audience on the sidewalk.

A half-block away on Bartlett there were a series of bands spaced out along the road closed to traffic, starting with the great sounding Spanish band Rumbahia. (Click here for a taste of Rumbahia's music.)

Further down, a duo of old pros flanked a young man in a loud, propulsive rock band called GENII that had the crowd going.

On 21st Street there was a wildly entertaining set by Wave Wise, a duo consisting of Doug French on drums and Nick Semansky on guitar and vocals. (Click here for a Wave Wise video.)

Semansky was not only shredding his guitar but was looking like sex incarnate and the crowd of dancers on the sidewalk were reflecting the vibe.

Of course, it wouldn't be a San Francisco event if it didn't include a Waymo nervous breakdown. The bulging crowd spilling from the sidewalk in front of Wave Wise stopped a pair of the robotaxis to a standstill. It was not a good day to be anything other than a pedestrian in the quadrant between 20th and 23rd Streets and Mission and Valencia.

Die Walküre at Disney Hall in Los Angeles

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by the recently deceased starchitect Frank Gehry for the LA Philharmonic, opened its doors in 2003. The building became an instant icon at its Bunker Hill location in downtown Los Angeles, background for a billion selfies, and it's aging beautifully.

Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan wunderkind conductor replaced Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2009 as Music Director of the LA Philharmonic. He is decamping for the New York Philharmonic next year, and his last season with the LA orchestra is wrapping up with a series of special concerts, including Richard Wagner's Die Walküre, the second installment of the composer's monumental Ring Cycle.

In a strange bit of scheduling, each of the three acts of the four-and-a-half hour opera were being performed on three consecutive nights in two cycles. I attended Act One in cycle two, and it was my first time in the hall after reading extensively about the place for the last 23 years.

After the juggernaut of stainless steel and titanium on the exterior, the interior surprises with wood finishes everywhere.

There was a Friday evening reception before the concert where the audience was offered a free glass of wine, somewhat ameliorating the fact that most of the tickets to these concerts were selling for $350 a piece, meaning it would cost over $1,000 to see the entire opera.

The concert hall is striking, with great acoustics, but some weird sightlines. We were seated on a side terrace balcony that faced the opposite side of the hall rather than the stage, which necessitated a lot of neck turning while watching the stage action and trying to read the supertitles. (All production photos are by Elizabeth Asher, courtesy of the LA Philharmonic.)

The star of the evening was the huge orchestra, including six harps. The stage setup at the rear of the hall included huge chunks of crumpled paper designed by Frank Gehry himself, which was used as the backdrop for color projections. The back of the elevated stage hosted a Gehry-looking wooden hut while the front of the orchestra featured a raised catwalk which was used extensively by tenor Jamez McCorkle as he related his tale of lifelong woe.

McCorkle, who was the eponymous star of Omar, the recent opera by Rhiannon Giddens, was fantastic throughout, triumphing over the rather dull staging.

Perhaps through the fault of director Alberto Arvelo and dramaturg Cori Ellison, the customary romantic and erotic heat between incestuous twins Jamez McCorkle as Siegmund and soprano Jessica Faselt as Sieglinde felt lukewarm rather than incendiary.

Bass Solomon Howard as Hunding portrayed the usual loutish brute but was reduced to sitting at a table for most of his time onstage.

The beautiful voices of all three singers were strong and easily soared over the large orchestra throughout the hour-long performance. For a comprehensive review of all three evenings, click here for Michael Anthonio's account at Parterre Box and Harvey Steinem's review at Seen and Heard International.