SFJazz & San Francisco Performances 2013-14: a dozen picks

The Bad Plus. Photo by Cameron Witting.

SFJazz and San Francisco Performances have shared many of the same venues over the years, and many artists have appeared on both rosters. This year is no different, as the Herbst Theater goes dark for seismic retrofitting and other changes, San Francisco Performances moves into new places, and this season finds many of their concerts taking place inside SFJazz's new hall. The two organizations have different missions, styles and audiences, but both are equally committed to bringing the best performers from around the world to the local audience. Here are twelve concerts and performances culled from both of their schedules which will no doubt please music and dance lovers:

Robert Glasper Experiment. Oct. 18 (2 shows)
Glasper is one of the most interesting young jazz musicians on the scene right now. His exceptional technique combined with his deep knowledge of musical idioms and the ability to incorporate them makes him a rewarding artist to check out. The last time I saw him he ended up on my best of the year list.

Esperanza Spalding, Geri Allen, & Terri Lynn Carrington. Oct. 24 (2 shows)
Spalding may be the most famous member of this trio, aka ACS, but she's matched at every level by Allen and Carrington. Should be a tour de force.

Eddie Palmieri. 11/29-12/1
The pianist rolls into town for three nights with multiple formats and line-ups. All will undoubtedly be cooking. It's up to you to choose how spicy you want it: one show on 11/29 with the EP Septet with Donald Harrison and Eddie Cuber; Salsa party? There are two shows with the septet on 11/30, reserved and dancefloor seating available. Choose the dance floor, of course because nobody can set a groove on fire like Palmieri. On 12/1 he performs with Alfredo de la Fe and Joe Locke, along with the sextet version of the band.

Wayne McGregor Random Dance. Jan 17-19
Choreographer/Director/Tech Magician Wayne McGregor’s astounding company returns to SF Performances with an evening-length tour-de-force for ten dancers that blurs the lines between live performance, philosophy and real-time technology. FAR features a superbly hip score by Brian Eno collaborator Ben Frost and an ambitious set featuring 3,200 computerized LED penlights. As with his other works, a cognitive research process informed FAR’s creation, sparked by the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment.

Heidi Melton. Jan. 26
The local favorite and rising international star comes home to sing songs by Berlioz, Haydn, Heggie and Horowitz. Her voice is so strong that if you sit up front I guarantee you will feel the air around you moving as she sings.

Alina Ibragimova & Cedric Tiberghien. Feb. 15
This intriguing duo will perform Mozart's Sonata in G Major, KV 301 and Sonata in E minor, KV 304; Cage's Six Melodies: Webern's Four Pieces, Opus 7, and Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The Kreutzer is what draws me to this one. I'm always interested in hearing it performed, especially by a man and a woman. Tolstoy's tale sticks with me I guess.

Stephen Petronio Company. March 14, 15
The mythology of resurrection has inspired innovative New York dance-maker and SF Performances favorite Stephen Petronio to create a new evening-length work with composer Son Lux and visual artist Janine Antoni. Petronio’s hallmark is a visceral collision of movement, music, visual art and fashion that come together in vividly sensual performance landscapes that are “unlike anything offered by other contemporary choreographers.” (The New York Times)

Hugh Masekela. March 25, 26
The South African horn player comes to town to celebrate his 75th birthday. Hearing him play "Grazing in the Grass" will make me a happy person. Everything after that is just a bonus, but I'd be surprised if this didn't end up being an exceptionally great evening of music.

Brad Mehldau Trio. April 5
If the Keith Jarrett Trio are the elder statesmen of the trio format, these guys are its next great generation. Will definitely sell out early.

Stefan Jackiw & Anna Polonsky. April 13
Here's some hype: "This is a young violinist whose artistry has been acclaimed as 'striking for its intelligence and sensitivity' (Boston Globe) and 'playing that’s off the scale'(Washington Post). Stefan Jackiw's performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto at the Sydney Opera House was seen by more than 30 million viewers on YouTube. Not yet 30 years old, he has been catching ears and turning heads in the music world for more than a decade and has been favorably compared to the young Perlman and Stern." I know next to nothing about these two except for what I've read in the press but the program they've scheduled is probably the most interesting I've seen this year, so yes, definitely. I want to check this out: Mozart's Violin Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 378; Lutoslowski's Partita; Saariaho's Nocturne; and Brahms' Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Opus 108.

Stephanie Blythe. May 3
Blythe is a force of nature and she's singing a program dedicated to American music with Warren Jones, one of the best collaborative pianists in the business. There are a lot of recitals to see this year, but none I want to hear more than this one.

The Bad Plus. May 8-11
Standing outside Hertz Hall last summer getting ready to hear this trio perform Stravisnky's Rite of Spring during the Ojai North! Festival this past summer I met a man who told me he never, ever misses a show by this band. When the performance was over, I too, was completely converted. These guys are brilliant and they kick ass.

Cal Performances 2013-14 season: a dozen picks

Mitsuko Uchida.

As usual, it is extremely difficult to choose among the bounty of riches offered by Cal Performances this coming season. My original list still numbered 20 shows and the only way I whittled it down was to first remove performers one had a chance to see elsewhere, including such favorites as Yefim Bronfman, Stephanie Blythe, YoYo Ma, and Joshua Redman. That still left a lot on the table, so in the end I went with the rare, the exotic, and the too good to pass up. However, I encourage you to check their entire schedule to see what I left out, which is a diverse lot of performers well worth seeing. Below are the twelve I wouldn't want to miss, listed in chronological order. Since many of these are performers I haven't seen, in some cases I've used Cal's description of the event.

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette. Oct 4.
The most formidable living jazz trio, now performing together for 30 years, returns. Who knows what they'll play? It doesn't really matter. Guaranteed to sell out.

Nederlands Dans Theater. Oct 23, 24
From Cal: The highly influential and stylistically innovative Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) has boasted some of the most daring choreography, conceptually compelling drama, and technically dazzling movement in modern dance history. NDT's 2011 groundbreaking Berkeley visit featured unforgettable work by the company's resident choreographer team of Paul Lightfoot and Sol León. Now, the company returns with more of Lightfoot and León's signature magic with two West Coast premieres. Sehnsuchttakes place in a surreal revolving cube, set to the music of Beethoven. Clever and hilarious, Schmetterling finds dancers revealing their personalities against a score by the Magnetic Fields. "They are the world's most magnificent dancers, a retina-shredding spectacle of passion and power" (Sunday Herald, Glasgow). 

Mariza Oct. 30
If you've heard Ana Moura perform, then you know the sensuous appeal of the fado singer. I've never seen Mariza, but I'm pleased more of this music is making its way here. From Cal: No living singer conveys the achingly beautiful, nostalgic, ecstatic music of Portuguese fado with more style and passion than superstar fadista Mariza. Dubbed "the Sade of fado" by the New York Times, Mariza is a regal and alluring presence onstage, able to make a large hall feel as intimate as a tavern, with "a voice schooled in fado's depths" (The Independent, London). Mariza refreshes classics of the genre and adds modern repertoire from Brazil, Cuba, and beyond, backed by a band that effortlessly weaves the music's African roots with contemporary styles.

