Until the late 1960s, San Francisco Opera paid scant attention to Donizetti’s great romantic comic opera, “L’Elisir d’Amore”, having had only three performances of the opera in San Francisco in the first 44 seasons of the company’s history.  (If this seems incredible for an international house led for its first 30 years by an Italian-born conductor, consider that until 1959, there was only a single performance in San Francisco Opera’s first 36 years of any work by Vincenzo Bellini.)

Beginning in 1967, San Francisco Opera began to take the Donizetti comic opera seriously, mounting it for the legendary cast of Alfredo Kraus (Nemorino), Reri Grist (Adina), Ingvar Wixell (Belcore, in Wixell’s American debut), and Sesto Bruscantini (Dulcamara) in a new production by Robert Darling directed by Lofti Mansouri.  The production was revived two years later with Luciano Pavarotti replacing Kraus in the original foursome.

Since 1967, “L’Elisir” has had three new productions, and has provided a vehicle for such stars as Jose Carreras and Paolo Montarsolo (1975), and Ruth Ann Swenson (with Luis Lima and Dale Duesing in 1984 and Jerry Hadley and Simone Alaimo in 1992)

Although the previous productions sited the opera in a once upon a time rustic village in Italy, the current production time-shifted the story to California’s Napa Valley in 1917, just before the entrance of the United States into World War I.

Nemorino drives an ice cream truck (he appears to be an employee rather than an entrepreneur, because, in the final scene after he and Adina become aware of his inheritance, he seems to assume ownership of the ice cream business.) Adina begins the opera as a beauty queen, and Belcore is a recruiter for the U. S. Army. The charlatan Dulcamara is, well, the charlatan Dulcamara.

[Below: Nemorino (Ramon Vargas) dispenses ice cream to the Napa villagers; edited image, based on a Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Much of opera that is time-shifted appears not only anachronistic but sappy, yet there is a universality to the story of “L’Elisir”, and it works here. In fact, the story probably would work in any setting in which you might assemble a lovesick youth, the coy object of his affections, a petty army official, a charlatan making outrageous health claims about his product, and gullible consumers.

Vargas is one of the reigning superstar lyric tenors, but has rarely appeared at San Francisco Opera, his only previous engagements being a round of Edgardos to Swenson’s Lucia in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and two performances as Gustavo III in Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera” in 1999. 

Although Vargas has been engaged at the next higher category of vocal weight (see my review Vargas, Podles Brilliant in Puzzle Box “Ballo”: Houston - November 2, 2007), and has both recorded and performed Verdi tenor parts, he has kept Nemorino, a role particularly well suited to displaying the glories of the lyric tenor voice, in his active repertoire, and he also has sung other Donizetti roles in the recent past.

[Below: Ramon Vargas is Nemorino, here with Ji Young Yang (Gianetta); edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Vargas’ most illustrious predecessor as Nemorino in San Francisco, Pavarotti, performed the role at age 34, when he could be a vigorous actor, and, with his innate charm, an engaging comedian. Pavarotti was arguably the greatest lyric tenor of the 20th century. The vocal skills he employed in singing Donizetti are well documented.

Many San Francisco Opera veterans regard Pavarotti as the lead divo of the pantheon of extraordinary tenors (including Placido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Jose Carreras, Jon Vickers and Giacomo Aragall) that performed in San Francisco Opera’s Italian repertory from 1966 through 1981 - the latter half of Kurt Herbert Adler’s directorship. San Francisco was one of the cities graced with Pavarotti’s peerless performances of Donizetti roles: Edgardo in 1968 and 1972, Nemorino in 1969 and his role debut as Fernando in “La Favorita” in 1973.

It is a phenomenon of operatic history that every generation of operagoers contains substantial numbers of persons who think that the great performers whom they remember from their youth constituted a “golden age” in contrast to contemporary singers whom they think show evidence of a decline in artistic values.

As readers of this website have detected, even though I have had the rich experience of attending operatic performances of most of the greatest singers of the 1960s and 1970s in their prime, I find many comparable voices in contemporary operatic performances - sometimes (not always) in more interesting physical productions and more often than not as part of casts that are uniformly excellent. (See my extended remarks in my upcoming review of Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” at the Washington National Opera.)

Thus, I found it significant that more than one of the 2008 audience who had been audience members for Pavarotti S. F. performances in 1969, greeted me with their perceptions that attending a Vargas “L’Elisir” performance caused them to recall Pavarotti on stage.

Every one of the S. F. Nemorinos I have seen has radiated an immensely likeable persona. Yet, I believe that there were good reasons for thinking of Pavarotti, when hearing and seeing Vargas on stage, even though each of these tenors’ voices is distinctive and unique. Obviously, in each of these performances 39 seasons apart, the audience was hearing a lyric voice of great artistry at the tenor’s prime. But I think it was the combination of that attribute with each tenor’s self-effacing good humor and joyous exuberance that caused such memories to bob up.

A performance of Vargas’ caliber deserves colleagues who are equally adept at their roles. Albanian soprano Inva Mula, in her San Francisco Opera season, was an enchanting Adina. She showed superb vocal control, enhanced by an ability to produce the part’s demanding coloratura effortlessly.

[Below: Inva Mula is Adina; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.] 

Giorgio Caoduro, also in his San Francisco Opera debut season, was a hilarious Belcore. Looking smart in his army sergeant’s uniform, he seemed to meet the character’s physical description of himself as an incomparable specimen of manhood.

One of the running gags of this production is the appearance from the opera’s first scenes of a group of eight football players, clad in the ancient football uniforms that call to mind college photos of Knut Rockne or former U. S. President Gerald Ford ready for the Big Game. Caoduro’s Belcore immediately attracted the Napa footballers. In synchronization with Donizetti’s music, he repetitively drilled them in fake plays, and was rewarded for his attention by enlistments from the  group of them.

[Below: Giorgio Caoduro as Sergeant Belcore; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

In my remarks on San Francisco Opera’s Family Matinee “L’Elisir”, I suggested that it was possible for a Belcore to steal the show, as I believe that Eugene Brancoveanu indeed did (see: Family Matinee “Elixir of Love” at S. F. Opera - November 8, 2008).

However, “L’Elisir” has two delicious comedy parts, and Alessandro Corbelli, the third principal in his San Francisco Opera debut season, did what it takes to make a successful Dulcamara - mix Donizetti’s tongue-twisting patter songs with the gesticulations, deadpan reactions, double takes and other practices that were the stock in trade of vaudeville comedians. Of course, the audience realizes that the joke is on Dulcamara, as he begins to believe that his patent medicine actually does have an effect. (That does not prevent him from upping the ante on the extravagance of his claims for it.)

[Below: Alessandro Corbelli is Doctor Dulcamara; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Stage director James Robinson, whose previous experience in San Francisco was perceptibly directing an otherwise unfortunate physical production of Bellini’s “Norma” (See Norma November 21, 2005 San Francisco), provided many opportunities for the characters’ high-jinks.

The ice cream that Nemorino sells clearly is comfort food, which he eats and shares with others. The audience watched as he peeled bananas, incorporating them into an ice cream sundae complete with whipped cream and maraschino cherry, which he ate before our eyes, without missing a note of his music. At one point Adina pretends to be suicidal, performing mock hara kiri with the ice cream scoop. When we see Adina and Nemorino sharing the ice cream truck goodies, we are reasonably certain that she will not really give this up to become Belcore’s army wife.

Perhaps Robinson saw the Opera National de Paris’ production photos of Paul Groves and Desiree Rancatore on motorized bicycles in the Laurent Pelly production of “L’Elisir” (see Hayseed Hilarity: The Pelly “L’Elisir” in Paris - September 16, 2007.) San Francisco’s Nemorino and Adina at one point position themselves (for no particularly evident reason) on Doctor Dulcamara’s motorcycle and side car, yielding the publicity photograph seen below.

[Below: Nemorino (Ramon Vargas) stands on Doctor Dulcamara's motorcycle to show off to Adina (Inva Mula) ; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The new production was the first unambiguously successful production for San Francisco Opera by Allen Moyer. One of his previous efforts, Thomson’s “The Mother of us All” proved very controversial, and an unfortunate choice for opening night of the 2002 Fall season.

[Below: Allen Moyer's set for L'Elisir d'Amore, here the aborted Act II wedding festivities of Belcore (Giorgo Caoduro) and Adina (Inva Mula); edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

As noted in my review of his second effort, the November 2005 production of Bellini’s “Norma” was not just controversial – it was universally condemned (amazingly even by then San Francisco Opera General Director Pamela Rosenberg) – looking like the lathe section of a Home Depot lumber yard.

Fortunately, the “L’Elisir d’Amore” production, in which Nemorino ultimately becomes the most happy fella in the whole Napa Valley, was so attractive and enjoyable as to wipe the slate clean of the set designer’s previous misfires in San Francisco. Ultimately, I believe, the sets seen in San Francisco that should prove an enduring contribution to the popularity of live performances of “L’Elisir” in the United States.

