Out West Arts

Shadows and Fog

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:44:00 +0000

Rachel Willis-Sorensen and Brandon Jovanovich in Rusalka Photo: Cory Weaver 2019

It was grey, cold, and overcast in San Francisco last weekend; perhaps the perfect weather to complement San Francisco Opera’s premiere of Dvorak’s Rusalka on Sunday. Perfect in that the weather outside easily mimicked the dark, gloomy, latter-day Victoriana, which is the preferred stomping ground of David McVicar, the new production’s director. SFO imported the production from Lyric Opera Chicago for their second ever presentation of Rusalka following a company premiere with Reneé Fleming in the title role in 1995. This tale of a water nymph who makes a bargain with a witch to become human and pursue a man she loves has been steadily growing in operatic popularity over the last thirty years thanks in no small part to a number of advocates including Charles Mackerras and Fleming herself. McVicar’s take on the story emphasizes the role of the Prince who rejects Rusalka’s love and later regrets it greatly. In this version, Rusalka is a dream of sorts of the unhappily married Prince as laid out in a pantomime that opens the staging. It’s an interesting idea, but one that rings hollow given that the libretto focuses almost exclusively on Rusalka’s internal emotional state. There are also overtones of the degradation of the natural world that parallel the characters’ emotional degradation. The woodland glen of the opening act is encroached upon by industrial runoff structures as the evening moves on. All of this is very dark and murkily lit, resulting in a show that is attractive if not always newly insightful. And while McVicar’s gloom certainly resonates with certain themes of this very adult fairy-tale, the performance itself was unabashedly one of brightness and shiny luster.

SFO has gathered together a world caliber cast for the performance, including the role debut of American soprano, Rachel Willis-Sorensen. Her star has been on the rise in the US and Europe in recent seasons and this is a major success for her. Her bright, easy tone soars above Dvorak’s lush orchestral writing and she is perfectly heartbreaking in the conclusion to this work. She is reason enough to see this production and undoubtedly a super-star in waiting. Opposite her is Brandon Jovanovich, a SFO favorite, as the Prince. His muscular tenor is well-suited for a role which seems like it was written for him. There is real chemistry between the two performers, which does more to sell this story than any amount of stage fog does. The witch Jezibaba is voiced by Jamie Barton, who again proves to be the most-valuable player in just about every performance she steps into. Despite being saddled with perhaps the worst of the corseted Victorian garb of anyone in the cast, she rises above it all with a remarkable rendition. The orchestra, under the direction of conductor Eun Sun Kim, was appropriately light and warmly lyrical at every turn.

Sasha Cooke and Christian Van Horn in Orlando Photo: Cory Weaver 2019

Playing opposite Rusalka this summer in San Francisco is the company’s second ever performances of Handel’s Orlando. SFO has an exceptionally good track record of presenting Handel’s operas and there are many things to admire about this staging as well. The production places the action in a London hospital during the Blitz. Orlando has let the battlefront in search of his love Angelica who is accompanying her love, Medoro, injured during combat. All the action takes place in various rooms of the hospital and director, Harry Fehr, cleverly recasts the magical spells Zororastro uses on Orlando at different moments in the libretto as psychiatric treatment used to help a shell-shocked Orlando “recover” from his angry plans of vengeance for a spurned love. Boldly this includes a scene of Orlando undergoing electric-shock treatments in the final Act. It all works decidedly well in a smart looking production that keeps up the pace in a Baroque plot that can seem muddled at times. Fehr also deftly deployed video elements at critical points in the story to elucidate actions critical to the plot but perhaps difficult to see from the audience such as the gifting, and later loss, of Orlando’s ring.

The cast was again filled with many notable American vocal artists. Orlando was sung by Sasha Cooke, who was announced as sick at the beginning of the evening, but performed admirably despite this. Heidi Stober, Christina Gansch, and Christian Van Horn all gave committed performances as well. If there was a stand out in the cast, it was countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who sang Medoro. He was a replacement for the originally announced David Daniels, who was withdrawn from the production last year. Cohen was on fire on Saturday. Vocally agile, warm, and powerful, he dominated every moment he was on stage. Christopher Moulds made his company debut in the pit with a well-paced and detail-oriented performance.

Put The Message in the Box

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 07:17:00 +0000

Sean Panikkar and cast of Satyagraha Photo: Cory Weaver 2018

The Los Angeles Opera’s presentation of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha now onstage through November 11 has a momentous feeling about it. Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch’s 2007 landmark production of this previously ignored late 20th-Century masterpiece may have single-handedly ushered in a much broader and very well-deserved late-career renaissance for Mr. Glass. The work has always been there and has always been worth hearing and talking about, but over the course of the last decade since this production’s premiere, Glass’ music seems vital and edgy all over again. And in a way, this production blesses just about everything it touches, and Los Angeles Opera has benefited from it too. Satyagraha caps the company's presentation of Glass’ triumvirate of early "great-thinker" operas which also includes Einstein on the Beach seen in Los Angeles on its recent world tour revival in 2013 and Akhnaten subsequently in 2016 a production also from English National Opera directed by Mr. McDermott. That an American company of this size would mount all three of these in under a decade is largely unthinkable. The fact that LAO did so is not only a testament to the quality of these productions, but it stands as the company’s most significant artistic achievement since the completion of Achim Freyer’s Ring cycle in 2010. Much was made of the financial repercussions of that endeavor, but it was a shining moment for the company – one that to this day is still under-recognized. The staging of these Glass operas – while not in new productions mounted exclusively for LAO – is still undoubtedly another great landmark for the ensemble.