Union Tanguera: Niut Blanche. Nov. 17
Tango time. From Cal: Combining the sensuality and intimacy of social dance with the formal expressivity of grand theater, Unión Tanguera's latest work features a cast of virtuoso tango dancers and musicians in a story set in a nightclub over the course of a single sleepless night, or nuit blanche. The French Argentinian ensemble is co-directed by Claudia Codega and Esteban Moreneo, who studied with the greatest tango maestros of the 1980s and 1990s, and who now represent a new generation of tango choreographers whose work "intelligently reinterprets the vocabulary of pure tango" (Danseur). The company visits on its first American tour, with an ensemble of first-call Buenos Aires musicians and a production "perfect in rhythm and spirit" (Ballet 2000).

Wu Man.  Jan 26
I first saw Wu Man perform with Kronos a couple of years ago. I never wrote about it, but it was one of the best performances I saw that year. Man, who plays the pipa, is a musician of stunning dexterity and imagination. She lit a fire under Kronos and in the audience with her contagious enthusiasm. I'm really looking forward to seeing her in this solo recital.

Calder Quartet.  Feb 23
The more I see these musicians the more they intrigue me with their virtuosity and repertoire selections- they perform with a heady mix of talent and intellect. From Cal: The Calder Quartet is at the vanguard of an exhilarating new generation of American string quartets breathing renewed life into classic repertoire and forging new paths forward through close relationships with living composers. The Los Angeles-based ensemble, fresh off its post as the Juilliard Graduate Resident String Quartet, returns to Cal Performances for Schubert's masterful rumination on mortality, the Death and the Maiden quartet; and a rarely performed Schoenberg quartet featuring soprano. "These four players exuded a kind of rapture in which they were very much in tune with not only the pulse on the page or the score's moody melodies and richly somber harmonies, but also of each other" (Los Angeles Times). 

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  Mar. 7-9
A truly special event. Three performances, each with a different program and conductor, to hear one of the world's best orchestras. I would choose the Sunday concert led by Franz Welser-Möst, but I doubt one would one be any less great than the others. From Cal:

 No other musical ensemble is more closely associated with the history and tradition of European classical music than the Vienna Philharmonic. Over a formidable 170-year history, the musicians of this orchestra have maintained a tradition of beauty and excellence in music-making—enjoying close associations with many of the most influential composers—Wagner, Verdi, Bruckner, Brahms, Liszt, Strauss, Mahler—and conductors—Richter, Furtwängler, von Karajan, Bernstein—in the history of music. The Vienna Philharmonic visits Berkeley for a three-concert residency with repertoire shining a light on the orchestra's deep connection to its famous musical legacy. 

Highlights include Italian conductor Daniele Gatti, a renowned Mahler interpreter, in a program including Mahler's 4th Symphony; Brahms's Third Symphony (premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic in 1883) conducted by stellar Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons—"the next big thing among young conductors" (New York Times); and an exploration of enduring scores by influential Viennese composers (and a contemporary work from a composer who is creating in Vienna today), conducted by Franz Welser-Möst—a rare chance to experience his magnificent music-making beyond Cleveland where he is music director of The Cleveland Orchestra. 
The Vienna Philharmonic's residency will also include extensive activities in the community and with UC Berkeley students, including master classes, chamber music, and a special symposium focusing on the history of the orchestra.

Trey McIntyre Project. Mar. 21 &22
Based on what I've heard over the past couple of years I'm beginning to feel I'm really missing out on something for not having seen this company perform on their last visit. Time to change that, with this program featuring the music of Henry Cowell. From Cal: Choreographer Trey McIntyre creates innovative, fun, and technically daring contemporary ballet that speaks uniquely of the American moment. With more than 90 works to his credit, McIntyre's choreography has been praised for its "singular connection between movement and spirit" (Los Angeles Times), an athletic style that is both winningly clever and earnestly soulful. McIntyre's works reflect on timeless human themes like loss, wonder, and innocence, and he has been inspired by topics as far-ranging as Shakespearean tragedy, the 1970s children's record Free to Be...You and Me, and post-Katrina New Orleans. The company returns after its warmly received Cal Performances debut two seasons ago, with McIntyre's (serious), a gripping work that explores emotional alienation and social tension. 

Mitsuko Uchida. Mar 25
Finally, a chance to see this legendary pianist, and in the smaller, more intimate Hertz Hall. She'll be performing Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and Schubert's Sonata in G major, Op. 78. Not to be missed, but the tickets start at $100 (!) ... so if that's a bit pricey, also on the same night there's Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (from Cal): "The extraordinary skill of the Trocks proves that to undo ballet, one must first be able to do ballet" (The Telegraph, London). The all-male drag ballet company, affectionately known as the Trocks, specializes in a loving critique of the conventions and traditions of ballet: campy and hysterical, but informed and beautifully executed. The company has become an international dance phenomenon, performing canonical works alongside more obscure ballets, dolled up in fabulous costumes, thick makeup, and sporting Ken-doll wigs—all en pointe. The fact that men dance all the parts—heavy bodies delicately balancing on toes as swans, nymphs, princesses—enhances, rather than mocks, the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting knowledgeable ballet audiences and novices alike. 

Kronos Quartet with Combat Paper Project: A Meditation on the Great War. April 6
A new collaboration project from Kronos, which is constantly pushing the boundaries. This looks very promising. From Cal: A Meditation on the Great War, a collaboration with Iraq war veteran-turned-visual artist Drew Cameron of the Combat Paper Project, commemorates the centennial of the outbreak of World War I with a new multimedia work exploring history and its haunting of the present: a newly commissioned score by composer Aleksandra Vrebalov inspired by anti-war narratives of that era, and new film by Bill Morrison that draws from archival WWI footage. Kronos, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, is an incubator of ideas, always ready to ask us to reflect on our role in world events, and the history we are all creating. 

Christianne Stotijn, Rick Stotijn & Joseph Breini.  April 13.
From Cal: One of the great mezzos of our day, blazing a trail in Europe and more recently in the U.S., mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn joins forces with double bassist Rick Stotijn and longtime collaborator, pianist Joseph Breinl, for a program of intimate solo, duo, and trio works embracing lush Romanticism, cabaret humor, charming folk song, and unbridled virtuosity. Christianne, a charismatic and passionate interpreter of art songs, has earned an international reputation for her performances of Mahler in particular—she is "that artist in a thousand whose personality shines through everything she does" (BBC Music Magazine). Rick, celebrated for his performances of Bottesini's bass repertoire, is principal bassist with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The recital includes arrangements of Ravel, Bolcom, and Glinka, plus two works composed especially for the trio: Ned Rorem's song cycle based on Shakespeare's sonnets, and a new piece by Dutch composer Michel van der Aa. 

