San Francisco Symphony’s dazzling holiday line-up—there’s something for everyone—and there are still seats available for these special events
San Francisco Symphony’s New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball at Davies Symphony Hall is San Francisco’s most elegant celebration. The unforgettable evening is built around exquisite music in a stunning setting.
If you happened to catch Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s (SFS) spectacular concert last Thursday at Weill Hall, which inaugurated their annual 4 concert series at Green Music Center, chances are you’re hungry for more. Each year SFS, offers a stellar musical line-up for the holidays, ranging from events suitable for children and families to attend together children to Handel’s classic Messiah to its spectacular New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball. Half the fun of attending an event at Davies Symphony Hall is dressing up and entering its expansive curved lobby which affords gorgeous views of San Francisco. During the holiday season, this elegant lobby is transformed into a Christmas wonderland, filled with towering trees decorated with handmade ornaments. The internationally acclaimed San Francisco Symphony, nominated for yet another Grammy Award last week, is one of San Francisco’s treasured gems and the guest performers at Davies are world class. There is nothing more precious than the gift of music shared between family, loved ones and friends. Whether it be a matinee or evening performance, the concerts below all have ticket availability and if you act swiftly, there should be no problem attending one, or several, of these magical performances.
HANDEL’S MESSIAH: Thursday (12/13), Friday (12/14) Saturday (12/15) all at 7:30 p.m: Few pieces can deliver a fresh perspective each time they are heard. Handel’s Messiah is one of those works that yields a new secret on every hearing. Composed in 1741, it reportedly was a favorite work of Beethoven for its “sublimity of language.” For modern listeners, it holds a place of reverence in the canon for its universal appeal and moments of timeless expression. Ragnar Bohlin leads soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson-Cano, tenor Andrew Stenson, bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, and the SFS Chorus and Orchestra. (Approximate length: 2 hours and 30 minutes)
Pre-show event: “Inside Music,” an informative talk with Alexandra Amati-Camperi, begins one hour prior to concerts. Free to ticketholders.
Post-show: meet Anthony Cirone, author of The Great American Symphony Orchestra: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Its Artistry, Passion, and Heartache (an engrossing backstage tour of symphony life) for a book signing in the Symphony Store following the December 15 concert.
Davies Symphony Hall was built in 1980 and is the permanent home of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The hall was designed by Pietro Belluschi and seats 2,743 people. Image: SFS
MUSIC FOR FAMILIES WITH SFS: Saturday (12/15) at 2 p.m: Pass Symphony magic from one generation to the next by bringing your family to hear SFS in kid-sized classical concerts designed for families—great music, fascinating musical discoveries, and priceless memories. Recommended for ages 7 and older. Half price for ages 17 and under. Group discount not available. Concert length is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Ticketholders will receive a free concert guide to enhance music appreciation at home.
Conductor/Performers: Teddy Abrams conducts the San Francisco Symphony
Program: Bernstein-Overture to Candide; Handel—The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Solomon; Haydn—Excerpt from Second Movement of Symphony No. 94, Surprise; Beethoven—Fourth Movement from Symphony No. 2; Tchaikovsky—Excerpt from Second Movement from Symphony No. 4; Liszt—Excerpt from Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2; Copland—Saturday Night Waltz and Hoedown from Rodeo; Handy—Saint Louis Blues; Stravinsky—Ragtime from L’Histoire du Soldat; John Williams—Main Theme from Star Wars
San Francisco Symphony performs a live score accompaniment to the animated family-friendly film “The Showman” on December 22, 2012. Photo: SFS
THE SNOWMAN film and sing-along: Saturday (12/22) at 11:00 a.m: This charming animated 26-minute film (Dianne Jackson, 1982) tells the story of an English boy who makes a snowman on Christmas Eve, only to have it come to life that night and take him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. SFS performs the score to this family-friendly movie, led by Resident Conductor Donato Cabrera with the Pacific Boychoir. After the movie, hear the Orchestra will perform Christmas favorites and the audience is invited to sing along.
Pre-show event: “Tier with a Twist”—Enjoy a beverage during this concert at “Tier with a Twist” in the Second Tier. A fresh and festive way to take in a concert, the Tier with a Twist offers specialty food and drinks in the Second Tier bar and you can take your drink to your seat!
’TWAS THE NIGHT: Carols and sing-alongs with members of the SF Symphony Chorus and Orchestra: Saturday (12/22) at 7:30 p.m., Sunday (12/23) at 4:00 p.m and Monday (12/24) at 2:00 p.m.
Chorus Director Ragnar Bohlin leads soprano Lisa Vroman, members of the Symphony’s brass section and singers from SFS Chorus in three special concerts, featuring favorite carols, childhood Christmas songs, plus audience sing-alongs. Robert Huw Morgan will play the gorgeous Ruffatti organ, one of the great organs of the world. Half price for ages 17 and under. Concert length is approximately 2 hours.
Pre-show event: “Tier with a Twist”—Enjoy a beverage during this concert at “Tier with a Twist” in the Second Tier. A fresh and festive way to take in a concert, the Tier with a Twist offers specialty food and drinks in the Second Tier bar and you can take your drink to your seat!