That this moment is playing out under the baton of LA Opera Resident Conductor Grant Gershon is also no small matter. Gershon was an ideal choice for this assignment given his familiarity with late 20th Century and contemporary scores and his unparalleled expertise with choral conducting. Satyagraha has some of the most demanding and beautiful choral music written in the last 50 years and the Los Angeles Opera chorus shone brightly when I saw the performance on November 1. Another beneficiary of the many deserved accolades in this run is tenor Sean Panikkar who is excellent as Gandhi. Panikkar's star has been on the rise and he has had a banner year in 20th-Century repertoire he has made increasingly his speciality. In addition to this role, he starred as Dionysus in Henze's The Bassarids in his Salzburg festival debut this summer - a role as diametrically opposed to Gandhi as can be. He was superb in both, and LA audiences are lucky to see him. Soprano So Young Park has also made great impressions here in LA in prior outings and she is another standout in the Satyagraha cast as Miss Schlesen.

I will admit that the production has grown on me over the years. The work is more ideological than narratively linear and McDermott and Crouch rely on a wide variety of acrobats, puppets, and clever ritualistic touches to imbue the show with a dizzying array of images that often unfold and wrap themselves around the viewer over the course of the evening. What I once felt was a somewhat literal take on the material strikes me now as more theatrical and tapping into the deeper ideological themes of the piece. You don't want to miss this.

Heavens Above

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 05:38:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Master Chorale with Grant Gershon conducting Photo: Patrick Brown 2018

With all of the hoopla surrounding the opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 100th Season this past week, it might have been easy to miss word of the first show of the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2018/2019 season last Sunday. That would be a shame because there was much to love about these sold-out performances, which came at the front end of the LAMC’s world tour of Orlando Di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro in a Peter Sellars staging currently visiting locations in Australia and Latin America. Even though these are very exciting times for the LAMC, the season opener was entirely different material featuring a new version of Shawn Kirchner’s 2015 Songs of Ascent and Mozart’s incomplete Requiem in D Minor. The Kirchner piece (not to be confused with Meredith Monk’s 2011 Songs of Ascension) draws on text from Psalms 120-134. Kirchner felt the original version wasn’t quite as fleshed out as he’d hoped, and the version here was expanded. It is a pretty work with an admirable theme of love overcoming conflict. However, it can also seem superficial at times, missing a certain weight or drama. Soloists Adbiel Gonzalez and Robert Norman were well-suited to their parts though the evening’s drama would need to wait until after the intermission.

And that drama did arrive with a wonderful performance of Mozart’s Requiem. The LAMC brought in an excellent team of soloists including J’Nai Bridges, Liv Redpath, David Portillo and Rod Gilfry. Gershon dug in with his vocalists and orchestra, feeling comfortable and well-rehearsed with the material. The easy certainty gave the proceedings a real sense of awe of the unknown in the face of the biggest human certainty – death. By turns dark and weighty and at others soaring and light, it was a top-tier Mozart performance. The crowd responded with great enthusiasm, which must have been a heartening send off for the group on their tour.

Old Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 06:01:00 +0000

A scene for Don Carlo Photo: Cory Weaver/Los Angeles Opera 2018

Los Angeles Opera opened it’s 2018/2019 season last weekend with a return of Verdi’s Don Carlo. It had a dream cast, even though that dream may have been from 15 years ago. In some ways that might be appropriate in that the production itself from 2006 is being revived here for the first time. And a dozen years later, the two best things about the show were still intact – the superb conducting from LA Opera music director James Conlon and the unparalleled bass Feruccio Furlanetto as the besieged-on-all-sides King Philip II of Spain. The cast also featured Ramon Vargas in the title role, Anna Smirnova as Princess Eboli and Ana Maria Martinez as Elisabeth de Valois. All of them had their moments, though the chemistry between the cast often felt lukewarm on this opening night. It wasn’t until the series of star solo moments in the final two acts that the show really started to take off when each of these excellent singers was given their chance to shine on their own unencumbered. Another big hero of the evening was Chorus Master Grant Gershon, who continues to deliver a vastly improved chorus that repeatedly stepped up to the task at hand with flair on opening night.

And then there was Placido Domingo. The company’s General Director, biggest advocate and patron, and an unquestionable living legend. This production follows the model of the tenor’s performances of latter years by casting him in the premiere baritone role, in this case Rodrigo, and letting him do what he does best — provide a stirring performance with his voice — essentially what the art of opera is at its very core. That has not changed, and he is amazing to watch. He is certainly reason enough to see the show. But it is not a performance that quells all of the questions and criticisms of his output in these recent years of his career. His is not the ideal voice for these baritone roles. And when he appears as Carlos’ young, idealistic brother-in-spirit, the age difference between him and the rest of the cast is readily apparent. It’s a great wig and costume to be sure, but there is something missing chemistry-wise. And while Domingo’s vocalism goes a long was to correct that disparity, it doesn’t quite overcome it.

The production, originally from Ian Judge, hasn’t aged entirely well and now looks somewhat thin and undercooked compared to 2006. The production was telecast to remote locations for outdoor audiences in Los Angeles County this year, and that camerawork may have well livened up some of the more bland moments in the house. It was certainly a nice gesture to the community from the company and one that many other companies around the world have done in recent years. The good news is that there are still 5 performances left and likely some of that opening night stiffness that plagued the first half of the evening will relax into a great show.

