Friday Photo 2025/50

 

a shop window on B Street, Hayward

Museum Monday 2025/49

 

detail of Proscenium by Sargent Claude Johnson, currently at BAM/PFA & on view as part of the exhibit Object Oriented: Abstraction and Design in the BAMPFA Collection

Friday Photo 2025/49

 

palm frond, dying

Museum Monday 2025/48

 

detail of Saint John the Baptist by Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), now at the Legion of Honor

Ars Minerva: Ercole Amante

Annually since 2015, Ars Minerva, founded & led by Céline Ricci, has given us a revival of an opera not seen for centuries. This is obviously the Lord's work, & Ars Minerva is a jewel of the Bay Area. With the exception of 2023's Olimpia Vendicata, which I missed because COVID finally got me that weekend, I have seen & loved all of their shows. By now they have a distinct production aesthetic: stylish projections & minimal props; elaborate, often very witty, costumes; an inventive, often humorous, approach to staging these unknown works which, typically for baroque operas, usually center on mythological heroes, historical figures who might as well be mythological, & a grab-bag of Greek gods. I occasionally hear someone complain that these revived operas aren't "masterpieces". But they are, to my mind, consistently interesting & entertaining & even refreshing, & isn't being overly devoted to the narrowly defined "masterpiece" one of the problems with the current operatic scene?

This year we were given their tenth opera, & the first composed by a woman: 1707's Ercole Amante by Antonia Bembo, an Italian woman eventually resident in France, whose approach combined the two national schools of music. There was a concert performance in Europe a few years ago,  but this production was the first modern, & possibly the first ever, fully staged production (another is scheduled for next year at the Paris Opera). The staging by Ricci was clever & often humorous, & kept the complicated story clear & moving (in every sense). The plot, as the title indicates, revolves around Hercules falling in love – with Iole, a woman whose father he killed, & who is also beloved by his son Hyllo. In addition, Hercules is already married to Deianira. And various gods get involved: jealous Giunone (Juno), who has always hated Hercules, & Venere (Venus), who wants to thwart Juno. There is also a Page, who delivers messages & comic asides. With those characters the plot starts spinning like a top, & as usual with baroque opera, there is no point in typing out a summary, as it would sound like confusing convoluted nonsense, but in performance it all makes complete logical & emotional sense (I've experienced this over & over & always advise people that the first rule of attending baroque opera is not to read the plot summary.)

The gods & heroes are pretty much on a level, though the gods have more power, at least of a supernatural sort. The projections, designed as usual by Entropy, seemed particularly rich this time, combining the fine-lined precision of 18th century engravings with the modernist style of collage & contrast, aptly substituting for the visual richness & swift scene changes of baroque opera. And the costumes, designed by Marina Polakoff, seemed even more lavish & even wittier than usual, with extravagant headpieces, swirling draperies (or, in the case of the muscular bare-chested Hercules, only a partly gilded pteruges), little flashing lights embedded in tulle, deep & glowing colors. It all contributed to the sense of a rich, frivolous, & decadent upper class, swirling around their love-concerns above the rest of the indifferent world. The performance opens with a woman representing Bembo lying on a couch, starting to put her opera together. It's a clever way of emphasizing the individual creation of the work, which is a particular vision of these characters rather than some sort of standard history. They are puppets in her show.

I was reminded of one of my favorite movies, Renoir's The Rules of the Game, also about an insular, insulated privileged caste entertaining themselves with the frisson of love affairs while their world slides away; but perhaps the main theme that reminded me of the film is the interrogation of the role of the hero: like Renoir's aviator, Hercules is officially a hero, but he fits awkwardly into normal life. Heroes are perhaps easier to live with once they're safely dead.

Bembo's score, prepared for performance by Adam Cockerham & conducted from the harpsichord by Matthew Dirst, is consistently appealing & entertaining. I did feel that in a couple of scenes that required something a little more, she had not supplied it: the underworld scene involving Iole's father didn't seem differentiatingly eerie to me, & the death of Hercules was lacking in the tragic grandeur we find in Handel's version of the same scene: but perhaps the failure there is mine, conditioned to expect tragic grandeur by repeated exposure to Handel's work, when Bembo, consistent with her quizzical view of the Hero, is trying for a different effect: yes, he was larger than life, but didn't that make him a bit demanding, a bit difficult to have around? And doesn't life go on, perhaps even a bit more smoothly, after his death?

Zachary Gordin was a suitably beefy Ercole, Kindra Scharich the long-suffering & touching Deianira, Lila Khazoum & Maxwell Ary as Iole & Hyllo an appealing pair of young lovers, Aura Veruni a blazing Giunone, Melissa Sondhi a sly Venere; Nick Volkert portrayed an imposing series of gods with minor roles, as well as the ghost of Iole's father, & Sara Couden was funny & sly as the Page. Bembo's initial appearance was portrayed by Cynthia Keiko Black. I did feel that the score & story are rich enough to support a sometimes less humorous approach, particularly with Hyllo; if the Paris Opera production is made available, it would be interesting to see how they handle this opera. In the meantime, I am very happy with what we were given by Ars Minerva, & I am already eagerly awaiting their next rediscovery.

San Francisco Opera: The Monkey King

I was in a packed Opera House for the third performance of San Francisco Opera's world-premiere run of The Monkey King, a kaleidoscopic new work by Huang Ruo (music) & David Henry Hwang (libretto), directed by Diane Paulus. This opera is wildly inventive, wildly colorful, wildly wild, & also substantial enough to be thought-provoking in a number of directions & well worth repeated viewings (I hope it will be revived soon, as I believe the run is pretty much sold out).

The storyline is based on the opening chapters of the very long & episodic Chinese classic novel, Journey to the West; the portion we are given is basically the Monkey King origin story. Sun Wukong, the monkey who makes himself the Monkey King & then a disciple of the Buddha, is, despite his spiritual trajectory, a rambunctious & brassy character, a variant of the Trickster God, but since he is also a King, he has some inherent responsibilities towards others that can lead him into more altruistic directions. The story of the opera is the story of his discovery of some level of selflessness & spiritual enlightenment, as he is guided through adventures & suffering by the compassionate bodhisattva Guanyin & the teachings of the Buddha.

It all makes for an emotionally & dramatically complete work, though (perhaps this is just my enjoyment speaking), as in any superhero-based tale, there is room for sequels. It was several scenes into the work, after seeing the Monkey King go underwater to gain his great weapon, & then ascend to the heavens to see the glittering, corrupt world of the powerful gods, when I started to think of The Monkey King as potentially part of a Chinese-American Ring cycle, an impression strengthened by later hopes expressed by his Buddhist teacher that the Monkey King will function as some sort of redeemer of a corrupt world. As with many of our insights, I realized this one was not unique to me: while reading the program-book on the train afterwards I found in one of the articles this very subject being discussed by the composer & librettist.