Mark Morris Dance Group and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale: Acis and Galatea.  April 25-27
You don't want to miss this. From Cal:  Cal Performances, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra present their latest joint undertaking, the world premiere of a production featuring Mozart's brilliant arrangement of a Handel score. An epic love story from Ovid's Metamorphoses set along the pastoral banks of the Mediterranean, Acis and Galateais performed in English by four vocalists and the Mark Morris Dance Group, joined by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale. Handel finished the opera in 1739 and Mozart later arranged it in the classical style, expanding the instrumental colors of the score and adding his signature clarity of orchestration. A feast for the eyes as well as the ears, the new production features sets and costumes by Adrianne Lobel and Isaac Mizrahi, previous collaborators with Morris on King Arthur and Platée. 

Don't forget Cal Performances begins every season with their free, family-friendly, and day long celebration of the performing arts, Free For All, which takes place all over the Berkeley campus on Sunday, Sept. 29. Also, leave room on your calendars for next year's Ojai North! festival, which takes place in mid-June and will be curated by pianist/writer Jeremy Denk.

Tickets for all performances are now on sale. Design-Your-Own and other subscriptions are available and include a discount of up to 25%. You can order online, by phone (510) 642-9988, or in person. The Ticket Office is located at the northeast corner of Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Ticket Office hours are: Tue - Fri, 12 - 5:30 pm; Sat & Sun, 1 pm - 5 pm, and approximately one hour prior to curtain. (Holiday and University break hours may vary; please call for updates before visiting the Ticket Office).  $20 rush tickets are often available ($10 for Cal students), announced three hours before the concert and notification seems to go up first on their Facebook page. Cal Performances is easily accessible via BART (Downtown Berkeley exit), with plenty of dining options nearby, book and record stores to browse in beforehand, and the weather often makes me question why I don't move back to Berkeley.

Placido Domingo comes to Berkeley

Placido Domingo. (Dimitri Messinis / AP)

Even though opportunities to see him perform in the Bay Area are few and far between, I was initially ambivalent about attending Placido Domingo's concert next Saturday night, September 7th, at UC Berkeley's Greek Theater because it's outdoors, amplified, and likely be a program of who-knows-what arias.  I've also seen him a few times before and know I'll probably see him again, maybe next year in L.A Opera's production of Thais, maybe this coming January when he performs at Davies Symphony Hall. But I've seen him, and that burning desire to experience an operatic legend, the finest living singer in the world, has already been satisfied a few times now (and he's always been nothing short of superb).

Last Saturday night, as Margarita and I were leaving the Greek after the Goat Rodeo Sessions, there was a guy handing out postcards promoting the concert. I took one, and asked Margarita if she'd ever heard Domingo perform before. She replied she hadn't but would love to, which led to my telling her about the first time I heard him live. Her eyes lit up as I described the tremendous power, shocking really, of hearing him as Siegmund in Die Walkure.  Up until that point I had never heard such a strong, clear voice- first it stunned me, then it thrilled me. Eventually we moved on to other topics.

Then someone sent me a copy of the program for the concert. The first half is all Wagner and Verdi, including "Winterstuerme" from Die Walkure, "O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Tannhauser, "Udiste...Mira, d'acerbe lagrime" from Il Trovatore, and "Pura siccome un angelo" from Traviata. Reading this list, I started to reconsider.

The second half is a grab bag of operetta (Lehar, Strauss), Broadway (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Bernstein) and zarzuela. I thought about how invested Domingo is at this stage in his career in actually acting while he's singing and these selections made sense to me. Then I remembered one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had was attending a performance of Turandot in 1997 at an outdoor soccer stadium in Rome on a hot  August night in 1997. That pretty much did the trick. I'm in.

Performing with Domingo are sopranos Angel Blue, an Operalia finalist Domingo has described as the next Leontyne Price (I remember her solid performance in SFO's 2009 production Porgy and Bess) and Micäela Oeste, a discovery of Domingo's during his tenure with WNO. Eugene Kohn will conduct the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster with no service fees, and if you enter the code SFS when you order tickets before midnight on Monday, you'll be able to save 50% off tickets in any section. 

How many more opportunities are you going to get? Not many.

The presenter is Another Planet, partnering with Cal Performances.

San Francisco Opera's 2013-14 season

Heidi Stober Patricia Racette

After a couple of dreadfully dull seasons full of dire warnings and dismal productions, two years ago San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley finally figured out how to move forward through the shifting landscape of economic upheaval and rapidly shifting cultural changes which have outright killed or drastically wounded performing arts organizations across the country. Since the success of the Zembello Ring, Moby Dick and Nixon in China, the company appears to have found its footing once again and the past  season was the first in awhile that felt like a solid success. If it didn't quite turn out that way 100% of the time, it wasn't for lack of trying. Opera is a risky business and I'm convinced time will prove the naysayers wrong about Mary Magdalene.

When the coming season was announced last December it seemed a slight step backward, but reconsidering it again eight months later, I think overall it's a solid schedule given the circumstances. While it's not the risky, forward-looking enterprise a certain segment of the audience still craves, the company's current approach appears smartly designed to attract new audiences, keep the occasionals engaged, and makes more than a an obligatory nod to the enthusiasts. Gockley has again offered something for almost everyone and that fact that there's another world premiere taking place reaffirms the man isn't playing it safe. Of course it's just a coincidence that the current approach taken by the administration is starting to increasingly resemble the one I suggested three years ago [except not once did I mention Patricia Racette].

Even though I can only think of one person who may be excited at the prospect of seeing Patricia Racette three four times in one season, I'd see all eight of the productions offered. As I mentioned in December, the only real disappointment here is in the casting [of Patricia Racette in ALMOST EVERYTHING], which is acceptable but not tremendously exciting. Again, where are the company debuts by Nino Machaidze, Michelle De Young, Marina Poplavskaya, Matthias Goerne, Gianluca Terranova or Jonas Kaufmann? Or the return of Stemme, Radvanovsky, Damrau and Keenlyside? Hvorostovsky will appear with the Symphony, but not at the War Memorial. It could just be the way it went this time and things will be brighter in 2014-15.

L to R: Patricia Racette, Patricia Racette, Patricia Racette, Patricia Racette

Here's how I ranked them in order of preference APPEARANCES BY PATRICA RACETTE back in December, which hasn't changed:

Mefistofele: Arrigo Boito's only extant complete opera, with a great cast featuring Ildar Abdrazakov, Ramon Vargas and PATRICIA RACETTE, conducted by Luisotti. A peripheral element of the company's celebration of Verdi's bicentennial, this opera by his best librettist isn't a rarity, but isn't something one sees scheduled too often. This production was last seen in 1994. RACETTE sang Margherita in that one, too. On a side note, I think it's interesting that people are now more interested in seeing Abdrazakov than his wife.