The Missing Link

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 06:55:00 +0000

A scene for Pagliacci Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

San Francisco Opera has opened its 2018/2019 season with two productions that raise questions about the links between various operas and how those links can inform individual productions or performances. The season opened with two of the most closely linked operas in the standard repertoire, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. These two staples of the verismo tradition have commonly been presented together due to the many stylistic and content similarities between them. But the performance precedent that binds the two works wasn’t quite enough of a connection for this 2012 production designed and created by tenor José Cura who bound the two even more tightly together by attempting to make them two acts within a single narrative. The setting is moved to La Boca, an Italian-immigrant neighborhood in 1920s Buenos Aires with characters from both opera appearing onstage throughout the evening. In fact both Mascagni and Leoncavallo themselves appear to watch the action they have written transpire onstage, and the prologue to Pagliacci is performed by the character Leoncavallo himself. Mamma Lucia also becomes a central figure commiserating with Marco Berti’s Canio in Pagliacci 6 months following the death of her son in the evenings first half. She also steals the last line of Pagliacci right out of Canio’s mouth. It wasn’t clear to me how successful this narrative approach was and it was just as puzzling at times as it was dramatically engaging.

However, much about this performance seen on the 16th of September soared. Daniele Callegari elicited a well-paced and passionate performance from all the musical artists. The star of the afternoon was easily Dimitri Platanias, the Greek baritone who appeared as both Alfio and Tonio. He easily commanded the stage at all times and went further toward providing glue between the elements of both operas than any of the symbolic machinations of the set design. Jill Grove was a great Mamma Lucia and showed off her excellent acting chops in Pagliacci where she was often present with nothing to sing. Tenor Roberto Aronica goes back many years with this company and his Turiddu was a fine addition to the many roles he has excelled in here.

The closing scene of Roberto Devereux with Sondra Radvanovsky Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

The other opera opening this San Francisco Opera season was Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. The opera is one of three that Donizetti wrote about England’s Tudor royal family. (The others being Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda) So there are natural companions to this bel canto masterpiece, and many opera companies have presented them in series with appropriate vocal artists to fill thee very challenging leading roles. In this instance, SFO imported a recent production of Devereux from the Dallas Opera by Stephen Lawless. Lawless designed a circular stage mimicking an Elizabethan theater to compliment the time frame of the depicted events of the opera. In Dallas this set was used for all three of Donizetti’s Tudor operas over different seasons, but on this outing in San Francisco it stood alone, mostly as a vehicle for star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. Given that the production was taken somewhat out of context of the trio it was originally intended for, elements of the staging that was suggestive of linkages between the works could seem confusing or out of place here including large glass display cases containing bodies for the assassinated victims of Donizetti’s other Tudor operas.

Musically, this production seen on Friday September 14th wasn’t as solid as the verismo offerings. Radvanovsky is rightly a huge star. Her large, colorful tone has been the centerpiece of Verdi and Puccini performances all over the world for well over a decade. She has taken on these Tudor roles in the last several years including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York where she performed all three in a single season. And while she makes the role her own, the bel canto works are not as natural a fit for her as many of her other signature roles. She could turn overly steely at times and her Elizabeth was as likely to seem petty as regal. She was well matched by a world class cast including Russell Thomas in the title role and Jamie Barton as Sara who both gave warm, well-developed performances. Riccardo Frizza conducted the performance, which could have been a bit crisper. Still this is a prime change to see a A-level cast in a rarely performed opera.

Twilight

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 05:53:00 +0000

Andrea Silvestrelli as Hagen, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried, and members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

On Sunday, the San Francisco Opera closed the second of three performances of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with a thoroughly enjoyable performance of Götterdammerung. It’s a satisfying performance to be sure if not necessarily a great one. Zambello’s pastiche of themes pulls into the arguable “feminist” phase of the cycle with a focus on the women in the cast – Rheinmaidens, Gutrune and Bünnhilde - gathering together to do what is right. They bring an end to the morally bankrupt order of the gods by returning the gold to its rightful place and offing the likes of Hagen who is suffocated with a bag instead of drowning in the Rhein. All of this is certainly fair game artistically and feminist themes, like the elements of class struggle and the role of environmentalism that permeate Zambello’s production, are interesting, worthwhile interpretative ideas. What’s missing, though, and really what keeps this production from being great in the end, is how painfully spelled out it all is for the audience. Zambello’s direction is often broad and so on-the-nose that there is little room for bewilderment or mystery. Take Act II in this case where the Gibichung men en masse physically assault their wives when the women show support and concern for the wronged and defiant Brünnhilde. It does help set up the role these same women will play in the finale, but it’s also rather labored in its efforts to get the point across. A great production, one that bears viewing over and over, is one that pulls you in but never entirely reveals itself to you. One that always leaves you looking and wondering. One that yields something new on each viewing.

And just as the production fully reveals itself in these final five hours, the musical performance does as well. Donald Runnicles has conducted beautiful performances all week without a doubt. Performances of the Ring have been his hallmark with this company throughout his long association with them. But Sunday, and all of the Ring performances this week, also revealed some changes. His conducting was far less urgent than previously and often more relaxed and methodical. It certainly was an approach that made room for the vocalists on stage, and Irene Theorin continued to deliver real excitement on stage. At times her sound would drift away in the middle range getting lost in the orchestra, but there was never any doubt who was at the center of it all. Daniel Brenna continued to be an energetic and clear Siegfried, and Andrea Silvestrelli was an able Hagen. Perhaps even more important than ideas in an opera production, though, is chemistry. And if the measure is how well all of these artists spurred each other on in a performance is any gauge of success, San Francisco has remounted a Ring cycle that any company should envy.

