Cominciamo!

The coming week marks the end of what has been a listless summer.

Wednesday night is the opening gala of the San Francisco Symphony, which I'll be attending for the first time courtesy of a kindly extended invitation. Lang Lang will perform Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto and MTT has programmed waltzes by Liszt, Ravel and Rodgers to round out the evening. I've only seen Lang Lang once before and I wasn't impressed by his flamboyant bludgeoning, but perhaps this time will be different. My expectations are minimal, as musicianship is said to take a back seat to glitz and glamour at this event. I'm curious to see if this is true or merely the grumblings of those priced out of a concert that doubles as the opening night of the San Francisco social season. Nevertheless, it should be an interesting evening of people-watching and eaves-dropping in a milieu I rarely visit .

On Friday much of this same crowd will make their way across the street for San Francisco Opera's opening night, where a strong cast will perform Il Trovotore, the blustery opening of which seems a perfect fit for the evening. The "Anvil Chorus" will undoubtedly remind some in the audience of certain procedures endured over the summer in their quest to reverse the aging process and they'll undoubtedly walk out of the War Memorial humming the tune, unlikely to return to the building until San Francisco Ballet's opening night. One has to wonder at the wisdom of gathering the wealthiest denizens of San Francisco in one building on September 11th, just because tradition dictates the event be held on the second Friday of September. Has the thought crossed anyone else's mind besides my own that real-life Azucenas lurk among us? Not that I'm paranoid mind you, but stride la vampa and in Trovatore, fate's a bitch. I'll be attending the performance on the 16th instead. Besides, I wasn't invited.


Thankfully I'll be in LA that evening, attending a special tour of the Mt. Wilson observatory if it hasn't burned to the ground.

The next day is the opening of LA Opera's season, featuring another strong cast performing Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Nino Machaidze, the Georgian beauty who bears more than a passing resemblance to Angelina Jolie and is already being hyped as the next Netrebko, will make her US debut as Adina. Barihunk Nathan Gunn is Belcore. Two Italians who greatly impressed me in San Francisco over the past year, Giuseppe Filianoti (an excellent turn in last year's Lucia) and Giorgio Caoduro (Belcore in L'Elisir) round out the cast. Caoduro is substituting for Ruggero Raimondo, who has just pulled out due to injury. The sex-appeal of this cast is almost palpable and perfectly suited for LA's opening night, where the well-dressed crowd spills across the Music Center to enjoy the warm weather and each other's outfits.

Summer is over. Let the pleasures of fall begin.