Tag: Music

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ASR Music ~~ Adversity Brings Close-up Concert Series by Marin Symphony

By Cari Lynn Pace

There’s good reason folks affectionately tagged Marin Symphony “the freeway philharmonic.” Many of its award-winning musicians have travelled to play with the symphonies in San Jose, Oakland, and Santa Rosa. As of now, the entire Marin Symphony can be found scooting up and down 101.

Without a permanent concert hall to call their own, this beloved orchestra has used the Marin Center as their venue for over 50 years. Last year seismic updating caused the facility to shut down. “These challenges have given us the opportunity to build our muscles and flexibility…our resourcefulness in the face of adversity,” explained Executive Director Tod Brody.

And resourceful they are!

Marin Symphony took their talented musicians on the road and landed their instruments right in the audiences’ laps, so to speak. Downsizing the orchestra and creating chamber quartets gave the group new freedom of venues. Their current schedule of nineteen classical performances is spread throughout Marin, in country clubs, churches, and schools from Tiburon to Novato.

“Audiences can be up close and personal to really feel the music vibrating just a few feet from them…”

Audiences can be up close and personal to really feel the music vibrating just a few feet from them. The first performance at the Marin Country Club held the audience spellbound as an intimate chamber quartet of flute, cello, and piano performed Farrenc’s “Trio in E Minor”. The awe continued as a sextet of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano took their places to reveal a lyrical composition by Poulenc.

To cap off Act II, eight musicians doubled up in pairs to raise the bar with Mozart’s “Serenade for Winds in E flat”. It was fascinating to watch the precision and concentration of each musician just a few feet away. Fingers zipped on the clarinets, the burnished bassoon gave forth deep toots, and an oboe musician puffed out her cheeks, reminding us of the breath control required to play such an instrument. The horn players intermittently turned their instruments to ease out the moisture which always collects. These entrancing details are typically overlooked on a large stage, and the audience loved every minute.

The Marin Symphony alternates these small intimate performances with larger yet close-in gatherings. Their upcoming chamber orchestra performance will be guest-conducted by Edwin Outwater, and will feature flutist MyungJu Yeo. The program of Stravinsky, Mozart, and Beethoven takes place at the College of Marin, James Dunn Theatre, on Nov 11 & 12, 2023.

In December, the Marin Symphony Chamber Chorus and the Marin Girls Chorus join the Symphony’s brass and percussion musicians for their annual Holiday Choral Concert at St. Raphael Church in San Rafael. It’s sure to be a sellout on December 2 and 3, 2023.

For a full schedule of Marin Symphony performances into May of 2024, go to MarinSymphony.org or call 415-479-8100. Single tickets and subscriptions are available.

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ASR Writer & Editor Cari Lynn Pace is a voting member of SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and writes theatre and lifestyle reviews for the Marinscope Community Newspapers throughout Marin County. Contact: pace-koch@comcast.net

 

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ASR Music ~~ Symphony, Set, Singers and Shadow: SF Opera Tackles Weighty Fairy Tale

By Jeff Dunn

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of nurses? The Empress doesn’t know, because she doesn’t have a shadow. But in the course of Richard Strauss’s opera Die Frau ohne Schatten, she develops empathy for other human beings while seeing her nurse shamelessly manipulate one of them, and gets a shadow as a reward.

Start with this basic plot, but then add 20+ more characters, 10 scene changes, nearly 100 musicians, 78 choristers, 7 dancers, and an elusive concoction of spirit world, symbolism, allegory, and late romantic melancholy, and you might be headed for trouble.

…Top honors are richly deserved for Sir Donald Runnicles’ conducting of the Opera Orchestra …

Fortunately, astute casting, terrific orchestral playing, and occasionally gorgeous sets by David Hockney allow Strauss’s nearly 3 hours of often inspired music to shine. Reactions may vary, however, with respect to Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto, with its interpretive challenges for puzzle-solvers and bewilderment for realists.