[Below: the production's finale - Belcore and his Army recruits learn that the United States has entered World War I; edited image, based on a Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

With a bumper crop of Donizetti singers currently available, one can expect memorable future performances on these sets, even as one savors what a wonderful treat San Franciscans experienced in Fall, 2008.

San Francisco Opera, as part of its efforts to increase interest in live operatic performance among younger audiences, has developed the “family matinee”, which takes place at the opera house, utilizing the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and the production sets from one of the main season operas. This year’s family matinee is Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love”, an English translation of “L’Elisir d’Amore”, utilizing four current or former San Francisco Opera Adler fellows, in place of the “international” cast led by Ramon Vargas and Inva Mula.

[Below:  Allen Moyer's unit set for "The Elixir of Love" and "L'Elisir d'Amore"; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The opera company has a long tradition of “student matinees” aimed at school-age kids, who might be bussed to the opera company as part of a school culture appreciation project, but the family matinees have a rather different focus. They are deliberately designed for parents, who themselves may never have attended a live performance of an opera, to enjoy the experience of introducing the art form to their children. 

It was a great pleasure to see the audience, filled with young children, many of them dressed in finery. Some of the kids seemed delighted, before the auditorium began to fill, with the accessibility of the War Memorial Opera House’s wide aisles to some discreet running and playing. But during the performances the entire audience was the model of decorum - quiet, respectful of the artists, and engaged in the show.

And what a show. The Donizetti comedy is one of the six great comedies by Italian composers of the first half of the 19th century that have maintained a place in the operatic repertory. Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” is the only one of the six to have more performances that Donizetti’s “Elixir”. (The others are Rossini’s “Cenerentola” and “L’Italiana in Algeri” and Donizetti’s “Fille du Regiment” and “Don Pasquale”.)

But of the six, only “Fille” and “Elixir” can really be described as romantic comedies, rather than Rossinian comic book farces, nor is there the conspiracy against the fortune of a man of means that in this century could be described as elder abuse that one finds in “Don Pasquale”. Nor are any of the other five populated by characters who are as human and accessible as the lovestruck Nemorino, or his adored Adina, or the two blustery comic characters, the vain Sergeant Belcore and the clever charlatan, Doctor Dulcamara.

(Since Donizetti’s “Fille” is a certain bet for an upcoming San Francisco Opera season, it would seem most appropriate, and, I would guess, rather likely, for the company to schedule family matinees of an English language “Daughter of the Regiment”.)

Two current Adler Fellows took the main roles. Oklahoma tenor Alek Shrader, earlier this season had a promising San Francisco Opera debut as Arbace in Mozart’s “Idomeneo”. Korean soprano Ji Young Yang was his heartthrob Adina.

Shrader, in addition to the two family matinee performances as Nemorino, is covering Vargas in that role also. In the past the “student matinees” often would simply be comprised of the “covers” - i.e., second cast performances identical (and in the same language as sung by the first cast.) But Shrader is required to sing “Elixir” in English and to be prepared to sing the role in Italian if he had to step into Vargas’ shoes. In addition, the stage directions for the English language family matinees and the regular performances differ in detail, so he must be familiar with both ways of doing things.

Yang, who also is playing the tsarevna Xenia in Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov”, which is in repertory with “L’Elisir” and “Elixir”, sings Adina in English in the two matinees, and covers Mula for the Italian Adina. But she also plays the seconda donna role, Giannetta, in all of the regular “L’Elisir” performances. With rehearsals, it means that Yang has clocked enough performances in the past month to be sure of ranking near the top of any list of the most number of San Francisco Opera performances by a principal singer in a 20 or a 30 day period.

[Below: Ji Young Yang (standing) as Giannetta in the Italian language performances of "L'Elisir d'Amore"; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The principal buffo role, Doctor Dulcamara, was played by Dale Travis, who is now one of the better known baritones in the comic roles, appearing in both major and regional opera companies.  He proved adept at Dulcamara’s hilarious patter song, in which he makes extravagant claims for the medicinal effects of his hokum tonic. (Today, we could imagine a contemporary patter song about all the side effects of such a medicine, parodizing the lists of possible negative outcomes that Big Pharma ads on TV are required to include.)

Shrader and Yang both have leggiero voices at this stage of their careers, that were sometimes insufficient to carry Donizetti’s melodious vocal lines across the open orchestra pit into the outsized War Memorial Opera House auditorium, but they made an appealing couple and both likely will include Nemorino and Adina in their respective performance repertories.

One member of the cast, however, had the vocal power to conquer the large house - Eugene Brancoveanu, the Belcore.  Brancoveanu has been impressive in all of the roles in which I have seen him at San Francisco Opera, whether in a starring assignment, such as Frank in Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” or in comprimario roles such as Marullo in Verdi’s “Rigoletto”.  (Even the most devoted fans of live opera performance would rarely remember a Marullo, but Brancoveanu instantly became the center of attention, outshining the unfortunate Duke of Mantua in the company’s 2006 production.) 

[Below: Eugene Brancoveanu, here in Portman's "The Little Prince", edited image, based on photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

My report on the main cast of “L’Elisir” will follow - a performance which equalled the greatest of casts in an opera for which San Francisco Opera has been legendarily memorable through the decades. Yet, even though my review of Giorgio Caoduro’s Belcore will be appropriately ecstatic, it is my belief that Brancoveanu could take his place in the main cast here, or in any “L’Elisir” cast throughout the world and hold his own.  The San Francisco Opera, with both Caoduro and Brancoveanu in house, has two Belcores of international caliber, although only the former has had the recognition to date.

The character Belcore thinks of himself as the most elegant example of masculinity alive. Brancoveanu’s performance showed the poise and virility that makes us believe that Belcore will indeed have his way with the ladies, even though we are pleased that Adina sees through him. Brancoveanu’s athleticism, noted in the “Fledermaus” was in evidence again as he did peerless straight-arm pushups while convincing Nemorino to enlist. (This was not part of Caoduro’s performance in the main cast.)

The English translation of the opera by Donald Pippin was revised and abridged by Director of Music Administration Kip Cranna. The performance was the occasion of the San Francisco Opera debut of the conductor, Giuseppe Finzi, who will also conduct the two final performances of Puccini’s “La Boheme” after its first conductor (and music director designate), Nicola Luisetti, departs. With Finzi and Bruno Campanella sharing responsibilities for the Donizetti and Luisetti and Finzi for the Puccini, it means the remainder of the Fall 2008 season will under the custodianship of conductors from Italy.

For previous reviews of performances by Eugene Brancoveanu cited, see: “Die Fledermaus” in S. F. - September 16, 2006 and,

Gavanelli Dominates Strongly Cast S.F. “Rigoletto” - October 15, 2006

There was even a side trip to Pittsburgh to enjoy an early success (”I Capuleti e i Montecchi”) of the person who regarded himself as Donizetti’s rival - Vincenzo Bellini.  Below is a list of recently attended or upcoming productions of Donizetti operas for which I will be posting reviews.

L’Elisir d’Amore (Donizetti), San Francisco Opera, October 29, November 2 (m), 4, 7, 12, 15, 2008 

This new production is a collaboration between Opera Colorado (Denver), Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Fort Worth Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre (Detroit), and has already been seen in some of the collaborating cities. James Robinson is director, Allen Moyer Set Designer and Martin Pakiedinaz is Costume Designer.

[Below: Alessandro Corbelli as Doctor Dulcamara; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The production provides an opportunity for Ramon Vargas to appear in San Francisco for the first time in almost a decade in one of his signature roles, Nemorino, and for three S. F. Opera debuts: Inva Mula (Adina), Giorgio Caoduro (Belcore) and Alessandro Corbelli (Dulcamara). Bruno Campanella conducts.

Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti) Washington National Opera, November 1, 5, 7, 9 (m), 11, 15, 17, 2008

It is doubtful that had Giuseppe Verdi not been a devotee of this opera, that his “Rigoletto”, another opera about Renaissance Italy that was strongly influenced by Donizetti’s work, would sound the way it does.

Renee Fleming (November 1, 5, 9 and 11) and Sondra Radvanovsky (November 7, 15, 17) split the responsibility for the title role character in this opera whose popularity surged in the 1970s as a vehicle for Sills, Sutherland, Caballe and Gencer.

[Below: Maffio Orsini (Kate Aldrich) argues with Gennaro (Vittorio Grigolo), as Gennaro's mother, Lucrezia Borgia (Renee Fleming) looks on; edited image, based on Karin Cooper photograph, courtesy of Washington National Opera.]

Vittorio Grigolo takes on the role of Gennaro, Ruggero Raimondi is Don Alfonso and Kate Aldrich is assigned the plum role of Maffio Orsini, and with that assignment, a famous show-stopping aria.

Placido Domingo conducts. John Pascoe is stage director and production designer. That this is a new production with stellar casts and Domingo’s personal sponsorship, suggests that this fascinating opera will have a new lease on life in the United States.