Dolores Claiborne: A world premiere is always cause for excitement and trepidation. This one, commissioned by SFO from composer Tobias Picker (An American Tragedy, Emmeline) and librettist/poet J.D. McClatchy (Grendel, Emmeline), is based on the Stephen King King novel of the same name and stars Dolora Zajick PATRICIA RACETTE [yet AGAIN] (with Catherine Cook alternating for the final two nights) in the title role with Elizabeth Futral, Susannah Biller and Wayne Tigges as the "abusive husband." I haven't read the book nor seen the film based on it, so I have no idea what it's about, but I like the idea of Zajick with an abusive husband- with Racette taking over so late in rehearsal for an ailing Zajick (Cook was the understudy) it sounds like lots of drama.

Show Boat: Though many hate this idea, I for one am happy to see Gockley is finally following the advice I gave him a couple of years ago and committed to presenting American musicals in the opera house (more are on the way). He's even taken one of my casting suggestion. So you can blame me or thank me, depending on your stance, on this blatant attempt to bring in the crowds that will prove to be a huge success. Nathan Gunn, GUESS WHO and the excellent Heidi Stober star in the Kern and Hammerstein classic, directed by Francesa Zambello. It's going to be great, and supposedly done without microphones. But I won't be happy until we get The Music Man.

Falstaff: The one supposedly great Verdi opera I've never warmed to, I'm hoping the first-rate cast led by Bryn Terfel in the title role, along with Ainhoa Arteta and Heidi Stober, and led by Luisotti will do the trick in this production from Chicago. it seems every single opera company in the country is doing Falstaff this year. One question- wtf what is Arteta doing here? Can't this be sung by PATRICIA RACETTE? smh.

The Flying Dutchman: After such a marvelous Lohengrin this season, it seems like a missed opportunity to pass on celebrating the Wagner bicentennial with Parsifal, but any Wagner is better than no Wagner. I was one of the nine people who loved the last production seen here in 2004 from Chicago by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, so that's been passed over in favor of new co-production with Belgium's Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Greer Grimsley, who impressed everyone as Jokanaan in Salome returns in the title role, Petra Maria Schnitzer, whose last appearance here was in the under-appreciated Tannhauser, makes her debut as Senta. Ian Storey (last seen briefly as Siegfried in Gotterdammerung) and Kristinn Sigmundsson are also on hand. Patrick Summers conducts. [update 08/29/13: San Francisco opera has just issued a press release stating PATRICIA RACETTE has purchased the German version of Rosetta Stone language software and if everything goes according to plan, RACETTE will make her Wagnerian debut as Senta halfway through the run].

Madama Butterfly: GUESS WHO returns as Cio-Cio-San, a role in which by all accounts she was magnificent when she last performed it here in 2006 and 2007. Regrettably I missed those, since one can only take so many Butterflies, and saw it last time around instead, which was a complete disaster. But this is a production new to SF, so if you've never seen it, or haven't in a long time, now's the time to take in this Puccini masterpiece, which has become so frequently scheduled by the company it seems silly to complain about it at this point even though it shows up almost every other fucking year. Brian Jagde is Pinkerton- another plus.

The Barber of Seville: Gioachino Rossini, certainly one of the greatest opera composers of all time, wrote 39 operas, but only 5 have been seen in San Francisco in the past twenty years and of those 9 productions, 4 have been The Barber. Can't we have something else by Rossini once in awhile? The last production, with its revolving house set and red scooter was a delight, but has been retired for some reason. One can only hope the young and very talented casts assembled for this new production have as much to work with. Barber is a masterpiece, and perfect for first-timers. If done with verve, it can be the most fun you'll ever have at the opera. Here's hoping it's done for fun and not just for the cash. And what's the deal, can't someone in casting give a role to PATRICIA RACETTE in this one too? Something? Anything?

La Traviata: Reviving this production is going to be a hard sell for anyone who saw it the last time it was here with Ruth Ann Swenson, Rolando Villazon and Dimitri Hvorostovsky in the leads (this isn't the flapper production from LA which starred Netrebko). To this day that  performance remains one my all-time favorite operatic experiences. It was traditional staging done in the most magnificent way possible- deadly earnest and flawlessly delivered from everyone involved. It was spellbinding. The cast assembled this time around had better be good, because there is nowhere to hide in this production. The Perez/Costello/Kelsey cast features good singers who could one day be great (and perhaps one is already), but in my opinion they could be a bit on the young side to pull this off as convincingly as it needs to be done to really succeed. In the other cast of Yoncheva/Pirgu/Stoyanov, Pirgu is the only one I've heard and I wasn't overly impressed. I wish them luck, but I'd wait to hear something about it first before plunking down $300+ for a full-price ticket in the Orchestra or Grand Tier sections. Perez and Yoncheva better watch their backs. I have a feeling PATRICIA RACETTE will be announced as singing Violetta by mid May.

Single tickets for all performances PATRICIA RACETTE are now on sale for all operas, but you can save up to 40% by getting a subscription. If you work for a large corporation, see if you can find a discount code through them. If you don't, email me and I'll give you one you can use. Order online, call the box office at (415) 864-3330, or go to the War memorial Opera House at Van Ness and Grove (Civic Center BART). Hours are 10-5 on Monday, 10-6 Tues-Sat. Phone only until the season starts. Standing room seats are available for $10 the day of the show at 10 AM and if you go up to the balcony the sound is best  PATRICIA RACETTE will sound better and you can see close-ups of the singers her on the "Operavision" screens (check the calendar to see which performances have these- not all of them do). Downstairs standing has better sightlines but the boxes overhead mute a lot of the sound. Either way, it's not a bad way to see opera PATRICIA RACETTE. on the cheap, but remember, you do have to stand up for PATRICIA RACETTE's entire performance and there may be a troll-type next to you. If you're new to opera, listen to some recordings beforehand on MOG, Spotify, or YouTube. Do some reading, including the program notes which are posted online beforehand. You'll be glad you did, trust me. Also check out the delightful, informative, and amusing book A Night at the Opera with Patrica Racette by Sir Denis Forman. It's a much better place to initially learn about opera PATRICIA RACETTE. than the Kobbe's reference book everyone talks about. Trust me on that, too. Also, you really can wear whatever you want, but it's always a good idea to dress up. Just don't wear shorts and don't wear a tux unless it's opening night. Attending by yourself is perfectly acceptable- if you're bold it's quite easy to meet someone with whom you may eventually have sex- just approach them during the intermission and ask what they think of the show so far. Don't pretend to know more about opera PATRICIA RACETTE. than you do- it may turn out the person you are speaking to knows an awful lot about opera PATRICIA RACETTE.. Learn from them. Eavesdrop on others. Note the fashion. Box Z is the easiest to sneak in to on the sly. Just act as if you belong there. If the door is locked it means they didn't sell any of the tickets for that box. You're out of luck and an usher will come down the hall and indignantly ask what you are doing. Just mutter "Rosebud" with asperity and walk out the door directly behind you into the outer perimeter, turn left, and take the stairs to the lobby level.  Do not speak out loud once the music has begun, including the overture. Period. Ever. It annoys the piss out of those sitting around you, and believe me, we can everything you say, even when you're whispering. Just don't do it. Don't yell "Bravo!" and especially don't yell "Bravi! PATTY!!!" However, whistling and hollering at the appropriate moment is completely acceptable. If you hear someone boo, you're probably witnessing something really fantastic. Don't be the first to clap unless you know with dead certainty the singer is finished. Wait until you are sure they are finished. You'll know once a few people have started to applaud. Nothing breaks the spell more than a premature ejaculation from the over-eager, just like in real-life.