Waking Up With the House on Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 02:17:00 +0000

Iréne Theorin as Brünnhilde and Daniel Brenna as Siegfried Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

It’s an unusual distinction, but after its third outing in a decade Francesca Zambello’s staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen remains consistent - Siegfried is the strongest of the four operas in her vision of the cycle. I was reminded of this on Friday (my third time seeing this particular staging), where I reflected how sad it is that, of all the Ring operas, Siegfried is the most likely to be skipped or overlooked by a general audience. It easily has some of the most beautiful music in the entire work and Zambello’s environmentalist slant fits most nicely here in the deep dark woods. The gods' corruption under Wotan is paralleled by the encroaching forces of a polluted, mechanical world. Zambello's most striking images tie into the coming revolution and rise of the natural world championed by the hero Siegfried and Brunnhilde. In Act II Fafner, now a dragon, is less a prehistoric lizard and more a faceless tank, whom Siegfried destroys by removing crucial circuitry. It’s also oddly perhaps the best take on the dragon I’ve seen. It’s both threatening and a little scary which is saying quite a lot, given the difficulty in staging some of Wagner’s most fairy tale-inspired moments.

American tenor, Daniel Brenna again takes on the role of Siegfried as he did two years ago in Washington, DC. His youthful energy is a natural fit for this most challenging of operatic parts. Siegfried is often criticized as bland and dopey, but Brenna fills him with enough youthful fervor that those criticisms seems less applicable here. Greer Grimsley had a particularly good night as Wotan and David Congelosi’s Mime continues to be a centerpiece to the whole evening. Iréne Theorin’s Brünnhilde awakens after nearly two decades asleep with a questionable blond wig that proves an unfortunate distraction to her remarkably satisfying performance. Apparently one’s hair grows while they are asleep, even if their nails do not. Lucky for this Brünnhilde, the Veronica Lake look still seals the deal with Siegfried, and the love duet that closes Act III is as enthralling as ever.

Hunting Grounds

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 16:18:00 +0000

Brandon Jovanovich as Siegmund and Karita Mattila as Sieglinde Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

Opera often seems like a miracle. It’s really just an incredible feat of the hard work of hundreds of artists from different disciplines all working together toward a common goal. But sometimes it still takes some amazing acts of divine intervention for everything to happen when it does. And much was miraculous about Die Walküre, the second night of Wagner’s Das Ring des Nibelungen as seen in the San Francisco Opera’s current production now on stage. Perhaps the biggest miracle was the substitution of the originally scheduled soprano Evelyn Herlitzius who cancelled just weeks before the opening with the much lauded Iréne Theorin in the central role of Brünnhilde. Finding an artist of Theorin’s stature at the last minute for perhaps the most difficult role in all of opera is one thing; getting her here though was another entirely. Apparently when the current morally bankrupt US administration isn’t busy keeping the county safe from brown-skinned toddlers, opera singers are a close second on their watch list. I’m told every favor imaginable was called in and strings enough for a dozen harps were pulled to get Theorin's visa approved in time under the sad conditions that are increasingly the case in the decline of this once-great nation.

Luckily she did make it and whatever strings were pulled, they were well worth pulling. Theorin was a blazing presence Tuesday, vocally and theatrically. She bounds into Act II with limitless energy clearly pushing all involved from the orchestra and conductor, Donald Runnicles to her Wotan, Greer Grimsley to dig deep. She was thrilling to watch throughout and her fierce, confident tone bore an ease enviable for any vocalist at these echelons of Wagnerian performance. The next miracle was how expertly matched she was with a superb cast across the board. Karita Mattila, an artist with few equals on today’s stage, brought her Sieglinde to town opposite Brandon Jovanovich who reprised his Siegmund from the Ring’s last outing here. Mattila manages frailty, passion, and a growing conviction in her performance that commands everything around her. Jovanovich is noble and warm-toned throughout. Jamie Barton, as Fricka, takes one of the thorniest challenges in all of the Ring's demands. In Act II she manages a mesmerizing, searing turn in straightening out her wayward husband without a decent into caricature.

These kinds of performances can often go far in making up for a multitude of sins when it comes to a production’s overall quality. But Zambello’s diffuse shifting vision holds steady on this outing. There continues to be enough visual flash and atmosphere to keep things interesting and her parachuting Valkyries excite the crowd as much as they have at any time during the life of this production. The emotional range feels far less telegraphed than it often did during the productions initial run as a confidence and certainty have taken its place. Given that Zambello’s Siegfried has long been a calling care of her Ring production, there is a lot to look forward to this week.

Always Believe in Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 23:51:00 +0000

Falk Struckmann as Alberich as Greer Grimsley as Wotan Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera 2018

Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen has returned to San Francisco this June. It’s a welcome return with an excellent cast that I got the chance to catch this week during the second cycle which started last night with Das Rheingold. Wagner is always timely of course so there’s never really a wrong time to reconsider any of his work. And as director Francesca Zambello argues with all the negative going on in the world right now this cornerstone experience of Western art is particularly inviting with its themes of rebirth and redemption. For those of you just now joining the story, Zambello’s Ring was originally a co-production between Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera and was dubbed the “American Ring” in its early development. Of course the original roll out hit a sizable bump in the road following the economic crash of 2008, which nearly finished off WNO, leaving SFO to complete the developmental process on its own halfway through the four premieres. When the completed full version of the work hit the stage in 2011, much had changed and the original American theme had been abandoned half-way through for a more environmentally conscious and concerned one. Still somewhat of a thematic hybrid, the show was a success and eventually arrived in Washington in 2016 to positive reviews and eventually Zambello herself took the artistic helm of that company.

Now, two years later, Zambello’s Ring returns of San Francisco with some tweaking for another run. Das Rheingold more than any other of the operas in this production, still clings to that original “American” conceit. The gods are still dressed like robber barons of the late 19th and early 20th century in contrast to the giants who are clearly denim clad steelworkers invoking a sort of industrial age class warfare. It’s not a radically new concept of course and Zambello does try to even out the thematic issues by crafting some new water and fire video imagery this time around for Rheingold to display during the overture. There are still some issues, however, with overly broad acting and busy stage business between the gods that makes too little of their dignified and regal nature. Still this creakiness doesn’t overwhelm the many great things this Rheingold has going for it and the overall effect still works.

