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Author: Paul Hertelendy

A NEW OPERA ON THE TOO-FREQUENT TRAGEDY

A NEW OPERA ON THE TOO-FREQUENT TRAGEDY

Kaija Saariaho, one of the most poetic of composers in recent decades, created the operatic tragedy “Innocence” dwelling on one of the most painful episodes of recent years: in-school shootings, with a libretto initially by Sofi Oksanen, then reworked and adapted by Saariaho’s gifted son, Aleksi Barrière. Saariaho is best known for her earlier and widely played opera “L’amour de loin” (The Distant Beloved). The current one, in its U.S. premiere June 1, could not be timelier; our stages have…

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WHEN IS THE COMPOSER NOT THE COMPOSER?

WHEN IS THE COMPOSER NOT THE COMPOSER?

STANFORD, CA—This open question was the foremost takeaway from the evening’s tour de force, a nonstop outpouring of intensity and virtuosity. Terry Riley’s west coast premiere piece “The Holy Liftoff” raised these questions when his work was performed here May 8. Sample pages of his score showed his elaborate illustrations full of imaginary figures and whimsy—-but including merely 100 or so musical notes written out for the 75-minute nonstop work played by flute, string quartet and multiple prerecorded tracks, devoid…

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A NEW TWO-TONE SWAN SAVES THE BALLET’S DAY

A NEW TWO-TONE SWAN SAVES THE BALLET’S DAY

          Talk about pressure in the dancer’s subbing for the “Swan Lake” dream role! Because of a late injury, pressed into emergency fill-in service April 30 was Jasmine Jimison, who had never appeared as the Swan Queen Odette before. She saved the day for the S. F. Ballet with her studious, consistent interpretation, winning tsunamis of plaudits for her courage at the Opera House.           Even better: She progressed to that feared-yet-envied double role, going from the White Swan to…

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A PRECARIOUS POLITICAL BALANCE

A PRECARIOUS POLITICAL BALANCE

If you were riled by Shostakovich’s Stalinist anthem opening the S.F. Symphony program, the worries were balanced by a much bigger selection from Ukraine’s stellar product, Sergei Prokofiev, whose grand-scale Symphony No. 3 took up half the program and shook the rafters. So, the 9-minute Funeral March from the movie “Great Citizen” honoring the Stalinist patriot Kirov gets a pass this time, however bad the taste left in your mouth by its genuflections and fortissimos. Following on April 25 came…

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SCHOENBERG’S EPIC LANDMARK CYCLE

SCHOENBERG’S EPIC LANDMARK CYCLE

Without the clown costume and makeup, Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” was still a success, thanks to a super-charged singer who could dot all the erratic i’s. Even a century later, the song cycle/monodrama can shock and outrage audiences almost as much as in 1912, given its ruthless abandonment of tonality as well as the depressing nihilism of the poems in the text. It was undeniably a landmark opus. But credit the devotees of the Contemporary Music Players for enthusiasm at the…

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DANCE TROUPE’S THEATER PIECES, REVIVING A HISTORIC PAST

DANCE TROUPE’S THEATER PIECES, REVIVING A HISTORIC PAST

BERKELEY, CA—-Always count on the dean of US modern-dance choreographers, Mark Morris, 67, to pull rabbits out of the hat. The company director has lost none of his mojo. The Mark Morris Dance Group did a rarity at Zellerbach Hall. Not only was MM’s “Via Dolorosa” a world premiere, but it was the first time in memory that the veteran ever tackled a sacred-religious theme in dance with his troupe. His dancers—nine of them here, all stellar interchangeable parts—are exquisitely…

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THE SING-AND-SWING HISTORICAL OPERA, IN DOUBLE-BILL

THE SING-AND-SWING HISTORICAL OPERA, IN DOUBLE-BILL

This operatic double-bill ended in rousing fashion, with the closing “Balls” improbably linkinga historic tennis match with singing in technological wizardry beyond anything we’ve encountered before, even on major stages. In “Balls,” imagine reenacting the historic 1973 women’s lib tennis victory of Billie Jean King (without tennis balls) over the outspoken sexist Bobby Riggs, the single most publicized event of women’s sports coming of age, with 90 million viewing it worldwide. This required vintage televideo images, a videographer along the…

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STAND BACK, MALES: TIME FOR ‘DOS MUJERES’

STAND BACK, MALES: TIME FOR ‘DOS MUJERES’

A rousing celebration of Hispanic culture came off with the S.F. Ballet’s “Dos mujeres” program, continuing offstage well into the night before the large and wildly enthusiastic crowd. The entire Opera House was decorated high and low with multi-color South-of-the-Border images, including the oversize flowers enhancing the box seats. The new Artistic Director Tamara Rojo hit the nail on the cabeza with her unique pairing, one celebrating the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in the US-premiere gala spectacle “Broken Wings,” the…

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FRONT LINES OF MUSIC, AND TCHAIKOVSKY TOO

FRONT LINES OF MUSIC, AND TCHAIKOVSKY TOO

ROHNERT PARK, CA—-A petite figure from New Zealand brought down the house at the Santa Rosa Symphony, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with an irresistible engaging spirit. Disavowing the powerhouse approach to this concerto, Geneva Lewis set out spinning themes in soft, poetic terms. Her silky play grew in momentum and force through the imposing first movement, ever more climactic, in her congenial collaboration with the orchestra and conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong. In a rare show of enthusiasm prior to the…

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A TIMELESS HEROINE FOR OUR TIMES

A TIMELESS HEROINE FOR OUR TIMES

BERKELEY, CA—-“Anna Karenina” may stem from 19th-century literature, but she is very much a woman of our era, led by her heart, for which she is condemned by a starchy old-line society. Her tale has been taken up by many ballet choreographers since the middle of the past century, none of them more brilliant than Yuri Possokhov, whose mellifluous flow of major-production dancers in his five-year-old “Anna” more than compensates for his insatiable thirst for scenelets—13 of them in all,…

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