Next month the Opera is ON streaming service, presented free of charge by the San Francisco Opera (SFO), will offer only two productions during the first two weekends of August. This “limited edition” is probably due in part to the fact that the 99th SFO season will begin the following Saturday, August 21, with a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca in the War Memorial Opera House. As in the past, the selection for each weekend will become available on Saturday at 10 a.m.; and free access will expire at the end of the following day. Each video will then be added to the archive available to subscribers and those that have donated $75 or more.
This somewhat more limited offering will not mark the end of streamed performances. Plans are currently under way to present a new live streaming option for the new productions that will be launched in October (Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 72 Fidelio) and November (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 588 Così fan tutte). Virtual tickets will be available for $25, and further information about these offerings will be posted on the Opera is ON home page. Specifics for the two August offerings will be as follows:
August 7–8: The first offering of an opera by Richard Wagner following the streaming of Der Ring des Nibelungen (the ring of the Nibelung) in its entirety this past March will be Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (the Master Singers of Nuremberg). Those up on their Wagner history probably know that this three-act opera, which tends to run for about five hours, was composed while Wagner was working on the Ring. Indeed, to be more specific, I believe that it was composed after the completion of the second act of Siegfried and before Wagner began work on the third and final act.
The source for the video was a staging by David McVicar that SFO co-produced with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The SFO performances took place in 2015 between November 18 and December 6. The role of Walther von Stolzing, the knight who aspires to be a Master Singer, was sung by tenor Brandon Jovanovich. He is motivated by his desire to win the heart of Eva (soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen, making her SFO debut), daughter of Master Singer Veit Pogner (bass Ain Anger, also making his SFO debut). He is guided by Master Singer Hans Sachs (bass-baritone James Rutherford) with additional coaching from Sachs’ apprentice David (tenor Alek Shrader). Unfortunately, Master Singer Sixtus Beckmesser (baritone Martin Gantner, also making his SFO debut) has designs on Eva; and what unfolds is Wagner’s most successful attempt to create a comedy. For his part McVicar appreciated that the best jokes can often be found in the bit parts; and viewers are encouraged to keep an eye out for the night watchman (bass Andrea Silvestrelli) each time he crosses the stage during the second act. The conductor was Mark Elder, also making his SFO debut.
August 14–15: The latest “Wagner fix” will be followed by the next “bel canto fix.” In September of 2018, SFO presented Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux for the first time since it concluded its run in the War Memorial Opera House on November 15, 1979, making for an interval of about 39 years. Donizetti’s librettist was Salvadore Cammarano, working from the French play Elisabeth d’Angleterre by François Ancelot. The staging by Stephen Lawless was originally created for the Canadian Opera Company. The Tudor period of English history was particularly fruitful for Donizetti, and the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Earl of Essex (the title character) is the stuff from which potboilers are made. That title role was sung by tenor Russell Thomas marking his debut in that role. Elizabeth was sung by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. Another role debut of note was that of Sara, the Duchess of Nottingham, taken by mezzo Jamie Barton. This production also saw the SFO debut of Adler Fellow bass Christian Pursell in the role of Sir Walter Raleigh. The conductor for this production was Riccardo Frizza.
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