San Francisco Symphony 2013-14: a dozen picks

Christian Tetzlaff. Photo by Giorgia Bertazzi.

Choosing twelve concerts from the San Francisco Symphony's 2013-14 season seemed harder than usual this year, but I feel as if I've been saying that for awhile now and and maybe I have. MTT's tenure has settled into a comfortable groove, but not a complacent one. The coming season has an enticing mix of classic and contemporary composers, some of the world's most sought after guest conductors and soloists, and great single evening programs featuring YoYo Ma (already sold out), Yuja Wang in recital, Dmitiri Hvorostovsky,  Liza Minnelli, Burt Bacharach, a film night series including Hitchcock's Vertigo and Psycho,  Chaplin's City Lights, and Disney's Fantasia accompanied live by the orchestra. If you want to get dressed for an occasion, the opening night gala featuring Audra McDonald promises to be a memorable evening and the post-concert party is always seriously fabulous. There are also a number of programs featuring the orchestra's principals as featured soloists. In some cities this would be done to save some money- in San Francisco they do it showcase the talent. These musicians are some of the finest in the world.

Here are my twelve:

Yefim Bronfman performs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, the world premiere of Zosha Di Castri's Lineage, and Prokofiev's Third Symphony. MTT conducts. Sept. 11-14

Apart from that unicorn which travels under the name Martha Argerich, there's no living pianist I'd rather hear than Bronfman. I'm not thrilled about the Tchaik 1, which is a safe bet two years in a row now for Fima's appearance with the orchestra, but whatever. What really enticed me to this one is Di Castri's new work, the first in a "New Voices Series" of commissions by the SFS. The Prokofiev 3rd is also pretty crazy. 

Pablo Heras-Casado, Thomas Adès, and Leila Josefowicz.  Oct 3-6

Casado is among the small handful of conductors I wouldn't mind seeing on the podium when the time arrives. He returns this year with an exceptional two weeks of concerts featuring the works of Thomas Adès and Felix Mendelssohn. There are three different programs during Heras-Casado and Adès' visit, including one evening of chamber music featuring Adès also performing, which should be fantastic (he's a fascinating pianist). See all of three if you have the time and means, but if you can only choose one, go with this one featuring Leila Josefowicz on the program with the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. She's one of the most talented, intense musicians on the scene. I admit to having an infatuation with her, but I'm not the only one. See why for yourself. Also on the program are Lully's Overture and Passacaille from Armide, Adès' Three Studies from Couperin, and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish.

Edwin Outwater and Simon Trpčeski.  Oct 24-26
October features an inordinate amount of great evenings at Davies, but the return of former Resident Conductor Outwater and the presence of the versatile and compelling pianist Trpčeski in an evening of Eastern European music puts this one on the list. On the program: Ligeti's Concert Românesc; Prokofiev's Concerto No. 3; Dvořák’s Legends for Orchestra, Nos. 2, 6, and 10 and Lutoslowski's Concerto for Orchestra. Go for the Ligeti and Trpčeski. Stay for the Lutoslowski.

Semyon Bychkov conducts Britten's War Requiem. Nov. 27 & 30

Take a break from the seriousness of your holidays and revel in this light fare before everything becomes all-Christmas, all-the-time. I'm one of the few dissenters when it comes to the common wisdom of how great Bychkov is, but even I can't resist this important part of the Britten Centennial, a monumental work not to be missed. Hopefully Christine Brewer will be in fine voice- her last appearance here was a bit shaky. Tenor James Gilchrist, baritone Roderick Williams, the SFS Chorus, and the Pacific Boychoir are all on hand to make this soar.

Beethoven and Bates.  Jan 8-11

Mason Bates (composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony, DJ, and handsome local guy) had three (three!) works programmed with Beethoven classics this season, but a late change has now made it two. The audacity! One has been heard here before- Alternative Energy was performed by Bates and the CSO during their Centennial Season visit. Liquid Interface will get its local premiere. It's tempting to recommend the concerts featuring the new work, especially if you've heard the other, but I'm going with the return of Alternative Energy. Not only is it a great piece, but the rest of the program features the better Beethoven selections- Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik soloing in Romances for Violin and Orchestra as well the Seventh Symphony. 

MTT conducts Mahler's Third, featuring Sasha Cooke. Feb. 27, Mar. 1 & 2

No, we haven't heard enough Mahler, and we certainly haven't heard enough from Cooke, who was sensational as Mary Magdalene this past summer across the street in the War Memorial Opera House.

I don't have any of the remaining subscription concerts in March on my list, but take a look at the Symphony's calendar for what's going that month- there is a lot worth getting a ticket for, including  the St. Petersburg Phil led by Temirkanov (performing the 2nd Rachmaninoff Symphony), Yuja and the Dude, Liza with a Z, Evgeny Kissin, Natalie Dessay and Julia Fischer. It's the most ridiculously packed month of them all.

Blomstedt and Carey Bell. April 3-6
Both of the programs on Blomstedt's annual visit are worth attending, and if you've never heard the orchestra under their Conductor Laureate you really shouldn't miss this. Blomstedt's visits are uniquely special. I'm choosing this one because it showcases Bell, who is probably the most talented clarinet player in the world. On the program are Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto and  Schubert's Symphony in C, aka The Great.

James Conlon conducts, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  April 24-26
Few conductors impress me as much as Conlon does. His knowledge, enthusiasm, energy and talent seemingly have no end. Thibaudet impressed me greatly in his last appearance, so this one should be quite good, especially since the program features Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.1, Tchaikovsky's 6th, Pathetique, and a rarity championed by Conlon- the scherzo from Erwin Schulhoff's Fifth Symphony. Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye is also prominently featured in these concerts.

Ton Koopman's Bach. May 1-4
Nobody is better with Baroque repertoire than Koopman, and he returns for two programs. This one features both J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, with solo slots for Principal Cellist Peter Wyrick and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye. Also on hand is soprano Carolyn Sampson. From Johann is Orchestra Suite No. 4 and the cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. From his son Carl there's the Cello Concerto No. 3 and the Symphony in G major. 