The clever & frequently ingenious production owes a lot to the brilliantly eye-catching costumes of Anita Yavich & the puppetry & design work of Basil Twist. Great stretches of iridescent silks turn into waves, or horses, or the clouds supporting heaven; the Monkey King himself is sometimes a puppet, sometimes a dancer (Huiwang Zhang), & mainly & notably a tenor, Kang Wang, who does an appropriately heroic turn in what must be a strenuous role (even with leaping & flying done by dancer or puppet), sounding as fresh & spunky at the end as at the beginning. His lines frequently end with a blazoning note, which I thought was an excellent indication of his character (though I should note a friend of mine, a singer, sympathetically found this aspect of the vocal writing exhausting). There is precedent in the novel for the Monkey King dividing himself, but the staging is seamless, with a leap giving way to a puppet, flying with the aid of black-clad puppeteers, in the style of Japanese theater.  There are scenes in which singer & dancer are both in action, in particular a fight scene with representative of the gods Lord Erland (also portrayed by a singer & dancer: Joo Won Kong & Marcos Vedovetto, respectively), but it's always clear what is going on. I have to give credit to the nerves of our Guanyin, the soprano Mei Gui Zhang, most of whose role is sung while she is suspended on (or, even more nerve-wrackingly, moving on) a golden platform a bit like a lozenge or flame-shaped halo, high, very high, above the stage. The entire cast is very strong (I particularly liked the deep bass of Peixin Chen as Supreme Sage Laojun) & the chorus does astonishingly versatile work.

The visuals (the costumes, &, in particular, the make-up of the Monkey King) & the action (the acrobatics, the choreographed fights) are very influenced by Asian theater, particularly Peking Opera; the music also crosses traditional east-west borders. Though the orchestra (led with assurance by Carolyn Kuan) is largely a traditional European opera orchestra, the percussion battery includes large & medium Indonesian button gongs, a Chinese opera gong, & small Chinese crash symbols, & there is a prominent role for pipa (played by Shenshen Zhang), including a rock-god-guitar-type battle between the Monkey King & one of his heavenly opponents. But the music, though permeated by traditional Chinese sounds, is not aggressively "other" or even "exotic" to non-Chinese ears, which is why I earlier referred to it as a Chinese-American work.

This hybridization of times & cultures applies to the libretto as well, which is often agreeably slangy, a helpful reminder to those dazzled by the fairy-tale qualities of the work that there is a contemporary point underneath the dazzle. "Awesome, JE!" announces the warrior nephew of the Jade Emperor, sent by him with Heaven's latest scheme for controlling the Sun Wukong. The gods sing in chorus of how no one knows how to party the way they do. There isn't much individuality there, or dissent. A corrupt & decadent ruling caste, not only on heaven but, clearly though implicitly, here on the political earth as well. The Monkey King gathers his beleaguered monkey-subjects (or brethren) around him & announces that they will no longer be shoved aside by the powerful; joining together has made them stronger. Suffering increases the strength of the Monkey King. It's a point that applies not only to the racist approaches to Chinese & Chinese-Americans through US history, but to other disenfranchised groups.

But the political suggestions of this opera are secondary to its religious & philosophical explorations. How are we to live? is the main theme, the central & too frequently silenced question of our lives. The work opens & closes with choruses singing Buddhist sutras – the chorus, a collective, expressing poetic, spiritual thoughts in a way that suggests universalism. But during the course of the action, sutra sections are usually expressed in the powerful soprano of Guanyin, that is, not only an individual, but one removed both spiritually (by her status as an immortal bodhisattva) & physically (by her elevation above the stage) from what is happening below. She functions as a sort of musical conscience to the Monkey King. Does he truly understand, & accept, & live by, what she is expressing? Or is he just looking to her as a sort of deus ex machina to get him out of various scrapes? We have gone from the choral universalism of the opening to the individual struggle, in the toils of a baffling & illusory world, to understand, accept, & act on profound sentiments in a profound & meaningful way. As they keep saying in the Journey to the West, Splendid Monkey King! Handsome Monkey King! But after the gorgeous stage-pictures have faded, the unsettling underlying message remains: How are we to live in the world we are given?

Friday Photo 2025/48

 

East 14th Street, San Leandro, California

Another Opening, Another Show: December 2025

So we come, inevitably but somehow still surprisingly, to the end of another calendar year. As usual, most of this month's calendar has been taken over with glitter, sleigh bells, drag queens, & various other festive entertainments. There are always a few events each month that are difficult to categorize (is a Palestrina concert "early music / baroque" or "choral"? should I cross-reference? What about the program that is mostly premieres – meaning, modern / contemporary music – except for a major piece by Beethoven or Schubert? Does any of this even matter to anyone but me?), but December usually has more of those than any other month. There's a Holiday Concerts section, but it's a far-reaching & somewhat arbitrary, even fanciful, classification (even so, Messiahs & Nutcrackers are listed separately, & usually, if there are enough of them Christmas Carols are as well, but this year there were only one or two of those, though there are other holiday-themed shows listed under Theatrical): arbitrary & fanciful, much like the various holidays themselves.

I don't claim to have been rigorous in my separation of Holiday Concerts from non-holiday concerts: is a program centering on "winter" all that different from one celebrating the Winter Solstice? You'd think that, as is alleged of pornography, you know it when you see it. But that's a bit dubious; there are realms of erotica or titillation or plain old sensuous appreciation that don't count as porn but are maybe close enough to raise eyebrows in some quarters, or among some viewers. A rough rule of thumb: if you might hear Sleigh Ride or Silent Night, that counts as a holiday concert. But what about Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur? It doesn't feel quite right, perhaps a bit inadequate, to stick that in Holiday Concerts. (It's under Instrumental, if you're looking for it.) But there are programs of high-toned Renaissance music that proudly bill themselves as Holiday concerts, & who am I to dispute that, whether the title is based on religious belief or marketing savvy?

On the other hand, there are surprising riches in the Holiday Concerts assortment, & I encourage you (if there's any "you" who is actually reading these posts) to check it out: there are the expected things, which can be a comfort during times that are cold & lightless, literally as well as metaphorically, but there are also surprises. Years ago I was visiting some friends & I had bought some new CDs & offered to put one on – there was a collection of Tudor Christmas music, which I foolishly described as such, & one of my friends visibly recoiled. I don't know what he was expecting: some Elizabethan version of Jingle Bells? It was music that sounded like early modern church music, & if you didn't know what holiday the pieces were composed for (& didn't speak Latin), you wouldn't associate it with Christmas. All I'm really saying, I guess, is to go in with an open mind & open ears, which is actually very good advice for most situations, so you're welcome.

Merry happy whatever you celebrate. . . . 

Ceremonial

The 40th Annual Japanese New Year Bell-Ringing Ceremony will take place at the Asian Art Museum on 28 December; reservations are strongly recommended: "Led by Reverend Gengo Akiba, this inspiring ceremony includes a purification ritual and chanting of the Buddhist Heart Sutra. The bell is struck 108 times to usher in the New Year and curb the 108 mortal desires (bonno) that, according to Buddhist belief, torment humankind."