The Elixir of Love (Donizetti) for Families; San Francisco Opera, November 8 and 15, 2008

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley has transformed the “student matinee” into a “family matinee” in which children and the adults who accompany them are invited to explore a full-scale operatic performance in the beautiful War Memorial Opera House. The greatest of early 19th century Italian romantic comedy operas is presented in English (with English supertitles), with the principal cast selected among current and recent Adler Fellows, and with the always impressive San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus. 

Ji Young Yang is Adina; Alek Shrader is Nemorino.  Eugene Brancoveanu, a favorite of this website, is the Belcore, and Dale Travis is Doctor Dulcamara. Italian Conductor Giuseppe Finzi, who will share “La Boheme” with Music Director-Designate Nicola Luisetti, is at the podium.

For the performance review, see: Family Matinee “Elixir of Love” at S. F. Opera - November 8, 2008

Roberto Devereaux (Donizetti), Dallas Opera, January 23, 25, 28, 31, 2009 

Like “Maria Stuarda” a docu-opera about Elizabeth I’s court - this one about the Earl of Leicester’s stepson and protege, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.  That Devereux’s intrigues led to his beheading, while Leicester did all the things he did and died a natural death, makes one appreciate how skilful Leicester was at reading the Virgin Queen.

[Below: A scene from the Lawless-Dugardyn production of Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda" at the Dallas Opera; edited image, based on photograph, courtesy of Dallas Opera.]

The Dallas production will star Hasmik Papian as Elisabetta, Stephen Costello as Roberto, and David Kempster as Nottingham. The team of Benoit Dugardyn (sets) and Stephen Lawless (direction), who produced Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” for Dallas in January 2007, return for this production.  (A review of the Lawless-Dugardyn production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, seen at San Diego Opera in April 2007, may be found on this website.)

L’Elisir d’Amore (Donizetti), Santa Fe Opera, July 4, 10, 15; August 6, 12, 20, 25 and 28, 2009

Santa Fe Opera will not have performed this staple of the Italian repertory for 41 years, but next summer creates a new production for three of the alumni of the Santa Fe Opera with successful international careers - Dimitri Pittas (Nemorino), Jennifer Black (Adina) and Patrick Carfizzi (Belcore). John Del Carlo makes his company debut as Doctor Dulcamara. 

Debuting Jerry Zaks will be the stage director and Thomas Lynch the scenic designer. Corrado Rovaris will conduct.

For the previous posts on this subject, see: In Quest of Donizetti - A 2007-08 Itinerary and In Quest of Donizetti - A 2008-09 Itinerary

The 1869 version of Mussorgsky’s opera, loosely based on the reign of Boris Godunov, a younger contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England, has had three different productions shown in California in the past two years. When Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre came to Orange County in 2006, it was presented as a one act opera. Three months later (January 2007) it was done at San Diego Opera as a vehicle for Ferruccio Furlanetto.

Originally designed for Grand Theatre de Geneve in 1993, the production now playing in San Francisco was the first major commission of Norwegian Stein Winge, premiering in Geneva with Ramey in 1993. Winge’s all-Scandinavian design team included Swedish set designer Goeran Wassberg and Norwegian Costume Designer Kari Gravklev.

The 2004 Geneva production was repeated in Lyric Opera of Chicago (1995) and at Houston Grand Opera (1997), always for Ramey. Houston eventually secured ownership of the production and revived it for Ramey again in 2006, with Julia Pevzner assuming the duties of Stage Director.

The Houston Grand Opera traded the production to the San Francisco Opera, with Pevzner and Ramey just two of several veterans of previous mountings of this production involved in the San Francisco presentation.

Wassberg, who later worked with legendary film director Ingmar Bergman, created a unit set that appeared to be a wooden wall towards the back of the stage that curved at the bottom towards the audience, as if are mid-stern on the decks of a large wooden sailing vessel.

The wooden wall sometimes appears to be solid, but at other times is honeycombed with large and small openings, that can be windows, doors, or larger gateways. The most spectacular use of the sets is for Boris’ coronation scene, when a gateway in the wall opens for a religious procession preceding the entrance of Tsar Boris, the tsarevich Fyodor and tsarevna Xenia.

[Below: the coronation scene from "Boris Godunov"; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Although it represented Ramey’s first appearance at San Francisco Opera as Boris in any version, the series of San Francisco performances likely represents his farewell to the role of Russian tsar. (Ramey has stated that no Boris performances are scheduled for him over the next few years, his contracted future engagements taking him past his 70th birthday.)

[Tsar Boris Godunov (Samuel Ramey) accepts his election as Russian Tsar; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph; courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Ramey frankly admits that his voice at the present time lacks much of the flexibility of the past. Indeed, I did expect and was conscious of the spread in his vibrato, especially evident in the first act. Such a spread is evidence of his struggle in recent years to maintain a smooth legato line in performance. (See my review of his 2007 Mephistopheles at Houston Grand Opera: A “Faust” Surprise in Houston - January 23, 2007.)

A Star as Tsar

What was pleasing and perhaps unexpected was Ramey’s resourcefulness in projecting a fully articulated portrait of the troubled tsar. A person seeing the Ramey for the first time will recognize him as a superstar basso - an insightful actor with a deeply resonant voice, that by the second act was very much under Ramey’s control.

However, those wishing to hear a youthful basso cantate singing Mussorgsky were treated to the Pimen of Vitalij Kowaljow. He is one of several excellent bassos (certainly including Raymond Aceto, Luca Pisaroni and Hoa Jiang Tian) whose stars, this website has observed, are in their ascendancy. Kowaljow - whose performances as Pimen at the San Diego Opera (2007) and Jacopo Fiesco in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” earlier this season were both reviewed here - displayed a rich, sonorous bass as Pimen.

[Below: Pimen (Vitalij Kowaljow) proselytizes the monk Grigori Otepyev (Vsevolod Grivnov) as part of Pimen's campaign to expose the misdeeds of the tsar; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Salve et atque vale

In fact, in the second act scene in which Prince Shiusky (John Uhlenhopp) brings Pimen to Boris to relate the story of the monk Grigori’s mischievous decision to topple the Tsar, one had the sense of the passing of the torch from one of the most impressive operatic bassos of the past 35 years to a leading member of a new generation.

If the parts of Ramey and Kowaljow constitute a major part of the seven-scene version, there is yet a third major basso role – that of the often intoxicated priest Varlaam (Vladimir Ognovenko) . Varlaam has only a single scene in the 1869 version, the scene at the inn near the Lithuanian border.

Ognovenko worked with Ramey in Chicago in 1995. Another alumnus of the 1995 Chicago production was its Innkeeper (Catherine Cook), a former San Francisco Opera Adler fellow, who has become a specialist in the character mezzo roles. For reasons not entirely clear to me, the innkeeper’s part, in both the 1869 productions at San Diego Opera (2007) and the current one, pluck the Innkeeper’s duck-plucking ditty from the 1872 version, and add it inauthentically to the 1869 version. (Is there a guild of character mezzos that has decreed that feathers will fly if any member accepts the part of the 1869 version of the Innkeeper without having the duck-plucking aria inserted into it?)

[Below: Varlaam (Vladirmir Ognovenko) chats up the hostess of an inn near the Lithuanian border (Catherine Cook); edited image, based on a Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The two principal tenor roles were performed effectively. Vsevolod Grivnov was the Grigori, the monk who would be tsar. He had the requisite power to make a good impression in the two scenes in which the False Dmitri appears. Without the Polish and Kromy Forest scenes of the 1872 version, the part is no more than that of discontented monk and introspective fugitive.

John Uhlenhopp, who includes Wagner’s Tristan as one of his more heroic roles, played Shiusky with dignity, although convincing the audience that Boris is correct that the prince is a treacherous opportunist.

[Below: Prince Shiusky (John Uhlenhopp) surrounded by peasants, part of Goeran Wassberg's unit set in background; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

There were many original elements in the stage direction, conceived originally by Winge and enhanced by Pevzner. Grigori, having heard with interest Pimen’s account of Boris’ murder of the Tsarevich Dmitri, when he is alone, tears that page from Pimen’s chronicle. Prince Shiusky, at Boris’ death, hovers over the Tsarevich Fyodor, as the boy cringes.

However, the most striking innovation of the production is the introduction of the Simpleton, who in Mussorgsky’s 1869 version appears only at the midpoint of the opera, into earlier scenes. He carries or has near him a model of a turret with a gold onion dome. During the first act scenes, he is not only present, but provides a focal point at scene changes, moving from his vantage point in the crowd outside the Novodyevichy Monastery to the Kremlin Square for the coronation. He finds his way into the Chudov Monastery and crouches in terror as Pimen describes the death of the tsarevich Dmitri.

Played by Adler Fellow Andrew Bidlack, the Fool is a mute role until his powerful exchange with the Tsar in the St Basil’s scene, which closes with his lament for Russia. Although his expanded role and surreal presence were envisioned neither by Pushkin nor Mussorgsky, he ties these early scenes together in a way that makes the usually interesting St Basil’s scene into especially compelling drama.

