At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the staged opera production given by SFCM Opera for the Fall term will be an imaginative coupling of one-act offerings. Separated by over 130 years, the two operas make it clear that the difficulties of managing a performance and its performers were not that different in the eighteenth century than they were in the twentieth, particularly when the manager had to deal with one or more prima donnas. Indeed, the first of the two offerings, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 486 comic singspiel “Der Schauspieldirektor” (the impresario), takes its title from such a manager, who has his hands full with two sopranos with egos as big as their voices.
The second production will present the Prologue to Richard Strauss’ Opus 60 opera, Ariadne auf Naxos. That title is also the title of a full-length opera to be performed as after-dinner entertainment. While the host is not explicitly named, he is Monsieur Jourdain, the title character of Molière’s comedy Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, which can be loosely translated as “the would-be [“wannabe” in current argot] nobleman.”
The confrontation between Ariadne (Anne Schwanewilms) and Zerbinetta (Hayoung Lee) in a 2012 production presented by the Hamburg State Opera (photograph by Monika Rittershaus, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)
A young composer has been commissioned to write an opera seria about the abandoned princess Ariadne and her encounter with Bacchus. However, Jourdain has also hired a commedia dell’arte troupe, led by a sexy comedienne named Zerbinetta, to keep the guests entertained. In the interest of avoiding a performance that would last too late into the night, he decides that both tragedy and comedy will be presented simultaneously on the same stage. Strauss’ Prologue provides the narrative behind the emergence of this ludicrous state of affairs with another clash of inflated egos.
Both of these operatic offerings will be staged by Heather Mathews, and Curt Pajer will conduct. The production will be given two performances in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, both at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, and Friday, November 22. The SFCM building is located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street, a short walk from the Van Ness Muni Station. There will be no charge for admission, but advance reservations are highly recommended. Separate Web pages have been created for making reservations for the Thursday and Friday performances.
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