Theatrical

The Marsh revives Brian Copeland’s The Jewelry Box: A Genuine Christmas Story, written & performed by Copeland & directed by David Ford, on 29 November at the Marsh Berkeley & 13 December at The Marsh San Francisco.

Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage continue their production of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George through 30 December.

San Francisco Playhouse continues its production of Sondheim's Into the Woods through 17 January 2026.

Peter Pan - Panto in the Presidio, a British-style holiday pantomime directed by Liam Vincent, runs at the Presidio Theater from 29 November through 28 December.

On 2 December at The Marsh Berkeley, you can see Title Pending (I assume this is the actual title, & not a website placeholder), written & performed by Heather Tyson, about a woman who thinks her life is going in the "right" direction, until she receives a mysterious text from her husband that sends her off course.

Broadway SF presents The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes from 4 to 21 December at the Curran Theater.

Theater Rhinoceros presents Pirates!, written & directed by John Fisher, from 4 to 13 December; the drama explores what happens when a married gay male couple sailing around the world are captured by contemporary pirates off east Africa.

On 5 December at the Calvin Simmons Theater in Oakland, Oaklash presents The Last 7 Days of Obsidienne Obsurd: An Experimental Drag Concert, featuring Obsidienne's "personal story of gender transition alongside the migration story of their Chinese ancestors to America"; Obsurd is a classically trained violinist & the piece includes the world premiere of a composition "developed in collaboration with Paul Wiancko of the Kronos Quartet".

From 5 December through 11 January 2026, the New Conservatory Theater Center presents Ruthless!, a musical mash-up of The Bad Seed & All About Eve, with book & lyrics by Joel Paley, music by Marvin Laird, & direction by Dyan McBride; I saw this last year (post on it is here) & found it very enjoyable; if you're a theater buff, chances are you'll enjoy it too.

BroadwaySF presents A Drag Queen Christmas, hosted by Nina West, on 6 December at the Orpheum.

On 6 - 7 December at the Potrero Stage, PlayGround presents the fourth annual A Very Hitchcock Christmas, featuring The Birds Is Coming by Jonathan Josephson, directed by Ely Sonny Orquiza; Dial M for Merry by Christian Wilburn, directed by Lana Richards; Fool Proof by Kimberly Ridgeway, directed by Karina Gutierrez; How the Bates (Almost) Stole Christmas by JS Puller, directed by Peter J Kuo; & Shadow of an Uncle Nick by Mark Sherstinsky, directed by Jim Kleinmann (advance reservations are strongly recommended as the performances are free, though donations are gratefully accepted).

On 8 December at Z Below, as part of their Off the Page Staged Reading Series, Word for Word will present The Dinner Party by Joshua Feris, directed by Ryan Tasker.

The African-American Shakespeare Company presents its annual production of Cinderella, directed by Gary Stanford, at the Alcazar Theater from 12 to 21 December.

On 16 - 18 December at the New Conservatory Theater Center, you can experience the 18th annual performance of Katya, A Holiday Spectacular, with J Conrad Frank as Katya Smirnoff-Skyy & music direction by Joe Wicht

Berkeley Rep presents Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Told by Jefferson Mays, a one-person version of the classic as adapted by Mays, Susan Lyons, & Michael Arden, directed by Barry Edelstein, & that's at the Roda Theater from 16 to 21 December.

BroadwaySF presents Moulin Rouge! The Musical from 16 to 28 December at the Orpheum Theater.

On 19 December at the Golden Gate Theater, BroadwaySF presents The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, featuring "drag queen powerhouses BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon . . . fans can expect . . . over-the-top camp spectacle, side-splitting gags, brand new songs, heartfelt storytelling, thrilling dance numbers, and iconic costumes".

Talking

City Arts & Lectures presents Tourmaline, in conversation with Kate Schatz, Celebrating the Life of Marsha P Johnson, on 10 December at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco.

On 15 December at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco, City Arts & Lectures presents Angela Davis & Hilton Als in a celebratory discussion of A Sisterhood: Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Angela Davis.

Operatic

On 7 December at the Caroline Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Conservatory will celebrate faculty member & composer David Conte with a program dedicated to his work: first there will be a preview of A Christmas Carol, an Opera in Two Acts based on the novella by Charles Dickens, with libretto by Nicholas Giardini, featuring a Choral Prelude & Scene One, with the Nebula Consort led by Eric Choate & the SFCM Chamber Ensemble conducted by Jeffrey Thomas & soloists Brian Thorsett (tenor, Ebenezer Scrooge), Samuel Kidd (baritone, Bob Cratchit), & Matt Boehler (bass, Jacob Marley); the second half of the program, The Masque of the Red Death - Suite #1, will be performed by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, led by Robert Mollicone.

Choral

Sacred and Profane presents Gather at the River: Songs of Water & Ice, a program celebrating water & the forms it takes during winter, through music by Brahms, Stanford, Poulenc, Britten, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor & contemporary composers Judith Bingham & Staffan Storm, as well as arrangements of African American spirituals by Stacey Gibbs & folk & pop songs by the Real Group & Evert Taube, & you can hear it all on 5 December at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, 6 December at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley, & 7 December at the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa.

On 14 December at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Soweto Gospel Choir, performing music celebrating "love and peace, from gospel classics and spirituals to feel-good pop songs by Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, and others".

Vocalists

On 5 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran, San Francisco Performances presents Trio Mediæval, joined by Hurdy-Gurdy player Kevin Devine, who will perform works by Devine, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Coleh Harkavvy, Andrew Smith, Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, Sungji Hong, Gavin Bryars, & the indefatigable Anonymous.

On 5 December at the Bankhead Theater, Livermore Valley Opera presents an evening with Franc D’Ambrosio, the "performer known worldwide as 'The World’s Longest-Running Phantom' from The Phantom of the Opera"; the performance is a benefit for the Opera Company.

Holiday Concerts

The San Francisco Symphony has its usual holiday offerings: beginning on 30 November, with A Merry-Achi Christmas, with José Hernández, leading his Mariachi Sol de México in a celebration of Mexican holiday traditions (the SF Symphony does not appear on this program); on 3 December, you can spend Christmas with the Count Basie Orchestra, as conductor Jonathan Taylor Rush leads the Orchestra & SF Symphony players, along with singer Carmen Bradford; on 7 December, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser leads the Symphony, along with Carolyn McArdle (Narrator), Elijah Cineas (bass-baritone), the San Francisco Boys Chorus, the Young Women's Choral Projects, Mariachi Bonitas, the Kugelplex Klezmer Ensemble, & the San Francisco Ballet Training Program in Deck the Halls, a grab-bag of holiday favorites & fun; on 14 December, Radu Paponiu leads the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra in Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf, with narrator Joshua Dela Cruz; on 16 December you can hear Peabo Bryson and Friends: Home for the Holidays, featuring vocalists Bryson, Sheena Easton, Ruben Studdard, & trumpeter / vocalist Ilya Serov (the SF Symphony does not appear on this program); on 17 December, Edwin Outwater & Peaches Christ co-emcee Holiday Gaiety, featuring Evan Mills (comedian), Sasha Allen (vocalist), Adore Delano (vocalist & actress), Sister Roma (drag performer), Sapphira Cristál (drag performer & vocalist), Nikola Printz (mezzo-soprano & aerialist), & the SF Gay Men’s Chorus; on 20 December, Edwin Outwater, joined by narrator Jon Miller, leads Symphony musicians in Holiday Brass; & on 21 - 22 December, Ming Luke, joined by narrator Michael Covert, leads the band & assorted dancers in A Charlie Brown Christmas—LIVE!.

Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble performs its beloved Wintersongs program throughout the Bay Area from 5 to 21 December; check here for specific dates & locations, & you may want to move quickly, as these shows tend to sell out.

Cantare Chorale, joined by the Aurora & Nova Youth Choirs, performs Lead With Love, a holiday program focusing on "hope, promise, justice, love, peace, compassion, and unity" through music by Willan, Memley, Hailstork, Runestad, Ešenvalds, & more, including C H Johnson’s All of Us from Considering Matthew Shepard, & you can hear it all on 6 December at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church & 7 December at First Presbyterian in Oakland.

Valérie Sainte-Agathe leads Philharmonia Baroque in Gloria, a program offering the world premiere of Quem Pastores Laudavere (Him Whom Shepherds Praised) by Roderick Williams (written for PBO), the American premiere of Caroline Shaw's The Holdfast, Praetorius's setting of Quem Pastores Laudavere, Corelli's Christmas Concerto, & Vivaldi's celebrated Gloria, & you can hear it all on 5 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, 6 December at First Congregational in Berkeley, & 7 December at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford.

On 6 - 7 December at the Strand Theater, ACT presents vocalist Debbie Wileman (who "impersonates classic female singers of the Golden Age, particularly Judy Garland"), performing "Judy Garland": We Need a Little Christmas".

On 7 December at the Orinda Theater, the Dynamic Miss Faye Carol & her all-star string quartet present a Carolizing Christmas concert.

Nate Widelitz leads the California Bach Society in Laudate Coeli: Songs of Light in Winter’s Deep, featuring "a radiant program of Christmas music spanning three centuries", including Buxtehude’s Das neugeborne Kindelein, Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini & his Magnificat, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Brahms’s O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf, & Hugo Distler’s Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, with soloists Rita Lilly (soprano), Mindy Ella Chu (mezzo-soprano), Corey Head (tenor), & Chung-Wai Soong (bass), & you can hear it 5 December at Trinity+St. Peter’s Episcopal in San Francisco, 6 December at First Congregational in Palo Alto, & 7 December at Saint John's Presbyterian in Berkeley.

Pianist / vocalist / composer Ben Folds & his quartet will perform songs from his Christmas album Sleigher on 8 - 9 December at the SF Jazz Center.

On 9 December at the Berkeley City Club, Berkeley Chamber Performances presents Brass Over Bridges (Robert Giambruno & Ari Micich, trumpets; Erika Miras, French horn; Esther Armendariz, trombone; Jonathan Seiberlich, Tuba), presents a mostly holidayish program featuring music by Jennifer Higdon, Ludwig Maurer, Dale Trumbore, Gabrieli, Ken Amis, Tchaikovsky, Leroy Anderson, José Feliciano, & others.

Daniel Hope, violinist & Concertmaster of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, will be joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus, led by Valérie Sainte-Agathe, in In Winter's Glow, a program featuring season music by John Rutter, Elgar, Vivaldi, Ola Fjeilo, William Billings, Benjamin Britten, David Conte, Gordon Getty, Jake Heggie, & Nico Muhly, as well as traditional carols arranged by Rutter, & you can hear it all 11 December at First Church (First Congregational) in Berkeley, 12 December at Saint Stephen's Episcopal in Belvedere, & 13 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.

On 10 December at Saint Joseph's Arts Society in San Francisco, One Found Sound offers its annual Holiday Pop Rox, offering an "evening of dazzling drag, thrilling vocals, and orchestral magic . . . Hosted by the incredible Melinda Campero with drag artist Nicki J."

On 13 December in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Ensemble Cherubim Chamber Chorus, directed by Marika Kuzma & joined by special guests Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano), L Peter Callender (as narrator), & the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, performing Carols of Birds, Bells, and Peace from Ukraine: A Holiday Celebration.

Sven Edward Olbash leads Tactus SF in A Renaissance Christmas, featuring Pérotin's Beata Viscera, Orlando di Lasso's Prophetiae Sibyllarum, & Praetorius' cantata Vom Himmel Hoch, & you can hear them 12 December at Saint Paul's Episcopal in Oakland & 14 December at Saint John the Evangelist, Episcopal, in San Francisco; a reception follows each concert.

On 13 December at Saint Mary Magdalene in Berkeley, WAVE (Women's Antique Vocal Ensemble) presents Green Grow’th the Holly: A Winter Celebration in Song, a holiday program "featuring selections from medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque times, beautiful modern pieces, and world music for winter. Composers include Bassano, des Prez, Dufay, Handl, Leonarda, and Zumaya, among others – plus a piece written just for us by Melike Yersiz based on a Turkish poem celebrating the season. Featuring instrumentalists: Tobi Szuts on viola de gamba; Howard Kadis on lute; and the early brass quartet Mane Musica".

On 13 December at Calvary Presbyterian in San Francisco, the San Francisco Boys Chorus presents its Winter Concert, including "carols and holiday classics, featuring selections from Bach to Broadway".

Violinist Mads Tolling, joined by Colin Hogan (piano & accordion), Gary Brown (bass), & Eric Garland (drums), will perform Cool Yule, "jazzified versions of carols from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, capturing the mysticism, customs and sounds of the Nordic countries along with the joy and soul of American jazz", at the SF Jazz Center on 13 - 14 December.

The Spanish Harlem Orchestra performs Salsa Navidad at the SF Jazz Center on 13 - 14 December.

Chanticleer performs their beloved Christmas program throughout the Bay Area from 13 to 23 December; check here for dates & locations.

On 13 December at Old First Concerts, Matthew Otto leads the Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco in Angelic Voices: Carols by Candlelight, joined by cellist Sophie Deng, & pianist Dara Phung to perform the SF premiere of Sarah Quartel's Snow Angel, along with music by Bach, Joni Mitchell, traditional Puerto Rican carols, & more.

Nicolas Dosman leads Pacific Edge Voices in Still I Rise: PEV's Celebration of Hope, a holiday program featuring a range of holiday classics & favorites, with performances on 13 December at the Maybeck First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley & 14 December at the Caroline Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The Golden Gate Men's Chorus presents Tidings of Joy, a holiday program featuring music by "Vaughan Williams, traditional carols arranged by the King’s Singers, contemporary holiday songs arranged by BYU Vocal Point, and more", & that's 13 - 14 & 16 - 17 December at Saint Matthew's Lutheran in San Francisco (near Mission Dolores).