NEW YEAR’S EVE MASQUERADE BALL WITH SAN FRANCISCO SMPHONY: Monday (12/31) at 9:00 p.m. Ring in the New Year at the city’s most elegant celebration, the New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball with SFS. The event stars SFS conductor Michael Francis, soprano Heidi Stober, and members of Dance Through Time. Everyone attending the event receives a complimentary mask as they enter the beautifully decorated lobby of Davies Hall. Beginning at 8 p.m., The Martini Brothers entertain and perform their “swingin’ cocktail music” in the lobby. Starting at 9 p.m., SFS performs polkas, waltzes, and dances on stage in Davies Symphony Hall. Following the Symphony concert, guests are invited to celebrate and dance on the Davies Hall stage to The Peter Mintun Orchestra. In the First Tier lobby, Super Diamond will perform the hits of the one and only Neil Diamond. Immediately following the Symphony performance, guests enjoy complimentary sparkling wine, desserts, savories, and party favors. As the clock strikes midnight, colorful balloons will cascade from the ceiling as the crowd welcomes in 2013.
Pre-event: A special pre-concert dinner package includes a cocktail reception beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a sumptuous three-course dinner (wine included) in the lobby of the War Memorial Opera House. The dinner package also includes La Marca Prosecco served in an exclusive gathering the Loge Level lobby at intermission. Dinner packages begin at $160 and include parking. For more details on the pre-concert dinners and to make reservations, call the Davies Symphony Hall box office at (415) 864-6000.
“Tier with a Twist”—Enjoy a beverage during this concert at “Tier with a Twist” in the Second Tier. A fresh and festive way to take in a concert, the Tier with a Twist offers specialty food and drinks in the Second Tier bar and you can take your drink to your seat!
Highlights from the 2012 Celebration:
Getting to Davies : Davies Symphony Hall is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue at Grove Street, in San Francisco’s Civic Center, just across the street from City Hall. The main entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Driving to San Francisco and Parking: Be sure to allow ample time when driving into San Francisco on the weekend and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge—there is frequently a 15 to 30 minute back-up on Highway 101 South from Sausalito onwards due to congestion around the toll-plaza. Arrive early at your parking garage of choice because those also fill up on weekends. Recommended Garages: Two garages are very close to Davies— the Performing Arts Garage (1/2 block)(Grove Street between Franklin and Gough Streets) and Civic Center Garage (roughly 2 blocks) (McAllister Street between Polk and Larken Streets) (both have flat $15 pay cash as you enter policy on performance nights)
Tickets and information: www.sfsymphony.org , by phone at (415) 864-6000. Half-price tickets for children 17 and under are available for certain performances.
Dessert Alert! Miette Bakery, 449 Octavia Street (San Francisco, 94102), 415 837-0300, M-F 9-7; Sat 8-7 and Sun 10-5, is just 2.5 blocks from Davies Symphony Hall and offers some of the most gorgeous and artfully prepared treats you’ve ever seen— heavenly macarons, confections, cookies and several seasonal selections. “Miette” is French for crumb… but there won’t be any… because these old world treats with a modern interpretation are just too delicious to leave even a trace behind. Click this map to get your bearings.
The Merola Opera Program presents Dominick Argento’s rarely performed opera,“Postcard from Morocco,” this Thursday and Saturday, at Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason
The Merola Opera Program is presenting Dominick Argento’s rarely performed and strangely surrealistic opera in one act, “Postcard from Morocco,” this Thursday and Saturday at Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. The cast of seven Merolini features Canadian soprano Aviva Fortunata, tenor AJ Glueckert, baritone Joseph Lattanzi, Canadian soprano Suzanne Ridgen (also a Merola 2011 participant), bass-baritone Matthew Scollin, Canadian mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule and tenor Andrew Stenson. Merola alumnus Mark Morash will conduct the production and renowned stage director Peter Kazaras will direct.
Argento’s Postcard from Morocco is based on A Child’s Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson and is dreamlike and surreal and unfolds a bit like a mystery. Not only does it lack a conventional story, there are no “postcards” and it’s not really about Morocco. The opera had its world premiere on October 14, 1971, at the Cedar Village Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The libretto is by John Donahue. The performance is a nice tribute to Argento, who turned 85 this year and is one of the country’s most successful and respected opera composers. It is also a wonderful opera for showcasing the vocal talents of the cast as there are many arias, some even in fictional foreign languages.