Perhaps the biggest of these is the return of Stefan Margita as Loge. Margita has made this role his all over the world and he has again returned to San Francisco for it. He has mastered the perfect combination of menace, craftiness, and humor to make Loge the central character in this ensemble. Perhaps the other most welcomed return was that of former SFO Music director, Donald Runnicles who conducted the SFO orchestra with real warmth and palpable excitement. Meanwhile familiar faces and voices abounded in the cast with Andrea Silvestrelli, David Cangelosi, Ronnita Miller, Raymond Aceto, Stacey Tappan, Lauren McNeese and Renee Tatum all returning from eight years ago.

Of the relative newcomers, the Alberich here, Falk Struckmann was a little slow hitting his vocal stride out of the gate, but by the time he and the others arrived in Nibelheim, he was creepy and powerfully on target. Greer Grimsley, as Wotan, and Jamie Barton, as Fricka, have also joined the cast and did an excellent job of laying the necessary groundwork for the heavy lifting awaiting them in Die Walkure. In the end it was a promising kick off to a reassuringly good production. And isn’t it nice to have something to count on these days?

Come. Again.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 06:42:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs Lagrime di San Pietro Photo: Patrick Brown 2018

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is having a moment. They’ve had many before but this past weekend was clearly another. It was the Chorale’s annual Gala and there was feeling of anticipation in the air. Not only over the encore performance of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, which garnered critically ecstatic reviews for the ensemble in 2016, but also because of the coming world tour they will head out for next fall and spring. The LAMC is no stranger to touring, but it has often been in conjunction with other groups like the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But this tour, which will take them to London, Paris, and other points around the globe is a solo, a cappella endeavor that will feature the performance of Lagrime.

And from the looks of things this past weekend, the Chorale is in for even more accolades. Lagrime, with a staging by Peter Sellars and conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon, is even stronger and more natural than before. The 75-minute work consists of 20 madrigals and one Latin motet performed in this instance by 21 choristers. The text concerns the stages of grief experienced by St. Peter after his denial of Jesus and the work has an intriguing shifting perspective over the course of its sections. Sellars casts the work as one not only about regret but of forgiveness, with the choristers constantly in motion having memorized the text. It’s vintage Sellars mining the most human aspects of the work by joining them to basic, clearly expressed emotional states and interactions of the performers. The sacred becomes fleshy and earthbound in bodies pleading, reaching and touching. There is an immediacy to it that draws the audience in and never quite lets go. It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for the Chorale who are often operating well outside their comfort zone. The choristers at times sing in prone positions or supine on the floor. All of it looks very natural. But this time around compared to 2016, the piece seemed even more fluid and intense. But it is perhaps the final motet that packs the strongest punch. In this last stanza the voice of the text shifts to that of Jesus himself commenting on Peter’s betrayal and the sinfulness of the world. It’s an angry and accusatory Jesus, but Sellars has placed these words in the voices of two rows of vocalists slowly approaching each other from opposite sides of the stage only to meet in the warmest of embraces at the end. It’s a profound and stirring image of love in the face of betrayal and conflict. Simply put, the LAMC has a new calling card. So watch out world; it’s coming your way.

Parting the Waters

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 06:59:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Master Chorale performs Israel in Egypt Photo: Patrick Brown 2018

Like many music organizations, the Los Angeles Master Chorale has increasingly ventured into artistic collaborations with artists in other genre and media in recent years looking for new and compelling way to interact with their audiences. Last year the group presented a staged version of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro under the direction of Peter Sellars that received rave reviews and is about to become the ensemble’s calling card around the world. They’ll be taking it on the road all on their own around the country and around the world in their first ever international solo tour. Needless to say, these are exciting times for the LAMC and Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director Grant Gershon, who also just announced an exciting 2018/2019 season filled with new work to rival their colleagues at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

However before those events, the Chorale this weekend presented another major collaboration. This time out it was the complete version of Handel’s Israel in Egypt, which was accompanied by a large scale real-time painting and video installation from Kevork Mourad. The pairing couldn’t have been more appropriate as Mourad has often returned to themes of immigration, displacement, and refugees in his work in other contexts, which he did again Sunday night. Handel’s oratorio is similar to his Messiah in that it is primarily written for full chorus with few solo interjections. There are no individual characters per se and much of the dramatic action is described as opposed to acted out. And though the material is somber, the interaction between these artists produced a work of astounding beauty much of the time. Mourad’s process is a fascinating combination of pre-existing animated elements combined with projections of real-time painting he does with ink on paper. The two different image feeds are then mixed and projected together in different combinations in the moment not unlike a DJ might do with audio tracks. The largely monochromatic images clearly contained figurative elements suggesting refugees wandering through evocative unspecified cityscapes that recalled Egypt. But at the same time, ink unfurled on the page like plumes of smoke.

The net effect was profound and the chorus sounded assured. Admittedly the tone was also unrelenting and methodical at times giving the proceedings an unmistakably dire tone that, while appropriate, ran the risk of monotony as the performance went on. Still the quality of the musicianship overcame any of these concerns and the LAMC delivered another winning evening of incredibly moving and reflective music. This intensity is going to serve them well very soon on the road.