On 14 December at the Chabot College Performing Arts Center in Hayward, Alexander Kahn leads the Bay Philharmonic in Sounds of the Season!, a holiday program featuring music by Mariachi Nueva Sangre as well as the Bay Philharmonic & the Bay Phil Youth Orchestra musicians, in a program that will include "[f]estive Hanukkah selections, Holiday favorites with the CO_LLAB Choir, A lively audience sing-along" & more.

On 14 December at Old First Concerts, Ken Jue leads the Ragazzi Boys Chorus of Silicon Valley in Rejoice!, "a diverse program which explores the different ways we welcome each other to celebrate our holiday traditions".

San Francisco Choral Artists present Mystery, Magi, & Mittens, a program featuring music "from the 15th to 21st centuries, including Tye, Poulenc, Brahms, Byrd, Conte, Scarlatti, Parker, and Puerling, and Max Marcus (Composer-in-Residence) and Peter Hilliard (Composer-Not-in-Residence)", & you can hear it on 14 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 20 December at All Saints' Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 21 December at Saint Paul's Episcopal in Oakland.

The Klezmatics celebrate Hanukkah at the SF Jazz Center on 15 December.

On 15 December at Davies Hall, the San Francisco Girls Chorus presents Esperanza Del futuro, featuring all levels of the Girls Chorus & special guest Diana Gameros; the program features "annual favorites including The First Nowell and Silent Night" as well as new music, including the premiere of a work for 250 voices by the SFGC's 2025-2026 Composer-in-Residence Nicolás Lell Benavides.

George Cole and his Orchestra play Nat King Cole's The Magic of Christmas at the SF Jazz Center on 18 - 21 December.

Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval brings his Swinging Holiday to the SF Jazz Center on 18 - 19 December.

On 19 - 21 December, the Lorraine Hansberry Theater presents Soulful Christmas, with musical direction by Yvonne Cobbs & stage direction by Margo Hall, at the Magic Theater in Fort Mason.

On 20 December at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Holiday Spectacular 2025!, specific repertory has not been announced, but the performance will be a "little naughty, but mostly very nice".

On 20 December, the San Francisco Choral Society performs their Festival of Carols program at Trinity + St. Peter's Episcopal Church in San Francisco.

On 20 December at Old First Concerts, Golden Bough (Margie Butler, Paul Espinoza & Kathy Sierra) present Christmas in a Celtic Land, drawing on holiday music & carols from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & Cornwall, performed on Celtic harp, penny-whistle, guitar, accordion, violin, viola, mandolin, & bodhran.

Pianist Cyrus Chestnut plays Vince Guaraldi’s music for A Charlie Brown Christmas at the SF Jazz Center on 20 December, & on 21 December, also at the SF Jazz Center, the Adam Shulman Trio will also play Guaraldi's music for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

On 21 December at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, you can celebrate the Winter Solstice with Barbara Higbie and Friends; in addition to pianist / violinist / vocalist Higbie, the friends include guitarist Vicki Randle, percussionist Michaelle Goerlitz, cellist Mia Pixley, bassist Kofy Brown, & mandolin player Jasper Manning.

On 23 December at The Chapel in San Francisco, you can hear The Fabulous Bud E. Luv Christmas Extravaganza, if you're hankering for an old-school-Vegas-type Christmas show.

On 23 December at the Golden Gate Theater, BroadwaySF presents RAIN – A Beatles Christmas Tribute, mixing "holiday favorites alongside the legendary sounds of the Beatles".

Orchestral

On 5 & 6 December at Hertz Hall, the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, led by David Milnes & Wei Cheng, will perform the North American debut of Susan Lim's Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra (with piano soloist Mark Bebbington & the University Chorus) along with Holst's The Planets, & excerpts from the Star Wars score by John Williams.

On 6 December at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony's new music director, Robert Mollicone, will help celebrate David Conte's 70th birthday by performing his The Masque of the Red Death, Suite #1, along with Debussy's Petite Suite, orchestrated by Henri Büsser, & Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture & excerpts from his Nutcracker Ballet.

On 12 December, you can experience A Special Evening with Jon Batiste and the San Francisco Symphony, featuring "a performance of symphonic-infused hits and a few holiday surprises."

On 13 December at the Taube Atrium Theater, Jessica Bejarano leads the San Francisco Philharmonic in Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, Bruch's Violin Concerto #1 in G minor, Opus 26 (with soloist Wyatt Underhill), & the Dvořák 8.

BroadwaySF presents The Music of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Rings of Power - In Concert on 13 December at the Orpheum; no word on who exactly is performing.

On 14 December at First Baptist in San Francisco, the San Francisco Civic Music Association presents Civic Strings: A Nordic Winter, led by Michelle Maruyama & featuring Impromptu by Sibelius, Vivaldi's  Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 357 (with soloist Maruyama), Vivaldi Rocks, an arrangement of Winter from the Four Seasons arranged by Mark Wood (with Maruyama again as soloist), the Air & Gigue from Bach's Orchestral Suite #3, & Grieg's 2 Nordic Melodies, Opus 63; the concert is free but reservations are appreciated.

On 14 December at the Paramount, Kedrick Armstrong leads the Oakland Symphony & Chorus in Let Us Break Bread Together, their annual holiday concert, this year celebrating the legacy of Whitney Houston.

Jory Fankuchen leads the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in Louise Farrenc's Symphony #3 in G Minor, Finale, Paganini's Violin Concerto #1, Allegro maestoso (with soloist Lisa Saito), & the Beethoven 7, on 30 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, 31 December at First Congregational in Berkeley, & 1 January at First United Methodist in Palo Alto; the concerts are free but RSVPs are appreciated.

Chamber Music

On 2 December at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents cellist Michael Graham & pianist Aileen Chanco playing Arvo Pärt's Fratres, Chopin's Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor, Opus 65, & Shostakovich's Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Opus 40.

On 7 December at Noe Valley Ministry, Noe Music presents pianist Inon Barnatan performing "an all-Schubert program, including the Impromptu in F minor (D.935/1) and the towering Sonata in B-flat major (D.960). He is joined by co-Artistic Director and violinist Owen Dalby for the composer’s radiant Fantasie in C major for violin and piano (D.934)". If you'd like more of Barnatan, on 9 December at the Barbro Osher Recital Hall, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music features its monthly Chamber Music Tuesday, this time featuring pianist Barnatan, who, along with the Esme Quartet (Wonhee Bae & Yuna Ha, violins; Dimitri Murrath, viola; Yeeun Heo, cello), will give the world premiere of Juri Seo's String Quartet, along with Rachmaninoff's Trio élégiaque #1 in G minor & Dvořák's Piano Quintet #2, Opus 81; Barnatan will also give a Master Class at the Conservatory on 8 December.

This month, San Francisco Performances completes its Saturday morning Herbst Hall lecture / concert series, with host / lecturer Robert Greenberg & the Esmé Quartet (Wonhee Bae & Yuna Ha, violins; Dimitri Murrath, viola; Yeeun Heo, cello) exploring the quartets of Schubert on 13 December, when they will examine & perform the String Quintet in C Major, D 956, the Cello Quintet (with cellist Paul Wiancko).