[Below: a children's pilgrimage gathers at St Basil's Church; the Simpleton (Andrew Bidlack), his totem beside him, is at the right; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

When Mussorgsky cut the St Basil’s scene in the 1869 version, and moved the Simpleton’s lament to the end of the 1872 version’s Kromy Forest scene, the fateful conversation with Boris (surely contributing to the tsar’s increasing mental instability) was lost, and some later directors have tried to graft the St Basil’s scene into productions of the 1872 version.

The Geneva-Houston production, now of San Francisco, provides a satisfactory resolution to the dilemma. An opera company should present only the 1869 version or the 1872 version. Never try to mix the two. (Any issues raised by mixing the two versions for the hostess’ role in the scene at the Inn near the Lithuanian Border, noted above, are of no dramatic importance.)

[Below: The Simpleton (Andrew Bidlack) is observed by Prince Shiuski (John Uhlenhopp), to the rear.]

The 1872 “Boris” is unquestionably a masterpiece and such additions as the clock scene, Polish scenes, and Kromy Forest are among Mussorgsky’s most inspired compositions. The 1872 version, however, is much more expensive to produce, requiring two additional principal singers (Marina and Rangoni).

This production, with its effective but economical sets and beautiful costumes designed by Kari Gravkev for the Geneva production, is likely within the reach of regional opera companies that would by necessity bypass the later version.

But the production is a work of art in itself, and a triumphant presentation by the San Francisco Opera. Those able to see the final performances in this series should be pleased with what they see and hear.

[Below: a gathering of the boyars to discuss news of the triumphs of the Grigori Otepyev, claiming the tsar's throne; edited image, based on a Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

For Tom’s review of the Mariinsky/Kirov  1869 “Boris” in Orange County, see: Tom Reviews Kirov “Boris Godounov” in Orange County - October 15, 2006

[Below: Christopher Hahn, photograph courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.]

Wm: Congratulations on your appointment as Pittsburgh Opera’s general director.

CH: Thank you.

Wm: How did you come to be interested in opera?

CH: As a child I grew up in provincial South Africa. I read enormous amounts of English literature and poetry as a child. I was a child singer in our church choir, which was an important part of the community in which I was raised. I attended concerts by piano and  vocal recitalists touring South Africa. Meanwhile, my interest in poetry and literature evolved into an interest in theater.  I thought I would become an actor, or a dancer, or stage director, but I always expected to be associated with music.

I left South Africa to live in London, where I was exposed to a wide range of music. However, even though I came to know operatic performances through Covent Garden and the English National Opera, I expected to have a career in the legitimate theater rather than opera.

Wm: How did your career path change from legitimate theater to opera?

CH: I moved to San Francisco, looking for a job in theater. I came to understand that in that city the largest theater is the San Francisco Opera. Terrence McEwen had only recently taken over the general directorship of that institution from Kurt Herbert Adler.  I had no experience with opera, but McEwen hired me to work in the rehearsal department, where I spent eight years. There I learned the craft of opera production.

Wm: This was during a period of marked transition between the Adler and McEwen years, was it not?

CH: Yes, and it was time where there was some considerable tension. Adler had expected to continue to conduct operas at the company, and when those assignments failed to materialize, he launched legal action against the Opera for breach of contract. I remember that whenever Adler entered the building, the administrative offices had to be alerted.

Wm: What were your responsibilities in the Rehearsal Department?

CH: Opera production requires extensive planning - not just broad strokes - but very detailed advanced planning, because so many elements go into an operatic performance. The San Francisco Opera’s master schedule proved very difficult to construct, because there may be up to six productions in performance or rehearsal simultaneously. Once the master schedule was set, it became virtually impossible to change.

Wm: This website will be observing the 50th anniversary of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s American debut at San Francisco Opera as a set designer, commencing a series of articles on the Ponnelle legacy.  You were in the Rehearsal Department during a period that Ponnelle would be present as both stage director and production designer. What would you do to prepare in advance for a Ponnelle production? 

CH: You’ve identified a production designer who was very much a special case and for whom advanced planning proved very difficult.  I was much involved with a revival of Ponnelle’s San Francisco Opera production of Reimann’s “Lear”.

I would plan things meticulously, but everyone would warn me that you cannot predict anything that would happen when Ponnelle actually arrived in the city for rehearsals. Ponnelle would take a look at all the advance planning and try to “blow it up”. He would try to “deconstruct” the schedule.

Wm: It sounds like you had mixed feelings about working with a Ponnelle production.

CH: Ponnelle’s approach proved to be the antithesis of methodical planning, and put a strain on and, I think, was wasteful of the company’s resources. Even so, part of Ponnelle’s genius was that he deliberately reversed the traditional ways of doing things.  

However, I found that it was possible to work with his demands. I discovered that if you made an obvious effort to find a way to give in to some piece of what Ponnelle was asking to change, that it made him happy. The end result would be a better product. He always kept us nimble and humble.

[Below: Production designer and stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle directs his production of Reimann's "Lear" at San Francisco Opera; edited image of an Ira Nowinski photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Fortunately, the majority of opera directors consider it part of their “expertise” to fit within the framework of a company’s planning.

Wm: How did your experiences at San Francisco Opera prepare you for your later career?

CH: In many ways, but two lessons were especially valuable. First, understanding the cost and value of each component of a performance. Second, understanding how to meet an artist’s needs.

Wm: Would you expand on these lessons?

CH: Yes. As an artistic administrator of an opera company, a position I held for eight years at Pittsburgh Opera prior to being appointed general director, your entire year is spent preparing for the upcoming opera season and beyond. For every opera you consider mounting, you have to know what every part of it will cost, and to know what things need to be done to assure that every element is available when needed. It is not an easy job. The skills learned through the experience of detailed planning at San Francisco Opera proved invaluable.

However, the best-planned season will not work unless the audience has a rapport with the performers they come to see.  During that seminal period in San Francisco I gained an understanding of how an opera company needs to relate to the principal singers. In that period, I met and worked with such legendary singers as Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Frederica von Stade, Tatiana Troyanos and Marilyn Horne. But I was not just experiencing them as great artists, but helping them get through their days.

It was during this period that I first began to realize the tremendous stamina and output of energy that are required for these great performances.  I vividly remember Leonie Rysanek.  She was highly energized person offstage, constantly vocalizing. When she performed Sieglinde in San Francisco’s production of Wagner’s “Die Walkuere”, the audience would see this wonderfully mature acting and seemingly effortless singing.  

As soon as Rysanek left the stage, she would become this real person, gasping for breath as if she had just finished a marathon, leaning on her husband or assistants for support. Then, when her part called for her to be onstage again, she serenely transformed into her character, and so on for all three acts.

It is absolutely crucial for an artistic administrator to anticipate what each artist needs, and to make certain that the environment exists for that artist to give a great performance.

[Below: Leonie Rysanek at San Francisco Opera; edited image, based on a Carolyn Mason Jones photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Wm: Of the great artists with whom you have worked, is there one who is a particular favorite?

CH: Yes, I regard Mirella Freni as one the kindest, friendliest, nicest people I have ever met, as well as a thorough professional.

Wm: As you move from Artistic Administrator to General Director, how does your job change?

CH: Both jobs need the skills of understanding all the cogs in the machine that makes up opera performance.  As Artistic Administrator, I always had a good relationship with donors, but the General Director has a much greater exposure to donors and to other sources of funding and, of course, the opera board. 

Wm: What do you regard as the differences between the San Francisco and Pittsburgh opera audiences?

CH: Each audience is different. In San Francisco the seasons are longer, with many more performances. Also, the number of subscribers is much larger, and, as a whole, those subscribers are very knowledgeable about opera, and very sophisticated.

If you compare the San Francisco and Pittsburgh audiences, the latter, at least in the aggregate, do not have the experience with all aspects of the operatic repertoire, and so may not seem to be as particularly well informed of operas beyond the central core as the San Franciscans.

However, I find that you cannot make too many assumptions about what the Pittsburgh audience will like and not like. Our audiences seem to be intrigued by our efforts to maintain a careful balance between the repertoire with which most are familiar and less well known works. We have found them responsive to such 20th or 21st century presentations as Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” and Britten’s “Billy Budd” and to avant-garde ideas, such as production designer Christopher Alden’s take on Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman”.

Wm: Speaking of fund-raising, what is the impact of the troubles in the economy on the Pittsburgh Opera?

CH: I’m cautiously optimistic that we will get through these times in relatively good shape. Pittsburgh over the years has had to adjust to the traumas of the downsizing and virtual disappearance of major industries. Over time we have developed a better balanced economy, with important elements of technology, small business, health care and education. We are, therefore, a little less vulnerable than we were in the past to economic downturns. Today’s Pittsburgh is resilient and creative.

Naturally, people are concerned and some are frightened. But, on balance, Pittsburgh’s opera, symphony and theater are holding their own. There always will be good times and bad times, but we will be doing good work ten years from now.