A Rush and a Push

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 07:20:00 +0000

Hye Jung Lee in Girls of the Golden West Photo: Cory Weaver 2017

John Adams’ latest opera, Girls of the Golden West with a libretto by his frequent collaborator, stage director Peter Sellars, has arrived in San Francisco. Make no mistake, it is a major event. One so demanding it requires time to sink in so that it brought me back to the opera house twice for performances before I could even get a real sense of how to approach it. Now that’s not to say it’s a great opera. It’s certainly not Adams’ best. But that being said, it is not to be ignored. It is filled with enough musical and ideological ambition to launch a thousand other much lesser works. Girls of the Golden West will undoubtedly ruffle many feathers. It is non-narrative and has little in the way of character development. It is neither dramatically urgent nor meditative. It is an opera of ideas – big ideas that rarely make it into opera and for that alone it is commendable. Adams was present at the premiere and was awarded with the San Francisco Opera Medal by the company in recognition of his long association with the company. In his remarks from the stage he noted that he now sees how prescient this opera is in light of the current political climate. Girls of the Golden West is a look inside the poisoned and dark events that are inextricably bound up in Californian and American history but are often excised or removed for the sake of a noble narrative of young men invading and dominating the brutal land of the west.

The manner in which Adams and Sellars go about achieving these goals involves using original source materials including the diaries of one Louise Clappe, a writer and pioneer of 19th-century California who recorded much about life during the Gold Rush. Her characterization in the opera, as Dame Shirley, is one of the three “girls” of the title who also include a Chinese-born prostitute named Ah Sing and a saloon worker by the name of Josefa Segovia. None of the their stories actually intertwine in any meaningful way, although each contributes to the didactic flow of the piece. Against their recasting of commonly misconstrued history is a narrator figure, Clarence, who provides the whitewashed narrative about the golden coast and the hardy, spirited men who immigrated here searching for fortune. Of course, it was a much bloodier affair with lynchings and racial strife not uncommon in other parts of the country at that time. The three women, and some of the men in their lives including the former slave Ned Peters, quickly run up against this blunt reality even in the newfound West. Much of this strife plays out in the dreamlike second Act which harkens to the final act of Nixon in China where the reality of scenario seems to evaporate in service to the larger project in a manner that is both heady and alluring.

But what the show lacks in dramatic tension, it more than makes up for with some of the most stirring music Adams has written. He is plumbing American popular song idioms of the late 19th century with abandon here including direct references ot Stephen Foster and others. The several male courses can often bite and seduce at the same time. The closing aria sung by Julia Bullock regarding the beautiful sunset sky of California descending into night is completely gripping and awe inspiring. Both J’Nai Bridges as Josefa and Davione Tines and Ned Peters deliver arias touching on the searing nature of racial and social injustice that could be sung at any time in American history. Girls of the Golden West can grab you by the throat and will without hesitation. All of this is beautifully held together by conductor Grant Gershon who led the work premiere in his continued ascendency as an important figure in the opera world. This complicated, often shifting score was well served in his hands. So while this new opera may not make everyone happy, it would certainly make them think. And form Adams and Sellars, that is more than enough reason to celebrate.

Love De-Lux

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 06:37:00 +0000

Eric Whitacre

What a wonderful end to the Los Angels Master Chorale 16/17 season. The program was almost entirely familiar works, but nothing could have said more about who this group is and where they stand in the musical world. None of the pieces on the program dated to before 1997 and all of them were from composers affiliated with the Chorale – most with strong connections to Los Angeles itself. The occasion was the 20th anniversary of the world premiere of Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, a piece completed for the Chorale during his tenure as their composer-in-residence and arguably the work that the LAMC is most identified with. That kind of familiarity with a work gives an ensemble like the LAMC a unique perspective and this past week’s performances of these five a cappella motets were rich, warm, and holy as anything you can think of. Lux Aeterna is both profound and welcoming, and Artistic Director Grant Gershon leads the chorale to really penetrating heights with this piece.

The LAMC was wise to use Lux Aeterna as the starting point for programming for the first half of the evening which included works largely commissioned by or for the Chorale with locally affiliated composers, including Billy Childs, Moira Smiley, Shawn Kirchner, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Eric Whitacre. All of the works touched on the same themes of light, gratitude, and time in different ways representing a great cross-section of musical styles. Perhaps the most pointed and poignant contrast to Lauridsen’s masterpiece was the opening Iri da iri, a setting of the concluding stanza of Dante’s Paradiso, which the choristers of the LAMC commissioned directly from Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen. It was as haunting now as it was at its 2014 premiere. Salonen’s mystery of the spheres is as equally full of mystery as Lauridsen’s, but where Lux Aeterna is bright and inviting, Iri da iri is dark and foreboding. It’s a universe that is awe-inspiring but may not always be a friendly one even with salvation possible in its vast folds. Perhaps the other breath-taking moment of the night stood immediately half-way in between these works. Eric Whitacre’s I Fall received its West Coast Premiere with the LAMC’s Artist-in-residence conducting his own work. The piece is just a snippet of a larger work Whitacre is developing with his long-time collaborator, poet Charles Anthony Silvestri. In this instance the darkness and light of salvation take a far more personal and immediate turn. Silvestri has set the most personal and cutting of subjects in this excerpt – the moment of his wife’s passing nearly a decade ago from cancer. It’s one of those moments that feels beyond any sort of analysis or reproach given the depth and extreme intimacy of its subject matter. But to be certain, this collaboration was a stunner. A moment where gratitude and loss and failure all meld into one dizzying mix. Whitacre is a choral superstar for a reason, and his masterly work, which slides up and down in tone almost imperceptibly at times was a winning moment. It couldn’t have been a better show for looking back and taking in what’s gone before.