Linda Watson as the Nurse, Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s Wife, and Camilla Nylund as the Empress in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

Top honors are richly deserved for Sir Donald Runnicles’ conducting of the Opera Orchestra through thundering climaxes and deftly coordinating his army on and offstage. Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s wife powerfully matched the model proposed by Hofmannstahl himself. That is, Strauss’s wife Pauline: “Earthborn, impetuous yet unselfconfident and beautiful.” Linda Watson’s Nurse, purportedly a servant and aide to the Empress, revealed well her character’s true nature as a Mephistophelean Nurse Semi-Ratched trying to wheedle Stemme out of her shadow.

Linda Watson as the Nurse and Stefan Egerstrom as the Spirit Messenger in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

The hapless Dyer Barak was resonantly characterized by bass-baritone Johan Reuter. Camilla Nylund as the Empress aptly evolved her character and voice from a transparent gazelle to a caring human being. David Butt Philip as the Emperor, Stefan Egerstrom as the Spirit Messenger, and the rest of the cast did fine work handling the virtuoso lines Strauss gave to large and small parts alike.

Hockney’s backdrops ranged from an exquisitely beautiful color-changing evocation of hills, rivers and flowers of the opening scene on the Emperor’s roof to Barak’s home and dye shop with a wide range of vertical paint-can-like streaks of earth tones. Another striking set was the door to Keikobad’s temple in Act 3. At the end of Act 2, a Götterdämmerung-like event in the score was weakly characterized on stage. An earthquake is supposed to break the walls and a flood roar through them while Barak and his wife sink into the earth. No flood, just some hangings lifted.

Johan Reuter as Barak and Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s Wife in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.” Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

The beginning of Act 3 had the couple separated in large tear-drop holes in a backdrop rather than the “subterranean vault divided by a thick wall” called for in the libretto. Some dramatic orchestral interludes where characters hang about on stage with little or nothing to do would have benefitted by projections, but Hockney’s design dates from 1992, when projection technologies were primitive by today’s standards.

Google the symbolism of shadows, and you’ll get a number of meanings as large as the forces bringing Die Frau back to life here. Hofmannstahl meant it to mean the ability to bear children, which prompted one recent critic to declare that Die Frau “is an opera that ultimately condemns its womenfolk to lives of obeisant child-bearing.” While the conclusion of this massive undertaking must be taken in historical context of a Europe depopulated by World War One and the flu in a strongly patriarchal society, who knows for sure what will lurk in the hearts of viewers who experience this opera today?

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionDie Frau ohne Schatten
Directed byRoy Rallo
Producing CompanySan Francisco Opera
Production DatesThru June 28th
Production Address301 Van Ness Ave, SF, CA
Websitewww.sfopera.com
Telephone(415) 392-4400
Tickets$26-$422
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4.5/5
Libretto2.5/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?----
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Pick! ASR Music ~~ Living Room “Tosca” – Cinnabar Theater Brings Opera Home

By Jeff Dunn

The Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma is small enough to be somebody’s living room, a lucky thing. Author Alexandra Adornetto reminds us that for kids, imagination and invention go hand in hand there. “Shift a few pieces or furniture around,” she says, “and you have yourself a fort.”

Or an opera.

Intimacy was a laudable goal for Cinnabar’s production of Puccini’s Tosca. Vocal artists could maximize beauty by not having to strain to reach distant back walls. The audience could be moved by facial-expression details without a need for TV monitors. Surtitles would not distract from the action since the opera was sung in English. But to capitalize on intimacy, voices had to be great, singers had to act, and pronunciation had to be clear. Furthermore, the small chamber orchestra had to consist of musicians of soloistic quality.

Fortunately the Elly Lichenstein’s and Mary Chun’s respective stage and music direction helped to bring the advantages of intimacy home in almost all respects.

Michelle Drever as Tosca in Puccini’s “Tosca,” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater/Pocket Opera).

Michelle Allie Drever was an exceptionally passionate, fiery, and expressive Tosca, with a gorgeous and accurate voice to boot. Alex Boyer’s Cavaradossi was superb in all respects. I was particularly impressed how he included an often neglected aspect to his character–the slight aloofness of his aristocratic origins combined with a yet heated passion for Tosca and republicanism.

…Elly Lichenstein’s and Mary Chun’s respective stage and music direction helped to bring the advantages of intimacy home..