Wm: What would you like to see happen with the Pittsburgh Opera?

CH: I have watched with interest [San Francisco Opera General Director] David Gockley’s efforts in bringing opera into the community, such as the cinemacasts at the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Ballpark. S. F. Opera has always been innovative in bringing opera into the community.  I especially liked the free concerts at Sigmund Stern Grove (working with the S. F. Department of Parks and Recreation) on the fall season’s opening weekend.

I presently am very interested in the idea of doing some great open air opera concerts in one of Pittsburgh’s river venues in late summer or early autumn. We will figure out how to do this.

Wm: Recently, your administrative offices and production spaces have moved to a new site in Pittsburgh’s Strip area, near the Allegheny River, a now fashionable former industrial and warehouse area in which there is extensive urban redevelopment. How has the move from Pittsburgh’s Downtown Theater District to the Strip impacted the opera company?

CH: Over the past year, we have moved into a sizable new facility (where this interview is being conducted) that originally was the industrial home for the manufacture of George Westinghouse’s air brakes. We are freed from our previous constraints resulting from our lack of space.

This has been an artistic shot in the arm. It will allow us to plan a series of special events, including the baroque chamber operas with which our musical director and lead conductor Antony Walker is associated.

Wm: Did the new space facilitate your decision to purchase and refurbish the production of Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila” that opens your 2008-09 Season?

CH: Yes, we believe that “Samson” is an opera that is within the reach of smaller opera companies to perform, but that they need a “right-sized” physical production. Many regional companies would not have the space and capacity to mount, say, the Nicolas Joel-Douglas Schmidt production from San Francisco Opera. We already have had interest from other companies about renting our “Samson” sets.

Wm: What other physical productions do you own and rent to others?

CH: Our rental productions currently include Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Verdi’s “Macbeth” and Jonathan Dove’s “Flight”.

Wm: Are there other aspects of the “opera business” that interests you, about which we haven’t talked?

CH: I am fascinated by the training of young opera singers. So many receive training in university programs, but the experiences they really need are those that they receive in live performances at an established opera company.

Wm: It’s been my observation that there are a much greater number of good operatic voices in the United States than there are operatic performances to use them. Do you agree?

CH: Precisely. Even though the number of opera companies and performances have increased in recent decades, the number of great American opera singers has increased also, so that the existence of the network of European companies remains critical for many American artists to obtain the experiences they need.

Wm: Christopher, thank you for your time.

However, interesting things can happen after opening night, particularly if a major artist is indisposed. This website reported on the arrangements Houston Grand Opera made when William Burden found himself unable to sing the title role of Gounod’s “Faust” [See A “Faust” Surprise in Houston - January 23, 2007.]

The website also reported on the disastrous consequences (at least from the standpoint of judging the performance) that occurred at the Zurich Opera when Isabel Rey, playing Norina, collapsed and was rushed to the hospital partway into the second act of Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale”. [See No Norina: A “Don Pasquale” Showstopper in Zurich - September 23, 2007.]

I suspect that the tenor Beau Gibson very much appreciated having someone there to record impressions of his successful contribution to salvaging the evening in Houston, and I suspect that the Zurich Opera very much regrets that anyone from any media (nor probably anyone else) experienced their failed “Pasquale”.

Sometimes an indisposed artist is replaced by another singer who has the role in his or her repertoire, and from the audience’s standpoint, all goes smoothly, as I noted in my review of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” last year in San Diego, when Eduardo Villa flew across country to replace another Manrico.

And sometimes one artist’s indisposition can lead to another’s early career milestone. That is what I believe happened at War Memorial Opera House for the fourth performance of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” of the season, when Argentinean soprano Daniela Mack replaced an injured Alice Coote as Idamante.

[Below: the seaside court of Idomeneo; edited image, based on a Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Unlike the reports from Houston and Zurich, the replacement of Ms Coote by Ms Mack represented the workings of an expert contingency plan.  Ms Mack is currently a San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow. Typically, an important assignment of each Fellow is to “cover” principals and to be on stand-by if something should occur that prevents the principal from performing.

[Below: Soprano Daniela Mack was Idamante in a role debut, edited image, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.  At present, no production photograph exists of Ms Mack in her Idamante costume.]

Unlike San Diego Opera’s scramble to obtain Mr Villa’s services as Manrico, which inevitably included a crash course on the stage directions, the Adler role understudies not only learn the parts, but how to act and move in the role - in this case in stage director John Copley’s vision of the drama. One also suspects that the costume department is a much less frenzied place when the cover is an Adler fellow for whom they already have a good idea of any costume adjustments that might be needed should the principal not be able to go on with the show.

Obviously, when the principal listed in the program cannot appear, an announcement to the audience is made - in this case by General Director David Gockley. Coote is a highly-regarded artist with fans worldwide, surely including many disappointed members of the San Francisco Opera audience.

However, Mack appeared so comfortable in the role, and sang so beautifully with a voice that fit nicely with the other principals, that if there were not inserts in the program and the general director announcing the cast change, I suspect much of the audience would have imagined that Mack was always the management’s original choice for casting Idamante.

Notes on the Performance

Donald Runnicles, conducting his third opera of San Francisco Opera’s 2008-09 season (and the fourth since June of this calendar year), led a spirited performance of Mozart’s overture - that, in so many ways, is an advance on any orchestral piece for an opera written up to that time. When one hears this impressive work (of course, played by a team as splendid as Donald Runnicles with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra), one is amazed at the 25 year old Mozart’s genius at composition.

The curtains open on John Conklin’s sets, originally created in 1989 and repeated once a decade since. They are discussed in more detail below. In “Idomeneo”, before the tenor who plays the title character first appears, there are major arias for all three of the characters usually played (for the past two centuries) by women.

The part of Idamante was initially written for a male castrato and has the distinction of being the last role written for that now extinct vocal category for an opera that still is regularly performed.  The vocal range of the particular castrato for whom Mozart composed the role was closest to a modern mezzo-soprano.

But Mozart also revised the opera for a private performance, repositioning Idamante’s vocal line for the tenor voice. Anyone who sings Idamante may be thought of as representing either the “mezzo” or “tenor” traditions, each of which has its partisans. (San Francisco Opera has had it both ways, with tenor Hans Peter Blochwitz performing Idamante in 1989.)

The rationale for a tenor performing Idamante has to do with the opera’s storyline. The tenor voice, when compared with the mezzo voice, produces a more masculine sound, which results in the dramatic image of a young man mature enough to take over the reigns of the kingdom.

However, I believe that no one in “Idomeneo” controls their own fate. They are literally playthings of the gods. Whether Idamante is a precocious young teenager or a mature young adult, it is Neptune and other gods like him who decides what is to happen in this Cretan kingdom. In such an environment of rampant determinism, I think it matters most who can best sing the music that Mozart wrote for Idamante, whether in its original or revised form. A glorious tenor trumps a weak mezzo and vice versa.

Mack beautifully provided the “mezzo case”. Visually, in her elegant gold and white doublet with flowing gold cape (in which Mack at one point briefly became entangled), gold tights and boots, she projected the image of an ardent young man. Her pleasing, focused vibrato seemed the right instrument for the two great arias on which any Idamante is judged, Non ho colpa and Il padre adorato.

The role of Ilia was played by Genia Kuehmeier, debuting at San Francisco Opera. Her first aria Padre, germani, addio! revealed a pure soprano that contrasted nicely with Mack’s mezzo voice. The interplay of Kuehmeier’s voice in her second act aria Se il padre perdei with the orchestra’s principals playing bassoon, French horn, oboe and flute was a performance highlight, as was her great third act aria Zeffiretti lusinghieri.

[Below: Genia Kuehmeier as Princess Ilia; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

In further contrast, Iano Tamar (another company debut) competently assayed Elettra’s highly dramatic music, including the fireworks of her final aria, D’Oreste d’Aiace.

[Below: Iano Tamar as Princess Elettra; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The title role was sung by Kurt Streit, an 1986 alumnus of the S. F. Opera’s Merola program for operatic “apprentices”, who later had sung four important leggiero tenor roles at S. F. Opera during the 1990s, including the bel canto lead roles of Belmonte in Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio” (1990) and Don Ramiro in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” in 1995. His pure, agile light tenor seemed ideal for the music written for this part that many tenors with much heavier voices (including Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti) have performed.

[Kurt Streit is Idomeneo; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

In fact, each of the arias delivered by the four principals was sung well, and the voices were particularly well-balanced for Mozart’s ensembles - the trio between Idomeneo, Idamante and Elettra and the sublime quartet in which those three are joined by Ilia.

Copley’s direction makes use of Conklin’s sometimes attractive, but often sombre sets. A gray back wall with a diagonal crack opens for Elettra’s entrances and closes behind her at the end of her aria.  The walls similarly close at the end of Idamante’s second aria. It seems obvious that Copley relishes having an alternative to his principal walking off stage left or stage right after one of their “exit arias”.

