ArtsSF

WILL THE SMARTPHONE MIRROR THE ECLIPSE?

March 31, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

Three very modern works on stage. In a nutshell: the eclipse ballet, the smartphone ballet and the mirror ballet. The latest San Francisco Ballet offerings in Program 5 are indeed very contemporary, but more immersed in high energy than meaning or story-telling. The meaning is concentrated in Christopher Wheeldon’s “Bound to” (2018), a timely social critique of smartphone madness, producing a population so mesmerized today watching the mighty cell phone that they will jaywalk blithely oblivious of cars, stare at…

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BALLET: FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION

March 23, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

WALNUT CREEK, CA—The focus is on that precious asset, professional ballet. At a time when larger cities (San Jose comes to mind) has seen such an asset vanish more than once, this suburban community does just fine with its mobile 10-dancer version, now living out its silver-anniversary program in unfettered leaps and bounds. The Diablo Ballet’s celebration seen March 22 was exuberant, animated and entertaining: half dancing, half historical documentary. The film made a strong case for what a dance…

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MIGRANTS’ RESOUNDING ORATORIO PREMIERE

March 19, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

BERKELEY—Are our migrants heroes or opportunists? Decidedly heroes, in composer Jimmy López’s view. He made a strong case for them in his evocative world premiere oratorio “Dreamers,” featuring a sensitive libretto by Nilo Cruz. With the amazing maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting, the 41-minute oratorio was unreeled at Zellerbach Hall March 17. “Dreamers” traces all migrants, from pre-history around the world, in an abstract story-telling. As it turns to the specific plight of the Dreamers and their followers across our frontiers…

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Too Much the Gentleman

March 15, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

Taking on the most passionate repertoire by Prokofiev and Liszt, the pianist maintained total composure. At a time when a Horowitz or Liberace would be gyrating and sweating profusely, the artist emerged as neat and cool as at the start. This is Paul Grosvenor, a superb 26-year-old English pianist whose very composure may be his only enemy. He makes the great virtuosic challenges at the keyboard seem like child’s play, without a mussed hair nor a mopped face—perfectly dressed, down…

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Surprise Verdi, Surprise Troupe

February 24, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

PALO ALTO, CA—The miracle here these days is West Bay Opera producing repertory on a par with professional ones in Italian towns. And only a generation ago WBO was still a sleepy troupe presenting mostly honest amateur productions. Yet more surprises: In the current Verdi staging, the singer who saved the night wasn’t even in the cast. And the New-World conductor in the pit performing like a true Italian maestro, with poetic baton and a passion for cuing singers, also…

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Women Battling Racial Bias

February 24, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

Intimate opera flashed and flickered with insight and drama in the world premiere of Allen Shearer’s “Howards End, America,” given by Earplay in San Francisco on Feb. 22. Based on the E.M. Forster novel, it is now updated to mid-20th-century Boston, focusing on racial conflicts and class distinctions. Its unlikely principals are two white sisters, a hard-striving black man as society’s victim, and the millionaire’s family mansion (Has any edifice apart from Valhalla had a starring role in opera before?)….

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Historical Musical: Irish vs. Blacks

February 18, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

BERKELEY, CA—When the critic of the Bay Area’s leading newspaper gave an unenthusiastic review to “Paradise Square,” and yet so many patrons emerged from the Berkeley Rep contending this was their best show ever, some comment seemed in order. Now, just after close of the stunning run, a modest riposte is offered, based on attendance at a preview: Even in previews, Berkeley Rep’s world premiere production of “Paradise Square” had the feel of a hit Broadway musical. This theatrical exuberance…

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Ballet Premiere/Derniere

February 18, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

You’ve got to admire the chutzpah of a frustrated Benjamin Millepied, resigning his Paris Opera Ballet directorship the night before premiering his dazzling “Appassionata” there in 2016. This month the French choreographer set the S.F. Opera House afire with that same “Appassionata,” using absolute-minimum forces: Six dancers and a pianist (no orchestra). And not even pointe shoes. And he didn’t even resign. Bodies flying uninhibitedly about the vast stage, whirling, thrusting, grabbing. The high-energy piece set to Beethoven brought the…

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Moving Story Ballet; Others, Not So Moving

February 16, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

Story ballets are an endangered species these days, certainly nothing compared to the mid-20th century when Agnes deMille and others reigned. New ballets coming down the pike today emphasize ever sharper athleticism and technique, with acting and mime usually stashed away in the closet or confined to oldie revivals. The English choreographer Cathy Marston still dares to be raconteur, and her reprise of “Snowblind” (2018) was the vibrant centerpiece of the S.F. Ballet’s otherwise uneven Program Three opener. It features…

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Pianist: The father of us all?

February 13, 2019 Paul Hertelendy

You could write a book about pianist/teacher Leon Fleisher: Childhood prodigy, collaborator with Hertz and Monteux, student of Artur Schnabel, recipient of Rachmaninoff’s advice, victim of a severe three-decade right-hand injury, commissioner and performer of numerous left-hand-only compositions, eminent Peabody teacher. Now 90, the indestructible Fleisher returned to San Francisco to play a Mozart concerto, cautious solo pieces and reminiscences. Some think that the Year One for American pianists bursting onto the international scene was 1958, with Van Cliburn winning…

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