Never Can Say Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 25 May 2017 05:26:00 +0000

Jeffrey Kahane Photo: EF Marton Productions

It couldn’t have been a more fitting ending; though, in fact, it wasn’t really an ending at all. It was actually one of those nights where we sit up and notice the little way the world changes around us. We take that moment to think about what and who we love and respect and take a moment to note it before moving on. The moment was the end of Jeffrey Kahane’s 20-year tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a pair of concerts that closed LACO’s 2016/2017 season. Kahane isn’t really moving on, of course, and will continue to be a fixture in future seasons with the ensemble who named him Conductor Laureate. Nevertheless, he is stepping down from his former position, and LACO continues their search for a new Music Director. There were many lovely commemorations from the musicians, board members, and administrators. What came through most clearly was the deep love and respect these artists all have for one another. Kahane has not only been a superb artist but a noble, moral human being in his time with the orchestra, using his artistry to do more than entertain but also to do what is right and good. He’s demonstrated that keenly in this past season when he’s spoke passionately from the stage about the times weʼre living in as well as in his moving performances of the recent Lift Every Voice Festival.

As for the program this weekend, the tone was perhaps less grand, but certainly no less moving. It was an evening that encapsulated so much of the great things of Kahane’s time with LACO. He began by conducting Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 from the keyboard. Kahane has made a specialty out of these concertos during his time at LACO, presenting cycles of all of them during his tenure here. It’s clearly some of the most touching moments to his artistic collaborators and it couldn’t have been more warmly received. This segued into the world premiere of a new piece from composer Christopher Cerrone, Will There Be Singing. LACO has been a force for commissioning new music in a town that thrives on new music and it was fitting that this transitional evening was no different from so many of the last 20 years. Cerrone has garnered much attention recently including a Pulizter nomination for his opera Invisible Cities which will see a DVD release this year. Will There Be Singing features waves of tinkling, chiming sound that is left hanging in the air as it slowly degrades before the next wave crashes. Cerrone described the work as being focused on this aural degradation of tones. Despite this dark sounding premise, however, the atmosphere is bright and sparkling in the piece. All of this led to a rousing turn through Schubert’s Symphony No. 9. It was a big week for the Schubert symphonies as the Los Angeles Philharmonic also closed its Schubert symphony cycle on Sunday. But here the feeling was different. LACO and Kahane gave the work a warm, connected, and intimate feeling. The kind you might have with the closest of colleagues and friends. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Cheers!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 06:30:00 +0000

John Adams

Composer birthday celebrations are an unavoidable trope of concert programming. Even when the composer is a living one, the urge to revisit works in an anniversary is an irresistible temptation for too many arts organizations. But when the composer is John Adams, celebrating his 70th year, and the ensemble is the Los Angeles Master Chorale, objections fade in the wake of some great music performed under optimal circumstances. LAMC Artistic Director Grant Gershon and his vocal artists are no strangers to Adams’ music and have a working relationship reaching back for decades. In fact, later this year Gershon will lead the world premiere of Adams’ latest opera, Girls of the Golden West for San Francisco Opera. So a program honoring Adams last Sunday may be expected but this evening had a decided twist.

The first half of the night was devoted to choruses from Adams’ operas and oratorios. The beauty and complexity of these choruses is perhaps the best kept open secret of Adams’ oeuvre. Not to LAMC listeners, though, who have heard the four profound and richly textured ensembles from The Death of Klinghoffer in prior concerts here. They were again beautifully rendered in new piano transcriptions that Gershon had prepared for Adams’ publisher, which he noted should be out later this year. Joining the Klinghoffer sections were choruses from The Gospel According to the Other Mary, A Flowering Tree, and Doctor Atomic. Perhaps most ecstatic of these performances, though, was the toast chorus from Nixon in China. Close on the heels of the masterful LA Philharmonic performances of this opera last month, this closer for the first part of the evening left no doubt about Adams’ enduring musical legacy regardless of what yet lays ahead.

In the second half of the evening, Gershon and the Chorale diverged from the standard tribute show blueprint by instead presenting a work not composed by Adams but one of his own favorite composers. Starvinsky’s Les Noces was a perfect counterpoint and suggested much about what Adams has built his entire artistic career on. Les Noces continues to sound as bold now as it likely ever has, and the Chorale with soloists Elissa Johnston, Todd Strange, Nicholas Brownlee, and Niké St. Clair emphasized the rhythmic folk music elements of the piece tapping in to the dramatic and narrative elements of the work. Like everything else that night, it was jubilant and fittingly so for the composer who has been a friend to so many here in his native California.

Starry Night

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 07:46:00 +0000

Lauren Michelle as Irina in Lost in the Stars. Photo: Reed Hutchinson

For a second weekend, protests raged across America and for a second weekend the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s serendipitously timed “Left Every Voice” festival promoting peace and reconciliation carried on to its ambitious, poignant conclusion. LACO, in collaboration with UCLA’s CAP program, director Anne Bogart, and members of the SITI Company revived Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s Lost in the Stars for two performances at Royce Hall. The musical has been revived periodically since its 1949 debut on Broadway, but it has never been the most familiar of Weil’s works - which is a shame considering the richness of the score and material. The show is a stage adaptation of Alan Baton’s apartheid era novel Cry, The Beloved Country. It concerns a black Anglican priest who has gone to find his son in the city of Johannesburg only to find he has fallen into a variety of sins including the eventual murder of a white friend of another family from the priest’s village. It’s stirring stuff and the themes are ones dear to Weill’s heart. But the music harkens to other influences including what Weill identified as Zulu tribal music.