Some of the production’s ideas are arresting. For the famous storm scene that ends Act II, the image of a ship in distress appears, ragged sails unfurled in a stormy sea. The chorus, in 18th century dress strongly influenced by Cretan styles, as always, performed the exciting accompanying music admirably.

[Below: The Act II storm distresses Idomeneo (Kurt Streit) and chorus; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The Conklin sets proved to be most congenial for the scene between Idomeneo and Arbace (nicely sung by Adler fellow Alek Schrader) that displayed a luxurious seascape enhanced by distant small islands.

An imaginative episode utilizes small children holding long cloth banners representing the sea, on which other children between the cloths lift model ships that appear to be sailing on the sea. A panorama of Idomeneo’s shipwreck is created when the kids shake the cloth.

Even with much to admire in the performances of Streit, Kuehmeier and Tamar, the day belonged to Daniela Mack, who portrayed a convincing Prince Idamante, to a rousing audience ovation.

Conklin in Context

Conklin’s work shown at San Francisco Opera has been variable.  He deserves high marks for his physical productions of Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera” (1977) and the four operas of Wagner’s “Ring of the Niebelungs” (1983 et seq.). Unfortunately, all of these five productions were destroyed by the previous general manager, and not having them available is greatly to be lamented.  Conklin’s costumes, sans sets, for “Ballo” were in use in 2006, creating some continuing confusion as to whose sets were seen that year.  (They were Zach Brown’s - unidentified as such, apparently at Brown’s request.) 

Unfortunately, some of Conklin’s work misses the mark. He created the sets for the outrageous production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” borrowed from Seattle and seen here to the consternation of San Francisco Opera audiences in 2002. 

The “Idomeneo” sets are a mixture of good and bad. Underlying them is the general recognition that Crete, the island that Idomeneo rules, is tectonically active, and that Cretan civilization has suffered disastrous earthquakes and tidal waves. We are immersed in broken Ancient Greek architecture. Columns, pediments, stone arches, all are cracked and are missing pieces.

Reality is broken too, with pieces of columns and statuary and other architectural fragments hanging surreally from the air.  (Between the 1999 and 2008 mountings of Conklin’s “Idomeneo” sets, San Francisco observed his surreal motives in extremis through the Seattle “Trovatore” with giant heads of philosophers hanging above a troubadour’s grand piano.)

Although there are much higher priorities than creating a new production of “Idomeneo”, management should make a note NOT to revive this particular production for a fourth time in San Francisco.  There is enough that is positive about it that one could imagine some of the regional companies with capacity for set construction “refurbishing” this one, discarding, at a minimum, the fragments of structures that hang from the air.

Should anyone ask, my favorite “Idomeneo” production shown in San Francisco was the one for which Jean-Pierre Ponnelle devised the sets, costumes and stage direction for the Cologne Opera, which he brought to the Bay Area in 1977. That one, if it still exists somewhere, is imminently revivable.

When Stars are Born

It may be of interest to some, that the late San Francisco Opera former general director Kurt Herbert Adler, for whom the Adler Fellows were named, had more than one experience in figuring out what to do when a principal suddenly became unavailable for performance.  

Perhaps the most memorable instance was the night in 1961 that Margarethe Bence was scheduled to sing Fenena in Verdi’s “Nabucco” but became ill the prior day.  Janis Martin, then a young soprano, was called upon to learn the part in 24 hours. She performed gloriously, and the gratitude and admiration for her effort led Adler to reward her with future major parts that launched one of the 20th century’s great careers.

We may look back on the Sunday matinee of October 26, 2008 as such a turning point in the career of Daniela Mack.

Joel’s stage direction for the production was also rethought, with Herbert Kellner seeking to create a new “movement vocabulary” for the chorus and principals. 

The sets and costumes were physically attractive. The production is unlike the psychedelic, often whimsical, and always exotic conception of set designer Zandra Rhodes and stage director Andrew Sinclair for the San Diego Opera-Michigan Opera Theater production that already has been seen in several North American cities and is scheduled to travel to even more.

Lyric Opera’s sets are like postcards displaying the human activity on land and sea along a tropical shoreline. They closely follow the general specifications for sets that are outlined in the opera’s libretto.

The opera has proven to be very popular with audiences in the 21st century, with expansive melodies and a fairy tale plot, in which at least the two lovers whose romance propels the story have a happy ending, although one tempered by the sacrificial death of a dear friend. I suspect it is also one that many operatic managements like, as it nicely fits younger voices, early in their careers, needs only three principals, a comprimario basso, and an orchestra of reasonable size. Few opera companies bust their budgets because of performances of “Pecheurs de Perles”.

For contemporary opera audiences, what is best known about the “Pearl Fishers” is the duet between Nadir and Zurga, Au fond du temple sainte, that occurs early in the first act, whose melody is reprised from time to time. But that is only one of many delights. There is very little that happens in the opera that is not enveloped in intoxicating melody.

I suspect most critics would peg “Pearl Fishers” as having a lightweight plot, although I believe it is more appropriate to describe it as an economical one. It’s “boy meets girl, overcomes some major difficulties to win her, lives happily ever after, with the one regret that the boy’s closest friend saves them from danger at the expense of that friend’s life”.  Much of what happens takes place before the opera begins, but we learn what we need to know through backstories, all sung to Bizet’s exotic melodies. 

[Below: Zurga (Nathan Gunn, left) and Nadir (Eric Cutler ) sing the celebrated duet "Au fond du temple sainte"; edited image, based on Dan Rest photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

The opera was written by Georges Bizet, early in his career, and is one of the “prodigy” operas by young twenty-somethings that have beaten all odds against the survival of any opera written at any time. Other prodigy operas this website is highlighting this month include Mozart’s “Idomeneo” and Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt”.

In the past few years, Bizet’s earlier works than his masterpiece “Carmen” have begun to be taken seriously. Now performance standards are influenced by recent scholarly editions of “Pearl Fishers” (the opera had suffered some unwarranted “improvements” by hacks after Bizet’s death).  John Mauceri, who conducted this revival, used an orchestral score more like what Bizet originally wrote than might have been heard in opera houses during most of the 20th century. Virtually no one would consider ending the opera with the inauthentic trio, composed two decades after Bizet’s death, that sounds like a copy-cat of the ensemble from the final scene of Gounod’s “Faust” .

The trio of principals all have Lyric Opera ties. Nicole Cabell, one of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center alumni, sings her first Leila. Nathan Gunn is a Lyric Opera favorite, reprising the role that he sang with William Burden in Philadelphia. Eric Cutler, who sang Ferrando in Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” two seasons ago, returns to the Lyric.

[Below: Leila (Nicole Cabell) and Nadir (Eric Cutler) are reunited, despite the danger of the situation; edited image, based on Don Best photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

Most of us know the story, but let’s go through it again anyway. The childhood friends Nadir and Zurga both fall in love with a woman, Leila, whom they have caught glimpse of in a sacred temple. Nadir disappears, and so does Leila. We learn that Nadir and Leila had become lovers, but circumstances doomed her to become a Hindu priestess. Meanwhile Zurga has become the leader of the village in which he and Nadir grew up.

As the story unfolds, we learn also that Leila and her family had rescued Zurga from death at the hands of enemies in the distant past and he gave the family a necklace, now in Leila’s possession, to call upon him in a life-threatening situation to return that favor. Nadir seeks to escape with Leila, but the two are captured. An angry Zurga is required by his office to condemn them to death, but he feels compassion for his old friend. Leila pleads to Zurga for Nadir’s life, and when he will not accede, she gives Zurga’s necklace to guards to take to her family.  Zurga instantly comprehends, regardless of his jealousy and his office, that he is obligated through his friendship with Nadir and his pledge to Leila’s family to effect their escape.

This story, I would submit, is rather more plausible than, say, that of Mozart’s “Idomeneo”, of which I will have more to say later this month. It is instructive to see how opera had changed in the 82 years between Mozart’s opera of 1781 (even though written in Italian, it was created for a festival in Munich, using the talented and very avant-garde orchestra from the German town of Mannheim) and Bizet’s French opera of 1863.

Mozart was pushing the envelope on orchestration and dramatic construction of the opera. For much of the history of opera, composers were expected to alternate exposition - i.e., recitative, giving the audience information about the story - with arias that reflected on the character’s emotion at that moment.

Librettists usually wanted to maximize recitative to keep the story clear. Mozart fought his librettist (and his father) on how much recitative he felt needed to be cut to speed up an opera. By the time of Bizet, in the nation across the Rhine from Mannheim, the answer was to cut just about all of it.  

All the exposition (the backstories) comes in the duet Au fond du temple sainte, in Leila’s Comme autrefois dans la nuit sombre, and her conversation with Nourabad J’etais encore enfant, and (as confirmation of what Nadir was doing when he disappeared) Je crois entendre encore. 