Spencer Dodd’s Scarpia was on the money vocally. His strikingly evil expressions were melodramatically boo-worthy, but detracted from subtlety of character that could have been mined from his backstory as a man under pressure in a complex political environment.

Michelle Dever (right) as Tosca and Spencer Dodd (left) as Scarpia in Cinnabar’s “Tosca.” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater)

Jordan Eldredge as Angelotti and Gene Wright as the Sacristan fulfilled their roles admirably, as did the rest of the cast.

The Cinnabar theatre program neglected to credit the Italian librettists Illica and Giacosa and the English translation by co-producer Pocket Opera’s Donald Pippin. In English, the beauty of the Italian is largely lost, but the immediacy of the story is enhanced, for the most part (though I quibble with “muori, muori” being said as “damn you, damn you” instead of “die, die” as Tosca faces the writhing Scarpia). Boyer was a champion in that all his English was utterly understandable. (He confessed that it was hard to unlearn the Italian, which he has sung five times previously.) Occasionally, however, this reviewer found the other vocalists were difficult to understand in their higher ranges at dramatic moments.

Lichenstein’s non-verbal additions to the stage directions were some of the joys of this production. The opera opened with children in the church before Angelotti’s usual arrival. Act 2 added two women amusing Scarpia at his meal, and a secret hiding place for the killer knife Tosca surprisingly discovers. Act 3 begins with two girls instead of a shepherd boy.

Another joy opening the act, BTW, was Susanne Chasalow’s perfect horn solo (full productions use 4 horns, one or more of which always see to make a boo-boo).

Michelle Dever (right) as Tosca in Cinnabar’s “Tosca.” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater)

A final advantage of Tosca in Cinnabar’s living room is you can chat with the artists afterward. Pretend that their characters were relatives who had misbehaved at a family dinner, and suggest a name of a good therapist they could see, and bring a smile to their lips!

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionTosca
Based on the play byVictorien Sardu
Directed byElly Lichenstein
Producing CompanyCinnabar Theater
Production DatesThrough June 25th
Production Address3333 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA 94952
Websitewww.cinnabartheater.org
Telephone (707) 763-8920
Tickets$30 – $50
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Script3.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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ASR Performance Review! Brandeburg Excellent in Streisand Tribute — by Kris Neely

Kelly Brandeburg took the stage of the Society Cabaret at the Hotel Rex in San Francisco and made it her own.

In an August 1st performance that ran almost 90 minutes, Ms. Brandeburg charmed, sang, and dazzled her way into the hearts and minds of the packed house with her one woman show, My Favorite Barbra: A Tribute to the Songs of Barbra Streisand.

A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and of The New School in New York City, Ms. Brandeburg deftly weaved Ms. Streisand’s personal story with 20 selections from her varied songbook. Marrying the singer’s history and music brought a personal and intimate tone to Ms. Brandeburg’s performance.

From opening to closing note, Ms. Brandeburg’s voice navigated the breadth and range of Ms. Streisand’s work with aplomb. It was no surprise when Ms. Brandeburg informed the mixed age audience that she had just signed a contract with the estimable Beach Blanket Babylon as an understudy for the Val Diamond role.

One minor discordant note to all this musical marvel: in the intimate confines of the Society Cabaret, miking both Ms. Brandeburg and Pianist/Musical Director John Simon Kassianides (with additional sound monitors on-stage) was overkill and detracted from the otherwise intimate nature of a professional show which organically grew more personal and private as the evening progressed.

Ms. Brandeburg’s one-woman show was solid, delightful, and a musical banquet which in the true spirit of the theater left her appreciative audience wanting even more.

Society Cabaret is located in the beautiful Hotel Rex, located at 562 Sutter Street in San Francisco, CA. For information on upcoming events, please see http://www.societycabaret.com.

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

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Kris Neely is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and a Theater Bay Area (TBA) Adjudicator.

Mr. Neely’s blogs on theater and performing arts are found on Aisle Seat Review at www.AisleSeatReview.com and also on For All Events at www.ForAllEvents.com.

Mr. Neely is a huge fan of Tejava!

***** ***** ***** ***** *****