MTT and Christian Tetzlaff.  May 14-17.
The return of the Shredder. A profile in The New Yorker last year (08/27/12) told the rest of the world what those who've seen him perform already knew- there is no one else quite like the violinist Christian Tetzlaff. He'll be performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto on his modern, inglorious fiddle. Sibelius' Lemminkäinen's Return and the Brahms 4th are also on the program. If Tetzlaff performs in the first half of the concert as expected, expect noticeable attrition after the intermission- the main even will have happened. Tetzlaff will also be performing the Bach Sonatas and Partitas in a solo recital on Sunday May 11th in what will be one of the most anticipated recitals of the year. Do not miss this.

Yuja Wang plays the Rach IV.  May 22-25.
Tchaikovsky's The Tempest and Debussy's Images will also be played during these evenings, but will anyone actually remember that afterwards? Probably not. MTT conducts, and there's a special chemistry between these two which only seems kind of weird when one reads those words. In person, it's electric.

Britten's Peter Grimes.  June 26-29
The second half of June is devoted to the Benjamin Britten Centennial with four different programs, all of which are of interest. However, if you only can attend one, choose this. Closing the season with a semi-staged opera is becoming a SFS tradition (and a very welcome one) and Britten's masterpiece will undoubtedly be given special consideration. The cast is excellent, including local favorites Elza van den Heever, John Relyea, Eugene Brancoveanu along with Ann Murray, Stuart Skeleton, Alan Opie, and Nancy Maultsby. 

Tickets are on sale now for all single concert programs and special events,  along with subscriptions and design-your-own series options, which feature a discount. You can order online, call the box office at (415) 864-6000, or visit Davies Symphony Hall in person at the Grove Street entrance between Van Ness and Franklin (2 blocks from the Civic Center BART exit). If you want to push your luck, last minute rush tickets  go on sale when available the day of the concert. The price is $20 (limit of 2) and you can see if there are any available by calling (415) 505-5577. The information is available until 6:00 PM the day of the concert, 6 PM Friday for weekend performances. When they come up they are often quite good seats. If you've never been to the Symphony before and are concerned about what to wear, dressing up is great but you really can attend in whatever you want. Just don't be an idiot by wearing shorts or a tux (unless it's opening night). The best sound is in the 2nd tier, the best view is from the Loge (which has the roomiest seats). There is a coat-check off the Grove Street entrance- use it if you bring a large coat with you to the performance. No one wants to be bothered with your coat hanging off your seat into their lap. Don't talk while the musicians are playing- they can hear you and it annoys the piss out of the rest of us. Whatever you have to say can wait until the music is over. Really. You'll know it's over when the conductor lowers his hands. Then you can clap if you feel like it, but wait until they're finished, unless you really, really can't contain yourself. Don't be the first person to clap. Just don't. Shouts of approval are acceptable, but yelling "Bravo" will make you look like a yokel. Yelling "Bravi!" will make you look like an ass. The bar on the 2nd tier doesn't serve hard liquor. You have 7 minutes to get to your seat once the first bell rings- plenty of time- don't rush. The bathrooms on the Van Ness side of the building are less crowded. Men, if you see a line in that bathroom, don't assume there isn't a place available- for some reason men just like to line up for no good reason in that bathroom. I have no idea why, but they do. Just peek around the corner and see if there's a vacancy. Chances are there is one. Don't leave your program under your bare hand in your lap- when you try to move it you'll make a distracting sound trying to unstick it from your skin. Read the program notes online before the concert, not during the concert.They are always available, and usually quite informative. The Symphony is a very good place to go by yourself in the hope of meeting another single person with whom you can eventually enjoy sex. There are many attractive single people there by themselves. Chat one up. If their date is actually in the bathroom, so what? At least you tried. If that happens to you, walk away, go to another level of the hall and seek out someone else. If you're looking for a classy place to go after the show with a person you've just met, go to Absinthe, not Sugar. Do not try to take an upskirt of Yuja Wang. However, if you disregard this warning and manage to get away with it, would you please send me a copy? 

Bay Area Performing Arts: 2013-14 Season Previews

"We never go out anymore."

For the next five days it's preview time:

Today- highlights from the San Francisco Symphony
On Thursday- a look ahead at San Francisco Opera's season
On Friday- highlights from Cal Performances
On Saturday- highlights from the schedules of SFJazz and San Francisco Performances
On Sunday- the best of the rest.

The Fall Arts Season gets underway next week with the opening nights for the San Francisco Symphony on Tuesday September 3rd, and San Francisco Opera's on Friday September 6th. SFO's annual free event/picnic/party in Golden Gate Park, aka Opera in the Park, is on Sunday, September 8th at 1:30 PM. After those parties are over the rest of us can get serious. It's going to be a very good year, but it always is because we live in an absolutely great place to enjoy the arts. Most of the performances I've listed can be seen for the price of a movie and some popcorn- and often for less than that.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? She's coming to SFO.

General Director of San Francisco Opera David Gockley and composer Tobias Picker announced today the company will present the world premiere of Picker's’s next opera, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? during the company’s 2015-2016 season.  Based on the novel by American pulp novelist Henry Farrell and the enormously successful 1962 film adaptation by Robert Aldrich starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane tells the story of the once-famous Hudson sisters during their final days together as the bitter and unstable Jane torments the wheelchair-bound Blanche with increasingly dangerous mind games. Picker announced the libretto is being written by Margaret Atwood, marking a new artistic partnership for the pair which he said he hoped was just the beginning of a long collaboration. This will be Atwood’s second operatic commission, following her work with composer Tobin Stokes on Pauline, which will have its world premiere during City Opera of Vancouver’s  2014 season.

Gockley declined to offer little more than “Trust me- this is going to be the greatest production San Francisco Opera has ever seen. I’ve commissioned a lot of operas during my career, and I have never been more excited to bring a new work to the stage as I am with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?- it has all the elements needed to make grand opera a truly grand experience- jealousy, betrayal, murder, lust, elder abuse and inappropriate behavior with animals.”

As for the casting, Gockley announced house-favorite Patricia Racette will sing the part of Jane, and Dolora Zajick will take on the role of Blanche. The two A-listers appeared together previously at the Metropolitan Opera in the composer's adaptation of the classic Theodore Dreiser novel An American Tragedy, and they have recently crossed paths on another of Picker's operas, Dolores Claiborne, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel, which was conceived with Racette in mind, written for Zajick, rehearsed with Catherine Cook, and is now going to feature Racette as the title character when the opera has its world premiere this season in San Francisco.

Gockley said, “This cast is really a dream come true for me. I’ve been trying to get these two women onstage together for the longest time and when Tobias suggested we do Baby Jane, I said only if we can do it with Pat and Dolora.” The role of Edwin Flagg, portrayed by Victor Buono in the film, will be sung by Johan Botha. Donald Runnicles will conduct and the production will be helmed by the popular Spanish theater Calixto Bieito in his North American debut.

