Adriana Mater at the SF Symphony

Last weekend the San Francisco Symphony presented the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's second opera, Adriana Mater, in a performance that was yet another fabulous, maximalist sonic experience that rivaled Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten, currently playing across the street at the SF Opera. (All production photos by Brittany Hosea-Small.)

The opera was commissioned by Gerard Mortier for the Opera Bastille in 2006 and it has been under something of a curse since the opening, which was canceled hours before the scheduled performance because of a technicians' strike. There was another production at the Santa Fe Opera in 2008 but the work has been pretty much missing ever since. Three of the original creators were involved with this production at the SF Symphony, including Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen who conducted, director and incubator Peter Sellars, and lighting director James Ingalls. (The two women surrounded by this trio are Guest Chorus Director Jenny Wong and Costume Designer Camille Assaf.)

The story is set in an unnamed civil war in an unnamed country where Adriana is raped by a battle-empowered local young thug and decides to keep the baby over her older sister's protests. 17 years later in Act 2 the son learns the truth about his parentage and vows to kill the old guy, now blind and broken, who has stumbled back into town at that very moment. Will he commit patricide or not? I felt sympathy for the stance of Adriana who sings that she doesn't care one way or another. The libretto is by French writer Amin Maalouf whose family was part of the diaspora of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). The composer had just given birth and was fascinated by the music of two hearts, mother and child, working musically as one.

Those two visions make for an uneasy mix, but it evoked an orchestral score from Saarijaho that is one of the most remarkable things I have ever heard, with no conventional tunes but maximum musical color that was varied and fascinating for two-plus hours. I have never heard anything that sounded quite like this music. The writing for the chorus was extraordinary too, as if they were another section of the large orchestra, who were focused and superb all night.

Besides midwifing excellent operas from contemporary composers, the director Peter Sellars has been routinely casting excellent young singers of every ethnicity for decades, and the quartet of singers assembled for this production were all winners. The only complaint is that their singing was occasionally marred by odd directional amplification.

Fleur Barron as the title character was strong, smart, and occasionally sensuous, never playing the victim except when she starts guilt-tripping her son Yonas.

Nicholas Phan as the vengeful teenager gave another one of his musically intelligent performances, though he was hindered by Sellars' decision to have him spend most of the act waving around a prop assault rifle.

Christopher Purves as the Bad Guy was authentically menacing in Act One and pathetic in Act Two...

...and Axelle Fanyo was a nice addition as the hectoring sister of Adriana who offers a moment of simple forgiveness before a group hug at the end.