[Below: Leila (Nicole Cabell) pleads with Zurga (Nathan Gunn) to save his best friend's life; edited image, based on Dan Rest photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

The opera management announced that Cabell was feeling ill, but would be singing anyway, but she performed admirably. Cutler, mysteriously costumed in a hunter’s garb topped with something that seemed to me like a Rastafarian wig, is one of the young tenors who promotes the voix mixte, the French style of singing high in the register that includes head tones. He was a brilliant Nadir.

Nathan Gunn has had enough experience as Zurga to show it off as a truly substantive role. His great soliloquy that begins the third act was performed with eloquence and emotion, displaying a mature baritone voice. Gunn, of course, is one of the modern opera singers who clearly knows his way around the gym, so the costumers shed any pretext of hiding his impressive physique, and he remained topless throughout the opera.

[Below: Zurga (Nathan Gunn) takes control of the situation, as Nadir (Eric Cutler) and Leila (Nicole Cabell) are placed under arrest at the top of the stairs; edited image, based on Dan Rest photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

This is the fourth performance of “Pearl Fishers” reviewed on this site, the others all utilizing the Zandra Rhodes sets and stage direction by Andrew Sinclair. Although there was much to admire about the Lyric Opera production, one missed the liveliness of Sinclair’s direction, including the use of San Diego’s Malashock Dancers, whose aggressive choreography integrates the ballet, as Sinclair does the chorus, into the opera’s action scenes.

For those able to schedule the final performances of this production, it is recommended for the consistently high quality of singing and attractive sets.

[Below: the finale of the Pittsburgh production of "Samson et Dalila"; edited image, based on David Bachman photograph, courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.  All images on this page are based on photographs copyrighted 2008 by Bachman.]

The production was conceived as a vehicle for Blythe to perform her first set of Dalilas. It proved to be a triumphant evening at the Benedum Center, home of the Pittsburgh Opera, for her and for anyone who revels in the power and range of a mature mezzo-soprano of the first rank.

It was an opportunistic debut for Porretta, who is singing in Pittsburgh for the first time. Although in recent years he has taken on increasingly heavy roles, he had stepped into the Pittsburgh assignment only eight weeks before opening night after the unexpected death of the originally announced Samson, Mark Lundberg.

Porretta, who is described as a lyrico spinto tenor is not the tenore di forza that some expect in this role, but he did display evidence of a mastery of the French heroic tenor style and was a pleasing Samson. In 1966, I had seen a Frank Porretta perform the role of Wilhelm Meister in Ambroise Thomas’ “Mignon” at the War Memorial Opera House, the most recent time that this former staple of the French repertoire was mounted by the San Francisco Opera. The “Mignon” Frank Porretta, however, was the father of Pittsburgh’s Samson, and it seems obvious that the latter was raised with an appreciation of French styles of singing.

Josephson, also debuting in Pittsburgh, proved to be an effective Grand Priest. All of the remaining roles occur only in the first act, and all can be said to have met the expectations of the parts - especially Harry Dworchak, the Abimelech, and Liam Moran, the Old Hebrew.

[Below: Dalila (Stephanie Blythe) and Samson (Frank Porretta) with a dancer; edited image, based on David Bachman photograph, courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.]

The company considered creating a new production of the opera from scratch, but in time decided to purchase and recondition a production previously co-owned by Memphis Opera and the Hawaii Opera Theater.

The production is a unit set consisting of a raised circular area that serves as the base for every scene. This base is ornamented by the exterior of the Philistines’ temple in Act I, the tent in which Dalila dwells (amidst palm trees) in Act II. Act III’s two scenes feature the millstone that the blind Samson must turn, and then the interior of Dagon’s temple.

Sky scenes are projected on the back rear of the stage for the first and second acts, including the second act storm. The projections gave the feel of having been developed separately from the sets, but one imagines that, in future revivals of this production, the designer of the projections might fine-tune them to give the production a more seamless look.

The great theatrical event in any production of “Samson” is the destruction of the temple of Dagon to end the opera. The Pittsburgh production had enough of a “wow” factor to please its audiences.

Christopher Hahn, Pittsburgh Opera’s newly installed general director and Antony Walker, the opera’s musical director, believe that Saint-Saens’ masterwork is an example of the French grand opera style that is possible for regional opera companies to produce effectively. Thus, the decision of Pittsburgh Opera to purchase and refurbish these sets, which will be available for rental by regional companies, is part of Pittsburgh Opera’s plans to promote performances of this opera outside of the world’s largest opera companies.

Of course, “Samson et Dalila” requires three major mature voices, and two major comprimario parts of relatively short duration, but many grand operas require at least twice as many.

[Below: Dalila (Stephanie Blythe) implores Samson (Frank Porretta) to reveal to her the secret of his strength; edited image, based on David Bachman photograph, courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.]

“Samson” has two dance sequences, including the celebrated third act Bacchanale. Pittsburgh Opera demonstrated that with as few as 11 dancers, in this instance from a community-based dance troupe, the Pittsburgh Attack Theatre, it is possible to keep the audience’s interest.

The choreography was not quite the randy Venusberg of the Los Angeles Opera production of Wagner’s “Tannhauser” (whose review may be found on this website), but the dancers clearly intended to suggest a wide range of sexual experiences were taking place within the temple’s celebrations.

[Below: Dancers from Pittsburgh's Attack Theatre perform the Bacchanale; edited image, based on a David Bachman photograph, courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.]

The stage direction by Stephen Pickover was traditional, with relatively little effort to go beyond the basic blocking of the stage positions of principals and chorus. I miss the many touches of Sandra Bernhard’s directing in last fall’s production of the opera in San Francisco, that suggested the terror and attraction that both the Philistines and the Israelites felt for one another.

On at least one point, though, I prefer Pickover’s concept. Just before the opera’s end, Samson whispers to the young boy who leads him to the load-bearing columns, and, being the only person forewarned of what is to happen, the boy runs out of the temple.

Anyone who appreciates great operatic singing, who is able to attend one of the three remaining performances of the work in Pittsburgh, should consider experiencing Stephanie Blythe’s bravura performance of Dalila.  With the added attractions of masterful conducting by French opera enthusiast Antony Walker, and commendable performances by Porretta and Josephson, Saint-Saens’ exotic music is a treat.

For recent reviews of “Samson et Dalila” in other cities see: Exotic Immersion: “Samson” in S. F. - September 11, 2007

and Seductive Denyce Graves Enthralls San Diego in “Samson et Dalila” - February 23, 2007

[Below: What's the worst that can happen? A blinded and humiliated Samson (Frank Porretta) places himself between the Temple of Dagon's load-bearing pillars; edited image, based on David Bachman photograph, courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.]

Massenet’s most popular opera is a tale of instantaneous sexual attraction between adolescents, acted on impulsively, with disastrous results, against a society in which family honor and social conventions are constantly countervailing forces. That much of that social order is itself decadent and corrupt is fully evident from the opera’s libretto and score, whether or not a McVicar is there to accentuate the negative.

[Below: Manon (Natalie Dessay) and Chevalier des Grieux (Jonas Kaufmann) impulsively decide to run away and live together; edited image, based on Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

Readers of this website know of the high regard I have for the opera, for productions that display the opera’s abundant drama and passion (such productions including Vincent Paterson’s for Los Angeles Opera), and for operatic stars who excel in singing the luxuriously beautiful melodies Massenet composed and who present the drama convincingly.

Much of this review will concentrate on McVicar’s production, which emphasized a unit set, the active involvement of the ballet troupe, and, to a somewhat lesser but still impressive extent, the chorus, in stage business throughout the opera.

The unit set is basically a slice of the circumference of a circular arena, with four tiers in which spectators can stand, the action taking place on the piece of the arena’s adjoining floor. When the Lyric Opera audience enters the theater, the McVicar sets are in full display. They include small round tables and long monastery style dining tables.

Several minutes before the house lights dim and conductor Emmanuelle Villaume takes his place at the podium, characters in 18th century dress (whom we soon will realize are the 12 members of the opera ballet) begin to walk about the stage sets, peering at the audience, and constantly fanning themselves.  Occasionally one or more will walk on top of the long tables, or climb up a ladder leaning against the spectator tiers. 

When Villaume does arrive and begins conducting a spirited performance, each of the 12 fall into a choreographed ballet pantomime. In a McVicar production, each ballet member and chorister is an individual character going about his or her business. The choristers who, unlike the ballet members, never move together in choreographed motions as a single unit, distribute themselves among the four arena spectator tiers.

But, beyond McVicar’s enchanting conceptualization, the quality of the singing arguably set new standards for performing Massenet. We become engrossed in the conversation of two of opera’s most notable “dirty old men” Guillot de Morfontaine (excellently sung and played by David Cangelosi) and the Marquis De Bretigny (Jake Gardner).

[Below: Manon (Natalie Dessay) attracts the interest of Guillot de Morfontaine (David Cangelosi); edited image, based on a Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

Most opera companies will cast major character actors in the Guillot and De Bretigny roles, but we know we are in a special performance when we hear the quality of singing for the smaller comprimario roles in the bustling first scene at the Amiens coach stop. Each role is played by a member of the Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center Young Artists Program - the Innkeeper (Sam Handley) and the chattering trio of camp followers, Poussette (Andriana Churchman), Javotte (Kathryn Leemhuis) and Rosette (Katherine Lerner).