On 15 December at the Caroline Hume Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Conservatory faculty member & SF Symphony Principal Flute Yubeen Kim will perform Philippe Gaubert's Sicilienne & his Berceuse (joined by Yu-Hsin Galaxy Su on piano), CPE Bach's Trio Sonata in D Minor, & Franz Doppler's Andante et Rondo, Opus 25 (joined by Julin Cheung on flute & Yu-Hsin Galaxy Su on piano); the second half of the program will be Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Flute Duet #4 in F Major (joined by Julin Cheung on flute), Lensky's Aria from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky (I assume in an arrangement), & Prokofiev's Sonata for Flute and Piano in D Major, Opus 94 (joined by Yu-Hsin Galaxy Su on piano).

Instrumental

Organist Jonathan Dimmock will give his annual performance of Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur. on 7 December at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland.

On 13 December at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, pianist Vijay Iyer, sarod player Alam Khan, & tabla player Nitin Mitta will improvise & explore their sound-worlds together.

Early / Baroque Music

Voices of Music will perform Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, joining in the 300th anniversary celebrations, as well as his Concerto for Four Violins featuring soloists Elizabeth Blumenstock, YuEun Kim, Isabelle Seula Lee, Augusta McKay Lodge, Hanneke van Proosdij, & Shelby Yamin, & you can hear them 19 December at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, 20 December at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, & 21 December at First Congregational in Berkeley.

On 31 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, you can join Jeffrey Thomas & the American Bach Soloists in A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera, featuring "Opera Arias, Duets, and Overtures" by Handel (Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, & Hercules), Rameau (Pygmalion), Gluck (Orphée et Eurydice), & Vivaldi (Ercole sul Termodonte & Griselda), with soloists Sarah Coit (mezzo-soprano) & Matthew Hill (tenor).

Messiah

Jane Glover leads the San Francisco Symphony in Messiah on 5 -6 December at Davies Hall, with soloists Susanna Phillips (soprano), Jennifer Johnson Cano (mezzo-soprano), Josh Lovell (tenor), & Will Liverman (baritone).

Urs Leonhardt Steiner leads the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (& the audience) in their annual Sing It Yourself Messiah, with soloists Gabrielle Goozee-Nichols (soprano), Celeste Camarena (alto), Ben Sasnet (tenor), & Kirk Eichelberger (bass), on 7 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco & 14 December at the Clock Tower in Benicia.

The San Francisco Bach Choir performs Part I of Messiah along with Candlelit Seasonal Favorites on 6 - 7 December at Calvary Presbyterian in San Francisco.

Jeffrey Thomas will lead the American Bach Soloists in Messiah in Grace Cathedral on 11 - 12 December, with soloists Liv Redpath (soprano), Ágnes Vojtkó (contralto), Brian Giebler (tenor), & Christian Pursell (bass-baritone).

Modern / Contemporary Music

On 4 December at Littlefield Concert Hall at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, Other Minds presents Margaret Leng Tan, playing piano & toy piano, performing The Nature of Music: And No Birds Sing, a program focusing on our environmental emergencies through music by John Luther Adams, Lois V Vierk, Somei Satoh, Annie Gosfield, Michael Wookey, Eric Griswold, & John Cage.

On 20 December at the Berkeley Hillside Club, you can celebrate the Winter Solstice with eight world premieres of music for Chamber Orchestra & Jazz Quartet; composed by Daggerboard (Gregory Howe & Erik Jekabson) & by Jekabson alone.

Dance

Smuin Ballet presents its popular The Christmas Ballet, featuring "new works this year by . . . Julia Adam, . . .  Amy Seiwert, and . . .  Myles Thatcher. In addition to beloved Michael Smuin classics, look for favorite numbers by Val Caniparoli, Nicole Haskins, Ben Needham-Wood, and Rex Wheeler" & that's 22 -23 November at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, 5 - 6 December at the Sunset Center in Carmel, 11 - 14 December at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, & 18 - 28 December at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

ODC Dance gives us its annual performances of The Velveteen Rabbit, choreographed by KT Nelson, & based on the book by Margery Williams, from 29 November to 7 December at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

On 11 December at the Presidio Theater, the Grand Kyiv Ballet performs The Snow Queen, with choreography by Alexander Adbdukarimov & Arshak Galumyan (no mention of where the score comes from).

Nutcrackers

On 1 December at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, The Nutcracker will be performed by International Ballet Stars, part of Classical Arts Entertainment.

San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker, choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, runs at the Opera House from 5 to 28 December.

On 6 - 7 December at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Pride Band puts on A Wicked Dance-Along Nutcracker, featuring music from Tchaikovsky's score as well as The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, & Wicked, as well as dancing & singing by professionals as well as the audience.

On 13 - 14 December at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, City Ballet San Francisco performs The Nutcracker.

On 17 December at the Golden Gate Theater, BroadwaySF presents Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet, "featuring all-new choreography this season by acclaimed Ukrainian choreographer Viktor Davydiuk." along with "marionettes . . . by Petre Puppeteer, and . . .  animal puppets, reimagined by . . . Nino Novellino" (& dancers, of course!).

On 19 - 21 December at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, Stapleton School of the Performing Arts presents its 37th annual production of The Nutcracker, with the "green" cast on 19 (evening) & 20 (matinee) December & the "red" cast on 20 (evening) & 21 (matinee) December.

On 20 - 21 December at  the Paramount, the Oakland Ballet Company presents Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, with the score performed live by the Oakland Symphony & the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.

Mostly Museums

Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big, featuring "models [from the museum's Doris and Donald Fisher Collection] for four of their most iconic projects, including San Francisco’s own beloved Cupid’s Span" opens at SFMOMA on 20 December.

Cinematic

Frameline has two presentations this month: on 1 December, for World AIDS Day, you can see Marlon Riggs’ Affirmations & Stephen Winter’s Chocolate Babies, "followed by a post-film conversation with representatives from Frameline, the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, and more" (RSVP is required to attend); & on 21 December at the Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco, you can see a 10th anniversary screening of Carol, with director Todd Haynes expected to attend.

On 7 December at the Great Star Theater, there will be a screening of the Joan Chen film Saving Face, followed by a Q&A with Chen.

The 13th Festival of the Moving Image, featuring recent work by students in the Broadcast Electronic Media Arts (BEMA) and Cinema programs at City College of San Francisco, will take place at the Roxie Theater on 7 December.

At BAM/PFA, here are this month's series: Jerry Ross Barrish: A Life in Film and Art runs 6 to 14 December; & Akira Kurosawa: Four Recent Restorations, featuring refurbished classics Ikiru, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, & High and Low, starts 10 December, with showings scheduled through 20 February 2026.

On 21 December at the Orinda Theater, you can experience the 1925 Ben Hur – that is, the best of Ben Hurs. Charlton who? There is only Ramon Novarro!

This month's Classic Movie Matinee at the Orinda Theater, hosted by Matías Bomba, is as usual on the last Tuesday of the month – 30 December – & will be a 75th anniversary showing of Sunset Boulevard, & I can't think of a better way to end this year than tangoing on Valentino-approved tile floors with Gloria Swanson.