The plot focuses on a group of seven strangers who find themselves in a waiting room of a train station on their way to some exotic destination, around 1914. As the opera begins, the passengers are trying to pass the time by learning a little about each others’ lives. From there, the production proceeds with telling the different characters’ stories simultaneously as well as exploring a rich dream world. The passengers ask Mr. Owen, a man with a paint box what he does; before answering they are distracted by a puppet show. As time passes, the passengers become increasingly suspicious of one another, focusing on their differences rather than commonalities and guarding their baggage, refusing to reveal its contents. One of the ladies has a cake box in which she says she keeps her lover. Mr. Owen talks about a magical ship he impagined when he was younger. They are so focused on their suspicions that they are almost unaware of the puppet master—the Man with a Coronet Case—who appears to live in the train station, who is trying to seduce them into becoming his marionettes. The passengers rebel against the Man and cause him to lose control over the other characters, except for the Lady with the Hat Box whom he eerily controls at the close of the opera. The opera has been called existentialist and likened to the plays Samuel Beckett. It has also been compared to Virgil’s Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts in that it has no truly discirnable plot and, at the end of the opera, there can be many explanations for what actually transpired because it is so rich in ideas. Aural shifts and new tunings prepare the audience for different worlds in this modern opera.
“The opera is really about bullying,” says Director Peter Kazaras. “As the story unfolds, we see characters who are jealous and insecure, bullying someone who is steadfast in pursuit of his dream. Although he is beaten at first, he [the Man with a Paint Box] eventually ‘triumphs’ by virtue of having the most gloriously beautiful and lyrical music in the score. The opera asks us to examine how much we can ever really hope to know about other people’s hopes and aspirations.”
Postcard is an eclectic mix of forms. There is a selection from Wagner’s Souvenirs de Bayreuth and the opera incorporates cabaret, and operetta. The orchestra is small; a piano, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, violin, viola, bass, a small percussion section, and
classical guitar.
Casting for the July 19 and 21 Postcard from Morocco is as follows:
Lady with a Cake Box Aviva Fortunata
Man with a Paint Box AJ Glueckert
Man with a Shoe Sample Kit Joseph Lattanzi
Lady with a Hand Mirror Suzanne Rigden
Man with a Cornet Case (also a Puppet Maker) Matthew Scollin
Lady with a Hat Box (also a Foreign Singer) Carolyn Sproule
Man with Old Luggage Andrew Stenson
(For complete bios on each 2012 artist, click here.)
More about the Merola Opera Program: Each summer, San Francisco becomes a place where dreams come true for the young artists in the Merola Opera Program. Out of hundreds of young hopefuls who audition, approximately 23 singers, five apprentice coaches and one apprentice stage director are chosen to participate in the Program. Merola is dedicated to seeking out the finest young opera talent and helping them develop into professional artists of the highest caliber. The Merola Opera Program offers training in: musical style and interpretation; role preparation; movement and acting; accompaniment and conducting; languages and diction; and breath work.
Remaining Merola Programming for Summer 2012:
Thursday, July 19, 8 PM
Postcard from Morocco at Cowell Theater
Saturday, July 21, 2:00 PM
Postcard from Morocco at Cowell Theater
Thursday, July 26, 6:30 PM
Pre-class Talk with Steven Blier [Platinum Circle Level members & above]
Thursday, July 26, 7:00-9:00 PM
Steven Blier Master Class [Gold Circle Level members & above]
Thursday, August 2, 8:00 PM
La finta giardiniera at Cowell Theater
Saturday, August 4, 2:00 PM
La finta giardiniera at Cowell Theater
Tuesday, August 7, 7:00-9:00 PM
Martin Katz Master Class [Supporter members & above]
Tuesday, August 7, 9 PM
Sponsor Reception [2012 Sponsors $1,700 & above]
Saturday, August 18, 7:30 PM
Merola Grand Finale
Saturday, August 18, 10:00 PM
Merola Grand Finale Reception
Details: Postcard from Morocco will be performed on Thursday, July 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 2 p.m. at Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. Run time is 90 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $60, $40 and $25 students. Purchase tickets through the San Francisco Opera Box Office: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, Monday: 10 AM – 5 PM; Tuesday through Friday: 10 AM – 6 PM; (415) 864-3330. Click Here to Purchase Online
Postcards from Morocco is graciously underwritten, in part, by the Bernard Osher Foundation and the Frances K. and Charles D. Field Foundation. Mark Morash is generously sponsored by Miss Ursula Grunfeld and Miss Vivienne E. Miller. Peter Kazaras is generously sponsored by Mike & Rusty Rolland
2012 Merola Artists: Hadleigh Adams (bass-baritone) Elizabeth Baldwin (soprano), Joshua Baum (tenor), Gordon Bintner (bass-baritone), Casey Candebat (tenor), Seth Mease Carico (bass-baritone), Jennifer Cherest (soprano), Aviva Fortunata (soprano), Francesnco Fraboni (apprentice coach), AJ Glueckert (tenor), Artem Grishaev (apprentice coach), Erin Johnson (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Kroes (bass), Elena Lacheva (apprentice coach), Joseph Lattanzi (tenor), Yi Li (tenor), Sarah Mesko (mezzo soprano), Kevin Miller (apprentice coach), Jacqueline Piccolino (soprano), Suzanne Rigden (soprano),Rose Sawvel (soprano), Matthew Scollin (bass baritone), Caroline Sproule (mezzo soprano), Andrew Stenson (tenor), Chuanyue Wang (tenor), Melina Whittington (soprano), Jennifer Williams (apprentice stage director), Sun Ha Yoon (apprentice coach). (For complete bios on each 2012 artist, click here.)
ARThound 