Christopher Feigum plays Manon’s cousin, Lescaut. His light baritone was interesting in the first scene, and proved expansive and affecting for the more substantive music Lescaut gets to sing in the opera’s later scenes.

The heart of this opera are the lovers - Manon, who appears in all six scenes and Des Grieux, who appears in five. The team of French soprano Natalie Dessay and German tenor Jonas Kaufmann raised the performance bar to a new level - unmatched by even the legendary duo of Beverly Sills and Nicolai Gedda (whom I saw together at San Francisco Opera, 1971), nor by a memorable pairing directed by John Copley with Ruth Ann Swenson and Jerry Hadley (San Francisco Opera, 1998).  Nor was this pair exceeded by the enchanting performances of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon (Los Angeles Opera, 2006). For a review of the latter, see: “Thriller”: Paterson Links with Netrebko, Villazon and Domingo in L. A. “Manon” - October 5, 2006.

[Below: Manon (Natalie Dessay) and des Grieux (Jonas Kaufmann) dine at their little table in their Rue Vivienne apartment; edited image, based on Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

Chicago is the first city to hear Kaufmann in this role. The German tenor, now in his late 30s, possesses a lustrous voice with brilliance at the top of the tenor range, a beautiful legato, superb vocal control and the ability to move (seemingly) effortlessly between a projected pianissimo (as if he were a tenor Tebaldi) and an open voice at full volume.

[Below: Jonas Kaufmann, appearing in a concert in Montpellier, France; edited image, based on a photograph of an unidentified photographer.]

Massenet provides the music for a great tenor to show his stuff. Kaufmann sang des Grieux’ great showpieces En fermant les yeux and Ah! fuyez, douce image with such beauty, intensity of feeling, elegance of execution and technical skill that it must have occurred to others than myself that this man from Munich is defining what present day excellence in the French tenor repertory sounds like.

Kaufmann sings both the Berlioz and Gounod Fausts, and soon will have a role debut as Romeo in Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” at Opera National de Paris. But lest he be “pigeon-holed” simply as the emerging contemporary champion of French opera, he is simultaneously working on a rather different group of tenor roles - Walther in Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger” and the title role of Wagner’s “Parsifal” (he has already performed both roles at the Zurich Opera), as well as the title role of Wagner’s “Lohengrin”, that he is scheduled to sing at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper.  

Natalie Dessay’s small stature and school-girl looks make her a natural for playing a giddy adolescent. But her dainty appearance belies as large a voice and as accomplished a coloratura technique as one finds in Manon or similar roles on the opera stages today. She is also a savvy actress who performs well under McVicar’s intensely detailed stage direction. For a review of her recent Lucia at San Francisco Opera, see: Dessay’s Lucia di Lammermoor Delights in San Francisco - June 29, 2008.

McVicar’s ideas constantly impress. At the Amiens coach stop, Dessay’s Manon sits on her stack of luggage.  When she catches the eye of Kaufmann’s des Grieux, he stumbles into the stack of luggage, almost knocking her off of it.

In the apartment on the Rue Vivienne, the ballet characters spy on the lovers, continuously peeping from behind furnishings, even when Manon steps out of her clothes to take her bath.  The Rue Vivienne quartet when Manon conspires with Bretigny, and Lescaut deceives des Grieux, was effectively presented. 

Like Netrebko in the Los Angeles “Manon”, Dessay performs the aria Adieu, notre petite table while reclining on the table itself in erotic positions. When family honor requires the kidnapping of the Chevalier by his own father, it is more than emotionally traumatic for the errant son.  He is knocked out cold by his abductors.

[Below: Manon (Natalie Dessay) at the Cours La Reine with the Marquis de Bretigny (Jake Gardiner); edited image, based on Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

The father, Comte des Grieux, was wonderfully realized by Raymond Aceto, whose appearances in French roles are as impressive as his commanding presence of the Verdian repertory. The Comte’s relatively short appearances in his three different scenes of the opera become the center of attention whenever he is onstage.  The encounter with Dessay’s Manon was beautifully and elegantly done.

No part of a McVicar production escapes the attention of the master.  The ballet itself was a fascinating presentation, with a fantastic plot involving an archer-hunter and his prey. The irony, of course, is that this lavishly imaginative creation is barely noticed by the person for whom it was intended.

[Below: A distracted Manon (Natalie Dessay, front right) thinks about Chevalier des Grieux' upcoming ordination into the priesthood, rather than the ballet that Guillot has spent a fortune to have performed for her; edited image, based on Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

This being La Belle Epoque French opera, Massenet pulls out all the stops for an archetypal Saint Sulpice scene of religious sanctity giving way to sexual abandon.  After an affecting scene between the Comte and the Chevalier, in which the former pitches the idea of marriage and fatherhood for the Chevalier, and after Kaufmann’s Chevalier sings (Ah! fuyez) his determination to overcome his memories of Manon, she shows up to wreck his willpower.

Few modern stage directors, certainly not McVicar, can resist the juxtaposition of Des Grieux’ line Ne parle pas d’amour ici, c’est un blaspheme (It’s blasphemy to speak of love in this place - Des Grieux clasping his hands in prayer in McVicar’s concept) with the two falling entwined in each others’ arms onto the floor of the sanctuary.

The scene that takes place in the Casino at the Hotel de Transylvanie is vintage McVicar. The croupier, in a deliciously decadent portrayal by tenor Rodell Rosel, is surrounded by persons of great wealth and profound depravity. In what seems to be perfectly natural behavior, virtually all of the characters of the opera - Guillot, the Chevalier and Manon, Lescaut, Pousette, Rosette and Javotte, even the Comte des Grieux - appear to frequent this very edgy place.

Everyone is gambling, and everyone seems intoxicated.  One handsome young man loses everything except his underwear.  But he snuggles next to some men who find his nakedness interesting enough to provide him with some additional paper money to stuff in his underwear as they delicately stroke his legs.

[Below: What's the worst that can happen? Chevalier des Grieux (Jonas Kaufmann, seated) angers the powerful Guillot de Morfontaine (David Cangelosi, standing, bareheaded) by winning at cards as Manon (Natalie Dessay) looks on; edited image, based on Robert Kusel photograph, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.]

The moral of “Manon” may well be that it’s not in the interest of persons of limited means to go out of their way to cross and humiliate persons of wealth and power. The story ends badly for the lovers, especially for Manon, although the audience, particularly with this cast, can revel in the glorious music of the final scene.

Many were involved in this meritorious production, but special mention should be made of the Set and Costume Designer, Tanya McCallin, who was a true collaborator on such McVicar ideas as the voyeurism and the concept of the arena. A special note is the exclusive use of cloth for the costumes of a kind that existed in the 18th century (no synthetics). Thus, almost all of the production’s costumes are made of silk.

The McVicar production of this opera with the current cast is enthusiastically recommended.

The production presented in San Francisco is the production that Willi Decker created for the 2004 Salzburg festival, starring Torsten Kerl as Paul and conducted by Runnicles. Decker’s “Billy Budd”, also conducted by Runnicles, had introduced the controversial director to San Francisco.

Even though one could take issue with certain of the “Budd” images, that production may be considered conservative by Decker standards, whose work often highlights the mysterious images of dreams. “Tote Stadt”, whose long dream sequences are the core of the opera, seemed the perfect choice for seeing a Decker effort for an opera with a libretto that is consonant with the Decker style.

Decker is attracted to operatic characters crippled by obsessions, and the claustrophobic world in which Paul has lived in the years since his young wife’s death is obvious subject matter for him.

Furthermore, Korngold, who grew up in Freud’s Vienna, and was co-librettist of “Tote Stadt” with his father, was fully conscious of the current psychiatric theories about the interpretation of dreams. Sexuality, seduction and violence in Paul’s dreamworld is not there by accident, nor is the message that the activities in the dreamworld might somehow bring resolution to Paul’s psychological problems in the land of consciousness.

[Below: A grieving Paul (Torsten Kerl) with the image of his deceased wife; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

I attended the last of a six performance run. Although the opera is relatively short (two hours and 35 minutes, including its intermission, it requires a large opera orchestra - one with the skills to excel with the big German works like Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” or “Goetterdaemmerung” or Richard Strauss’ “Die Frau Ohne Schatten”.

The two lead parts, Paul and Marie/Marietta clearly are written for big voices - those with the weight and stamina to sing the roles of Tristan and Isolde, or Siegfried and Bruennhilde, or the Emperor and Empress. Kerl repeated his role from Salzburg and elsewhere (and from Runnicles’ CD recording of the opera.) Magee, a product of the Lyric Opera of Chicago apprentice programs, also has considerable experience with this production, having performed the role in Vienna.

[Below: Marietta (Emily Magee) visits Paul at his house; edited image, based on Terrence McCarthy photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

Kerl has begun t