Museum Monday 2025/47

 

Oroshi (Mountain Gust) by Kino Satoshi, on view as part of New Japanese Clay at the Asian Art Museum

Friday Photo 2025/47

 

steps, outside of Herbst Theater, San Francisco

Museum Monday 2025/46

 

detail of Boatmen on the Missouri by George Caleb Bingham, now at the de Young Museum

Friday Photo 2025/46

 

Winter branches

San Francisco Opera: the Ring is coming!

(from left to right: baritone Brian Mulligan, director Francesca Zambello, Music Director Eun Sun Kim, General Director Matthew Shilvock)

Yesterday afternoon in the Taube Atrium Theater, adjacent to the Opera House, San Francisco Opera made it official: Der Ring des Nibelungen is returning, with three full cycles in June 2028, along with stand-alone Rheingolds &  Walküres in preceding seasons. This announcement was not exactly a surprise, as the Verdi / Wagner project inaugurated when Eun Sun Kim was hired as Music Director implicitly would have to include the Ring, but there are now definite times, & at least some definite performers. What was a surprise, & almost a shock as far as I was concerned, was General Director Matthew Shilvock's statement that this would be the first full Ring cycle in the United States since the pandemic. But thinking for a moment about the dates, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised, as it takes years to put together a Ring cycle (hence yesterday's announcement, years in advance of the performances) & the pandemic really wasn't that long ago: depending on how you calculate its end, maybe four years? And so much has happened since then, most of it ranging from bad to very very bad. (So I at least am grateful to have a Ring to look forward to.)

Kim of course will be the conductor, & this will be her first full Ring cycle. (During the Q&A after the presentation, Lisa Hirsch asked if Kim would be the first woman to conduct a full cycle in the United States, & it looks as if she probably will be.) Francesca Zambello's production will be revived (& probably, to some extent, revised, just because that's how these things go). Our principal singers were also announced: Brian Mulligan as Wotan (his first full Cycle in the role), Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde (making her company debut), & Simon O'Neill as Siegfried. It's probably just me, but when they announced the "three" principals, I thought, "Wotan, Brünnhilde, & . . . who is the third lead?" Haha, so much for The Hero. (Personally, I might suggest Alberich as #3.)

Music director Eun Sun Kim

You can get such details as are currently available here on the Opera's website. Here are some highlights, or maybe odds & ends, from the presentation:

We were fed, which is always important at these things! Various sausages (beef, chicken, & vegan), cut in half  (not lengthwise, the other way), served on rolls, with mustard & sauerkraut available, very tasty, as well as thick pretzels, all very Bavarian, along with wine, beer, soft drinks, & sparkling water. Everything ran smoothly, on time, & was well coordinated (anyone who's been involved in any level in such presentations knows how impressive this is).

The large scene behind the panelists showed various logos (San Francisco Opera, the 2028 Ring logo) or various scenes from earlier productions, or shots of the performers. It was all appropriate & visually interesting, engaging enough to be useful but not obtrusive enough to be distracting.

Shilvock led a discussion with Kim, Zambello, & Mulligan. Each gave some highlights of her or his history with the Ring. Each mentioned, in their own ways, how different Wagner is from the rest of the repertory: a different level of engagement & intensity. Zambello noted that "obviously I love Verdi – look at my last name!" but directing Wagner is different. Both she & Kim noted that the musicians performing Wagner are ones who really want to be there. I was struck by the underlying theme (a leitmotif, if you will, & I guess we must) of the sheer physical difficulty of performing these lengthy & demanding works. Kim mentioned the shoulder strain of the musicians, Mulligan mentioned the daunting level of details involved in something like Wotan's Act 2 "soliloquy" to Brünnhilde in Walküre. Zambello mentioned at that point that that's where she & the conductor act as coaches, helping the singer break things down into less overwhelming segments of a few minutes each. Pacing yourself as for a marathon was repeatedly mentioned.

There was even some consideration of the physical demands on the audience: when asked what one, needed to attend a Ring, particularly for the first time, Kim immediately responded, "A good cushion." I was amused by the echo of Nilsson's advice for singing the big Wagner roles: "Wear comfortable shoes." Kim's remark came from her experience as an assistant conductor at Bayreuth, home of famously excellent acoustics & famously uncomfortable seating. Other than that, people (in the audience as well as on stage) offered varied perspectives on how much "homework" (reading the librettos or some sort of analysis of the Ring, studying the different leitmotifs) was helpful or even necessary. Some vouched for just jumping into the deep end (another sports metaphor).

Zambello was asked what moment in the Ring was most difficult to stage, & she immediately said, "the end of Götterdämmerung." The music is a lot to live up to. All panelists talked about how thoroughly the music guides one through the works, but also about how difficult it is to live up to the music. Shilvock asked the three which role they would ideally play. Kim didn't give an answer, but Mullligan immediately said Hagen, which I thought was an interesting choice, & Zambello said it would have to be Brünnhilde: she even has the name of Brünnhilde's horse on her car's license plate. When discussing her staging of the Ring, Zambello mentioned that it had been described as a "feminist" Ring, but, she pointed out, that's what Wagner wrote. I've also heard other Ring stagings described as "feminist" & I'm never clear what exactly that means in this context, as that interpretation is inherent in the material: no matter what you think of Siegfried, it really is Brünnhilde who is the key to the Cycle.

director Francesca Zambello & General Director Matthew Shilvock

There were some interesting questions from the audience; Joshua Kosman asked Mulligan about putting together the three Wotans: is there a development in the character, or do you approach each opera separately? Mulligan responded with his view of the arc of Wotan's development. I think it was then that he said Wotan's passionate outburst to Erda in Siegfried was one of his favorite moments in the role: the true love duet in the Ring.

Zambello had mentioned working through staging by way of character, which is how you turn moments from potentially mechanical exposition into something more dramatic. Scene 2 of Rheingold in particular was discussed as, in her terms, "a one-act play"; Mulligan mentioned the concentration necessary to keep up with all the overlapping exchanges of information in that scene. The Ring, for all its vastness, is often quite intimate (I was surprised by this initially, until I realized how much of it is based on Greek tragedy, which also mostly uses only a few individuals at a time in the dramatic scenes).

One questioner asked how many people had, like him, come to Wagner through Anna Russell. About ten had, but I noticed when he mentioned Russell, Kim looked puzzled & whispered something to Shilvock: time moves on, & it's been decades since Russell performed; it seemed likely to me that Kim had not heard of her. If she does look up the comedian's famous, or once famous, routine (in which she mostly just recites the plot of the Ring: "I'm not making this up, you know!") I wonder what she'll think of it. Unfortunately there was no follow-up question asking about What's Opera, Doc?

