Donizetti's 1843 Italian comic opera, Don Pasquale, was presented last week by the Merola Opera training program, in a production at Fort Mason's Cowell Theater that was visually striking, dramatically confusing, and musically pleasing. (Pictured above are James Ioelu as Don Pasquale and Alex DeSocio as Dr. Malatesta, production photos by Kristen Loken, curtain call photos by me.)
The musical score is a wonder, and though most of the singers and the orchestra under conductor Warren Jones above did a fine, lively job, they oversang and played too loudly for the small theater.
This was especially true of the young lovers, Soonchan Kwon as Ernesto and Amina Edris as Norina. When they scaled their voices down for the final arias and love duet, they both sounded perfectly lovely.
The biggest problem was the production by director Nic Muni, that involved a Cinecitta like movie studio with lots of bizarrely attired extras walking around trying to upstage the principal singers for much of the evening.
Whatever the overarching concept was supposed to be (i.e., is this all a screenplay by the young lover Ernesto?), it made no sense and intruded on the simple commedia dell'arte tale of an old, rich fool receiving his comeuppance from young lovers.
James Ioelu as Don Pasquale did his best in the title role, and sang quite well, but was directed to be a hypochondriac, germaphobe like Howard Hughes in his final years. That brought up the question why he would be interested in something as germ-filled as sex, and it also made the conspiring young people look more like sadists towards a mentally ill person than lovesick ingenues triumphing over a delusional relative.
My favorite performer was baritone Alex DeSocio above as the scheming Dr. Malatesta, seen variously in all-black and all-yellow costumes. He didn't oversing or overact, and was consequently one of the sturdiest voices of the evening, and funny besides.
For the last six years, the American Bach Soloists in San Francisco have been creating a new institution at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a summer Bach Festival that's built around a training academy for young singers and instrumentalists specializing in early music. Happily, the performances and the Festival vibe have been getting better every year, with old masters playing with young magicians for an audience that's half elderly and half college age. (Pictured above are Kyle Stegall and Jason Rylander, soloists in Handel's oratorio Esther from 2013.)
The Festival lasts for a fortnight, with two weekends featuring performances of Bach's Mass in B Minor conducted by Music Director Jeffrey Thomas above with a mixture of gifted students and teaching professionals.
Each Festival has been constructed around a theme, and this year it is the French Baroque with performances of fascinating, rarely heard music by Rameau, Aubert, Philidor, and Couperin among others. The marquee event is the U.S. premiere of Marin Marais' 1709 opera, Semele. When the program was announced, it sold out immediately, so the festival has added another performance on Thursday, August 13th.
There is usually a program at the end of the Festival devoted to a "Distinguished Artist." Last year it was soprano Mary Wilson, seen above with countertenor Eric Jurenas, and on Saturday the 15th it will be John Thiessen on Baroque trumpet joined by soprano Kathryn Mueller in a grab-bag of Baroque rarities mixed in with a few favorites.
New to the Festival this year is a Baroque Marathon on Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 11th. Admission is free and it promises to be a wild cornucopia of performances, from 3-6 and 8-11 on Monday, and 8-11 on Tuesday. (Pictured above are instructors/performers Robert Mealy and Elizabeth Blumenstock.)
A huge party setup, complete with ferris wheel, has gone up outside San Francisco City Hall over the last three days for a private convention party being held this evening at 7PM. I tried to find out who the event was for, but nobody at City Hall seemed to know, neither the Sheriffs guarding the doors, the sweet young woman in the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, the catering staff, or the private security guards.
The rumors among most of these people were that the event had something to do with travel agents or the airport or something. So much for transparency and communication under City Hall's dome. Finally, one security guard mentioned that she had heard the party was for "MPI, whatever that might stand for." With a little internet research, I discovered the event is the closing party for Meeting Professionals International, who hosted their annual World Education Congress over the weekend at Moscone Center.
According to their website, "For the closing night celebration we’re taking it to the street – Polk Street. Outside San Francisco’s dramatic City Hall, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday, we’ll transform the pavement into one of San Francisco International Airport’s runways, with buses “landing” and putting guests right in the middle of a uniquely San Franciscan celebration...The North Light Court will double as the Duboce Triangle, with the Electric Headband playing the best of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The South Light Court will represent the Fillmore District, with the Andre Thierry Band lending its cool, down-home vibe. Don’t forget to step inside City Hall, where the Rotunda will become our Hayes Valley Arts District, with performances by classical dancers, jazz singers, and string players up and down the grand staircase. Just be sure you’re back out on the Polk Street side of City Hall by 8:45 p.m. for a special presentation from the Mayor’s Balcony."
It will be interesting to see if they unveil the $2 million dollar lighting system that was recently purchased for the City Hall centennial celebration and for corporate events in the future. There was a kerfluffle in the local media today, ignited by an SF Examiner article from Joshua Sabatini about the lighting system being used for corporate logos and ads on the side of City Hall, but in a sense that would simply be truth in advertising. The cabal that runs San Francisco politics has made it perfectly clear they can be bought by anyone.
Later today, Jonah Owen Lamb at the San Francisco Examiner reported on new information that has been emerging from the federal trial of Leland Yee and Shrimp Boy that seems to implicate Mayor Ed Lee in bribery and corruption. For whatever reason, the FBI decided to go after the low-hanging fruit of Leland Yee rather than the mayor, even though the details in today's court filing are fairly damning.
The money quote from the article is here:
The alleged misconduct started at the top, according to the filing and its FBI sources. “The FBI alleged in discovery that Ed Lee took substantial bribes in exchange for favors,” notes the filing, which goes on to say that then Human Rights commissioner Nazly Mohajer and commission staff member Zula Jones facilitated those exchanges.
Jones was reported by the FBI to have said that former mayor Willie Brown taught Ed Lee to do business, according to the filing. “You got to pay to play here. We got it. We know this. We are the best at this game, uh, better than New York. We do it a little more sophisticated that New Yorkers. We do it without the mafia,” the filing reports Jones to have said.