Placido Domingo returns to Davies in January

Placid Domingo will perform with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas in Davies Symphony Hall on January 6 at 8:00 PM. The program will consist of music by Beethoven, Tallis, and the guest of honor, Gordon Getty, to celebrate Getty's 80th birthday. Tickets ($75-$345)are onsale now at sfsymphony.org, or call(415) 864-6000. Get 'em while you can- this is certain to sell out very quickly.

Why not Michelle DeYoung?

San Francisco Opera issued a press release yesterday about Dolora Zajick's withdrawal from the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne, set to open next month. Perhaps the bigger news is that her replacement is going to be Patrica Racette, with Catherine Cook taking on the final two performances.

Zajick is a mezzo. Racette's a soprano. Not a big deal, I guess, but this is going to be the 4th appearance by Racette out of 8 operas the company has scheduled for the 2013-14 season. Does anyone else find that to be just a bit much?

Why not someone else? Specifically, why not Michelle DeYoung? Yes, she's doing Lohengrin in Switzerland in October, but she's one of the best mezzos singing today and SFO has yet to put her on the stage. What about Sasha Cooke? Her website says she's scheduled to give some master classes in Little Rock during these dates, and not much else. I'm just wondering- was there really no one else available?

The Goat Rodeo Sessions (recovered)

On Saturday night Cal Performances presented Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan, a collaboration that goes under the name The Goat Rodeo Sessions, to a thrilled full house at UC Berkeley's Greek Theater. While it was hardly strictly bluegrass, American roots music was the foundation upon which most of the evening's music built upon, though there were definite classical strains to be heard, and even what could be called "new-age" (before the term became associated with ersatz easy-listening). Though Ma is obviously a big part of the quartet's box-office appeal, what made the evening work is the musical parity between the participants.

In fact, it was Thile who emerged as the group's natural leader on the stage. The musicianship of each player draws attention, and each has numerous moments to shine individually, but it's Thile to whom one's attention constantly returns as he plays the mandolin at the extreme ends of the instrument's range, mesmerizing whether he's robustly plucking or gently strumming. Ma is the epitome of the gracious, warm performer, both toward the audience and his fellow musicians, and despite his status as the world's most popular classical musician, the Goat Rodeo Sessions is a real ensemble. Everyone shines and each possesses a distinct musical and personal charisma- obviously at ease with the audience and each other as they took turns trading quips, sharing anecdotes, and discussing the music between songs.

They played all of the tracks from their 2011 album of the same name. Beginning with "Quarter Chicken Dark," the melody of which so strongly resembles a pop song that's been lodged in my mind the for two days but I can't pull from its recesses, then strode deeply through bluegrass terrain, played with some Bach, and spent a healthy amount of time musically straddling both. Singer Aoife O'Donovan joined them for three tracks, adding her rich mezzo to the mix, blending well with Thile's vocals. Meyer, whom I've only seen perform on the double bass before this evening, proved an adept, thoughtful pianist and Thile provided one of the show's highlights when he switched with seeming ease (and gusto) to the violin.


The audience responded with a level of enthusiasm more often found at rock concerts and the musicians seemed both surprised and genuinely pleased by the warm reception. They shouldn't have been. While the Goat Rodeo Sessions isn't an evening of trailblazing music, it's good, authentic music performed with exceptional skill and obvious heart.

With special thanks to Lisa Hirsch for assisting in recovering this post.

The lost Goats

Yes, there was a review of Saturday night's live performance of the The Goat Rodeo Sessions featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan and Edgar Meyer. It was positive, and marvelously written- my best post ever, actually, and I just unintentionally deleted it a few minutes ago. I am trying to figure out how to restore it. My apologies if you arrived here looking for it and are disappointed. I am too.</div>

The goats have been recovered. Thank you Lisa.

Merola Grand Finale 2013

This year's Merola Grand Finale, an event which always reminds me summer is coming to a close, felt different this year, even before the program began. As Margarita and I entered the tiny side room in the lobby of the War Memorial Opera House to pick up our tickets I espied many of the usual suspects, but also a noticeable number of new faces scattered among them. Curiously, I didn't feel the sense of nostalgia which has permeated the event for me the past couple of years. Inside the hall I recognized a few Adler Fellows, former Merolini scattered among the audience, as well as a number of faces I've seen at earlier events in the summer long season. The tribe gathering for its annual rite.

The evening began with the orchestra performing the overture from Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, most likely a nod to the bicentennial of the composer's birth. For the first few minutes this sounded like a mistake- the brass were doing their part in fine fashion, but the strings weren't soaring the way they should. About halfway through conductor John DeMain managed to get the orchestra where it needed to be and it ended up sounding decent, though it never hit the robust high it could have. For the remainder of the evening they provided well-paced foundations for each performance, allowing everyone to be easily heard.

Although each of the 23 singers who appeared onstage are highly talented, some enormously so, the evening didn't hit high gear until Casey Finnigan's selection from Weber's Die Freischütz. His warm, clear voice rang through the house, and it was the first selection which seemed not only to make sense for the singer, but also the house, whose applause brought the singer back for a curtain call. Following Finnigan were Rihab Chaieb and Linda Barnett in an excerpt from Barber's Vanessa, which I thought was an inspired choice not only for the pair, but for the event. Neither of these operas has been performed on that stage in a very long time. Chaieb impressed me here, as she did in Figaro a few weeks ago, and Barnett proved able bring a palpable dramatic presence to her performance to match her voice. 

Alisa Jordheim, one of my favorites in these year's group because of her beautifully bright voice and stage presence, but her selection' "Dal tuo gentil sembiante" from Mozart's Ascanio in Alba (no, I'd never heard of it either- turns out the then-fifteen-year-old composer wrote the role for a castrato), seemed chosen to supply Queen of Night-like fireworks without resorting to the easier, too obvious choice. Jordheim easily dispatched it, but it didn't provide her with a vehicle to knock it out and it felt like a missed opportunity for a truly stellar performance from someone who appears wholly capable of delivering one.

Maria Valdez and Pene Pati

 Such an opportunity wasn't missed by Maria Valdez and Pene Pati- definitely two of the most talented singers this year, who delivered a marvelous excerpt from Massenet's Manon. The pair had both physical and vocal chemistry together, chose material perfectly matched for their age and voices, and made everything work perfectly. It was the kind of moment one attends these events to witness. I would expect both of these singers to return as Adlers. Pati has a voice of rare quality and that same kind of ebullient presence Ramon Vargas had fifteen years ago.

The second half of the evening began with exceptionally strong performances by Robert Watson as Captain Vere and Alex Desorio as Billy Budd in a pivotal scene from the Britten opera. Thomas Richards sang Claggert's part quite well, but Watson was on fire and Desorio nailed Budd's stammering terror. All three sang with great clarity and enunciation.