There were questions about the number of leitmotifs (someone in the audience offered I think it was 176 as the answer), & about how many musicians in the orchestra were new since the last Ring was done in 2018 (quite a few of them, apparently). Mention was naturally made of the great extra expense of putting on the Ring, which of course is one reason for announcing the performances years in advance, to allow for the necessary fund raising. And there was a question about the promised ancillary events: would they include some sort of partnership with our local WNBA team, the Valkyries? That too will be revealed as June 2028 draws closer.

Ring swag! Each attendee was given a branded tote bag.

Museum Monday 2025/45

 

Lovers in a Garden, a sixteenth-century stained glass work from the Netherlands, now at the Art Institute of Chicago

Friday Photo 2025/45

 

the Orpheum Theater, Market Street, San Francisco

San Francisco Opera: Parsifal

Where do you begin with Parsifal? Where can you end?

I was at the first performance of San Francisco Opera's current revival of Parsifal. As usual after one of the major Wagner works I reeled out afterwards, needing several days to adjust to what we so blithely, amusingly, & thoughtlessly call "reality". That's Parsifal, a work that has run like a leitmotiv through my inner life. I saw the Opera's previous staging, by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, a quarter of a century ago; my major memory is of Kundry at the end, wandering down the railroad tracks that were a prominent feature of the staging (intended as an echo of the Shoah, I think), heading towards . . . a life redeemed from the guilt that oppresses her? a death that relieves her of sin, sorrow, & regret? An ambiguity, among the work's other ambiguities, that can haunt the susceptible. It's the image that unwittingly stuck in my mind: Kundry, the conflicted, the wounded, the mocker & helper, finally free to wander off. That was several years before I started posting here, so I can link to no thoughts from the time. For other encounters with Parsifal, including  the famous Syberberg film & the notorious "bunny" staging at Bayreuth, I offer an early post of mine, which you can find here.

I guess I should just start by saying that the current San Francisco production is very fine, very rich, very thoughtful, & would repay repeated visits, but, at the risk of sounding like Mme Verdurin in Proust, I wasn't sure my life could take it. Eun Sun Kim, who conducted, is proving once again that hiring her is one of the best recent moves the Opera has made. Her continuing Verdi / Wagner project is a source of prospective joy & hope. She apparently is the one who insisted that even before the music begins the house lights be turned completely down so we, the audience, can sit for a moment in initiatory darkness. Unfortunately, there were a number of audience members who of course had to have their goddamn cell phones out & on until after the music had started, because we, as a culture, are shallow. That's not a strong enough word, but I'll let it go. The intention of darkness & silence was there, & it was a powerful one, again, to those susceptible.

The staging by Matthew Ozawa is elegant & evocative. It has a ritualistic feel & a fairy-tale look that suit the story & leaves what we're seeing open to ruminative & variant, even contradictory, interpretations. In the first & third acts, the arching Gothic columns turn into tree trunks & back with fluid ease; the colors are dark, with brighter splashes, including a trio of dancers in scarlet (Gabrielle Sprauve, Brett Conway, & Livanna Mailsen, with stately movements by Rena Butler; they added quite a bit to the ritualistic aura of the production). The Flower Maidens in the second act made a particularly lovely scene, in shades of green, teal, pale blue, & yellow, glowing softly against a midnight blue-velvet background; it looked like an illumination by Edmund Dulac.

It was such a striking moment that I regretted the failure in Act 3 to provide the contrasting field of Good Friday flowers; instead we were given the Act 1 set, a bit decayed like the Knighthood of the Grail, but glowing with the redemption offered by Parsifal, who takes up the Grail rituals – actually, in this production, offered by Parsifal with Kundry who stand together, united, both in flowing white robes. I know some who objected to this change to the libretto. I was fine with it. It's a union & liberation of anguished forces, a redemption offered regardless of sexuality. Kundry herself is such a fascinating figure. In Act 1, here, she wears an odd sort of feathered outfit that made her look like a misfit bird. (For some reason, the two young women seated in front of me found this cause for chuckling, which I did not understand. They disappeared during Act 2, but to my surprise they returned for Act 3.) It's an evocation of the natural world that flows into the potential meanings of this staging (a misfit bird, like the swan Parsifal shoots, though perhaps he is the one who is the misfit there). Kundry was performed with intensity by Tanja Ariane Baumgartner.

All the roles, though, were filled with intensity by an excellent cast. Gurnemanz, the garrulous gatekeeper, who, like many such insiders, speak with authority & even compassion but can't quite comprehend those who are outside his organization (hence his dismissal of the awkward & he thinks uncomprehending Parsifal at the end of Act 1) was powerfully presented by Kwangchul Youn. Falk Struckmann was a perversely forceful Klingsor; I'm always surprised by how short this role actually is, given his miasmic presence in the opera. The suffering of Amfortas, he of the unending wound, had searing intensity in the performance of Brian Mulligan. And Brandon Jovanovich as the holy fool . . . this may be the role he was born to play. He has a presence both authoritative & innocent; you can easily see him as both the heedless country bumpkin of Act 1, the swan-shooter, & Act 2's troubled, searching, ultimately compassionate man who rejects Kundry's sexual advances but still offers her a loving understanding, & Act 3's firmly focused & mature Knight. He sings with purity & piercing empathy.

Parsifal is an interesting revision of an earlier Wagner hero, sort of a Siegfried 2.0. It was Bernard Shaw who pointed out the shift in Wagner, from a hero who was a dragon-slayer to one who is rebuked for, & regrets, shooting a swan in flight. There is the same alienation from conventional society, the same pang in him because of that alienation, his ignorance of his background &, especially, of his mother, that source of life & knowledge. Parsifal, though, is without what often strikes us as Siegfried's thoughtless arrogance, those Ubermenschy qualities that ring unpleasantly in 21st century ears. Parsifal listens. He considers. He is open to others, which is how he frees both them & himself.

Personally, I've always thought of Parsifal as one of the great examinations of the odd inextricable mixture of the spiritual & the sexual, a search for a cathartic synthesis of animal & angel that might count as, if not redemption, at least peace. I think Amfortas's wound, the unending, unhealable wound, is sexual desire. That's why the crucial moment in the opera is when Parsifal rejects Kundry sexually but still is open to her with compassion, as a suffering being. (This is the moment, in Syberberg's film, when the young man playing Parsifal is replaced by a young woman: I see his intention, despite the dubious gender assumptions.) Klingsor, like the Church Father / heretic Origen, castrated himself (allegedly, in Origen's case); that's one way of trying to avoid the struggle of fitting sexuality into life, but ultimately not a satisfying one (I think of Cleopatra's conversation with the eunuch, in Shakespeare's play, where he confesses that desire remains: "I think of what Venus did with Mars"). Wagner was clearly a person for whom eroticism was a guiding  force (think of Tristan!); his music, with its sinuous, insinuating, opiate lines, argues for the inescapability of our urges. Did he solve it, in Parsifal? Did he dissolve the erotic in the religious & the ritualistically religious into the redemptive, in a five-hour dramatization of Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila, freeing us from our trammeling flesh? Is there even a possible answer to this question?

Perhaps the plenitude of Parsifal is to prompt questions, & offer nothing but suggestions of possible answers.