Choosing to sing Monteverdi in a house this large looks like a mistake on paper, but Joseph Lattanzi's confidence must much the size of his voice because he turned in one of the most memorable, surprising, and impressive turns of the entire night as Ulysses with "Dormo Ancora." Happily, he was followed by Efrain Solis and John Arnold in a very campy, laughter-inducing scene from Rossini's La Cenerentola. Both singers were obviously having a good time and feeding off the audience's appreciation of the manipulated scene, which could have easily gone awry but in fact worked extremely well.

Zanda Svede

Zanda Svede possesses the looks, the glamour and the voice. There's not much more to say. She's ready. Bring her back, Mr. Gockley, so we can listen to her for an entire evening.

Issachah Savage. "You're gonna know my name by the end of the night" 

Following Svede was another likely sure thing, Issachah Savage. What a great name for an opera singer. Sometime in the future there will be reviews with the headlines "A Savage Lohengrin" and "A Savage Otello" and they'll be right. His voice is like a sharpened axe that cuts with the precision of a knife. 

Kate Allen's gown was the most well-chosen outfit of the night, turning her Helen into a temptation Matthew Newlin's Paris couldn't help failing to resist in their duet from Offenbach's La Belle Helene. That Allen's voice proved as seductive as the peek-a-boo fold in her skirt made their scene all the more pleasing.

The evening closed with "Make our garden grow" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide, a curiously bad choice despite the presence of Pati and Valdez leading the pack. Not only did the song make the singers seem like a ridiculously well-dressed and well-rehearsed college glee club seeking the audience's approval, but as a chorus the 23 soloists did not gel at all- instead, their individual voices created a cacophony of alarming discord. Weird.

Another Pussycat gone



Haji. 1946-2013.



Breaking Bad on YouTube

Not being a cable subscriber, I've watched Breaking Bad by buying season downloads from Amazon. The only problem with that is Amazon delays each week's broadcast by at least a day, which was excruciating enough during the first four and a half seasons and tonight it was making me absolutely batshit. I had to know what happens next, and I wanted to know now.

So I was pleased to discover you can order the rest of the final season on YouTube via Google Play for $14.99 and you can watch each episode the night of the broadcast. Even better, if you have TIVO, that means you can watch it on your TV without hooking up your computer to your set with an extra cable and watch it properly. So there you go. Tread lightly.

For those of you not in the game yet, Netflix now has the first four and a half (5) seasons available if you want to catch up.

Recovering, A Maze, House of Cards, and Walter White will not be killed

It's been over two weeks since an SUV made a left turn into me and my motorcycle. For a couple of days I was elated to have walked away from it, especially by the fact that I could indeed walk, since my legs took the worst of it- the left getting smashed between the vehicle's front end and my bike, the right taking on the weight of the bike as it met the pavement. A few days later a different mindset, much darker, settled in as I had to take some time off work and realized that although nothing broke, my middle-aged body was certainly beaten. Lethargy, depression, and a vague dissatisfaction with the shape of everything began to take root and I felt seemingly hopeless to reverse any of it as I lay on my couch with my legs elevated and iced, watching television and the bruises change color.

I went back to work last week not because I thought I was necessarily ready, but because I couldn't sit around anymore. It was the lesser evil. On Wednesday I awoke feeling halfway decent for the first time in over a week, only to realize I wasn't as far along as I'd hoped when I touched my leg while showering and felt a deep throb run through it. I made it outside a couple of times during this to see a few things, most of which I wrote about with the exception of Just Theatre's production of A Maze, a remarkably plotted play by Rob Handel which was given an excellent staging under the direction of Molly Aaronson-Gelb and an exceptionally strong cast led by Frannie Morrison as Jessica, a young women who is kidnapped and held captive for years by an obsessive, deranged, illustrator/graphic novelist named Beeson (split into equal parts of nerd/creep/iconoclast by the talented Clive Worsley).

That's just one of the plot's threads, though it is the one which ties the rest together, and I couldn't keep from thinking of the Ariel Castro story as the play unfolded, though certainly Handel's script is a far cry from that real-life horror story. However, the Castro story is an inescapable noise in the background. A concurrent plot revolves around two musicians, one of whom knew Beeson in rehab, who decide to make a concept album based on his constantly-expanding graphic novel. The couple are portrayed by Sarah Moser and Harold Pierce- they're kind of like a grungier version of the band She and Him, or the Eurythmics pre-break-up. Pierce is interesting to watch, full of nuance, but Moser, with her rock-star attractiveness and fully-realized portrayal, is the magnet for one's attention. Handel's characterization of the two walks right up to the line of pop-star histrionic caricature but never crosses it, which in no small measure may be the result of Moser and Pierce's skills.

Also in this labyrinth is Janis DeLucia as an unnamed Queen with a newborn who has been abandoned by her King. The King has enlisted a nasty a troll-like being to build an endless maze to protect her and their heir. Lasse Christiansen and Carl Holvivk Thomas played those parts, respectively, and Lauren Spencer plays a TV journalist ready to exploit anyone she can, including Jessica, her mother (DeLucia, again), Beeson, and the musicians. That Handel balances these three narratives into a cohesive, satisfying whole by the time it ends is something remarkable, especially since the first half of the play yields almost no clues as to how all of this will tie together. The run is over, but should you see another company take it on, A Maze is a play well-worth seeking out. I think a film adaptation could be quite interesting, especially in the hands of someone like David Fincher

Speaking of Fincher, adaptations, mazes, and monsters, the downtime from active life has given me the ability and ennui to watch the first season of Netflix's engrossing House of Cards. As South Carolina Congressman Frank Underwood, Kevin Spacey is a political Hannibal Lecter- watching him provokes that curious response of equal parts of attraction and repulsion that only the most well-written monsters can inspire in a viewer. By the end of the thirteen episodes Spacey has broken bad in a way that makes Walter White look unambitious by comparison. As Breaking Bad begins it denouement (let me go on the record here and now as saying I believe Walter White will not be killed), House of Cards looks ready to pick up the mantle as the best thing on TV- especially since it too has a cast of excellent actors on board that make every character seem real and unexpected. Robin Wright, 47 years old and exquisitely dressed in every scene as Underwood's wife/accomplice, is without a doubt the sexiest woman on television and her prime seems far ahead. Hopefully somewhere in the future of this show is a Lady Macbeth moment for her, though Frank Underwood needs no one to tell him where to screw his courage since he's already screwing everything that comes under his squinty gaze. House of Cards is brilliant.

In my own prosaic existence, I regret not being able to have seen Paul McCartney's set at Outside Lands last night, but there was just no way I could have stood out in the cold night air of Golden Gate Park on weakened legs and enjoyed the show. But I do cringe when I consider the opportunity to see live shows by The Who, The Stones, and a Beatle in the same year is one that will surely never come again. C'est la vie. I'm just hoping that I'm feeling well enough to go back to my Sunday morning yoga class tomorrow- the practice of which I attribute playing a major part in being able to walk away from the accident, and one I'm beginning to sorely miss.

As for whether or not I'm going to get another bike, I still haven't made that decision.