The cast of Lost in the Starts Photo: Reed Hutchinson

The story covers a lot of ground even if it does go to predictable places for a contemporary audience. But it was hard not to admire the sheer ambition and effort that all parties had put into the production. Jeffrey Kahane and the LACO players were forceful and gave a real edge to the score. It was a similar approach to their performances of Weill from last week and it provided a counterweight to Bogart’s sometimes slow and often ritualistic staging. The large cast operated in a sparsely decorated space that relied heavily on lighting to evoke its sense of place. Anchoring the cast were two excellent performances from Justin Hopkins as the priest, Steven Kumalo, and Lauren Michelle as Irina, his son’s now pregnant partner. Michelle appeared alone on stage for her big solo numbers but she easily carried those moments that were by far the most riveting of the entire evening.

The eventual reconciliation of the story may seem comparatively easy to an audience facing the current political climate that Sunday night’s was. But it was a message of hope that is sorely needed right now. And LACO should be commended for the ambition of the endeavor, perhaps one of the biggest undertakings the orchestra has made in years.

Hand to God

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 09:04:00 +0000

Storm Large. Photo: Laura Dormela

The topic of how the arts should respond to political upheaval has unsurprisingly been in the news again. And given the events of last weekend, how could it not be? But regardless of what the arts can or should do, Los Angeles audiences were reminded this weekend of some of what they already have done for centuries in very pointed and dramatic ways – build community and provide a space to dream of a better world. Take the Los Angeles Master Chorale for instance. The performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis this weekend had been scheduled for months and months. But here the large chorus, orchestra and Artistic Director Grant Gershon were playing grand music about the deepest questions mere feet from some of the largest protest crowds this city has ever seen streaming past their doors on Saturday afternoon. And if the challenges humanity presents weren’t enough food for thought, nature itself stepped in on Sunday night challenging everyone in attendance with one of the largest winter storms the region has seen in quite a while. The LAMC and the near capacity crowd responded superbly. Gershon addressed the audience from the stage noting the connection between recent events and Beethoven’s massive final meditation on the nature of the world to come and meeting suffering and tyranny with belief in something better. It was a gutsy and heartfelt performance that focused less on the very good soloists recruited for the evening (including a very welcomed local return of Rod Gilfry) and more on the chorus and ensemble as a whole. Gershon was looking for the universally human in this performance and while polish and finesse sometimes took a back seat, no one could argue with how heartfelt and sincere the evening was.

Meanwhile, across town, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra found itself in the midst of a major programming initiative for this season concerning similar themes. “Lift Every Voice” is a series of programs designed to encourage understanding and promote peace inspired by the lives of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, Kurt Weill and Martin Luther King, Jr. The concerts and lectures in the series have featured contributions from a number of guest performers including violinist David Hope who was on hand to perform Bruce Adolphe’s Violin Concerto “I Will Not Remain Silent” and arrangements of several Weill songs by Paul Bateman for violin and orchestra. These were paired on Saturday with Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins which were headed by vocalist Storm Large. Weill’s song cycle, like all of his work, bursts with theatricality and Ms. Large has made it her specialty in recent years. She‘s undoubtedly charismatic and versatile enough to make these songs sing with a weariness and trepidation that echo these current times so closely — they have an extra punch right now. The LACO musicians were no less dramatic with their taut performance of the score.

But perhaps the highlight of the evening was Jeffrey Kahane’s own comments from the stage at the start of the evening. He too noted how unexpectedly poignant this programming series had become in the wake of the disastrous scenario our country now faces. By tying in themes from Mozart’s operas he built an argument for these works that remind us of the good we are capable of making together, speaking out, and standing up to tyranny. He touched many in the audience including myself. Better yet is the fact that there are more performances for LACO next weekend when they will bring a staged performance of Weill’s Lost in the Stars to UCLA on Saturday and Sunday in collaboration with SITI Company and director Anne Bogart. It’s a rare opportunity to hear Weill’s late Broadway gem and is a must see for local audiences.

Coming and Going

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 06:27:00 +0000

Artist-in-Residence Eric Whitacre conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Photo: Marie Noorbergen & Tao Ruspoli

It was a busy Sunday evening. The Los Angeles Master Chorale performed their final show of the season this weekend, and, though it was an a cappella performance with the full chorale, it was packed with activity. Not to mention some incredibly beautiful music. The variety of selections on the program was no surprise – diversity has always been a staple of the LAMC’s repertory. The evening careened from Allegri’s 17th Century Miserere to an arrangement of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence. But the real news of the night was all the comings and goings for the ensemble. While Artistic Director Grant Gershon remains at the helm, Sunday marked the end of Associate Conductor Leslie Leighton’s six-year tenure with the ensemble. She choked back tears as she paid tribute to her musical family and then she led them in a thoughtful performance of the late Steven Stucky’s Three New Motets.

This lovely so-long was followed by a hotly anticipated hello in the form of the newly appointed inaugural LAMC Swan Family Artist-in-Residence, Eric Whitacre. Whitacre has cultivated a choir geek rock star persona that at times has cleverly masked his immense talent as a composer and conductor. He led two pieces after the intermission in the evening’s program that said much about what he may bring to the LAMC in coming seasons. First was that arrangement of Depeche Mode’s 1990 hit Enjoy the Silence. He explained the choice as a tribute to his love of pop music from his adolescence and certainly paid tribute to the geek in many of his audience. But the arrangement was much more than a gimmick. His arrangement was skillful and haunting in a way that sincerely added to the source material. Following this was Anders Hillborg’s Mouyayoum, a wordless percolating postmodern piece with dozens and dozens of parts melding in an elaborate aural tapestry. Whitacre has many tricks up his sleeve, and it’s as much an exciting time to be listening to the Chorale now as it ever has been. And if one needed further evidence of that, there wasn’t any need to look any further than the sparse glow of Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna. Gershon and his vocalists know how to fill a room with spirit and they did so over and over again at the end of the season.

Far and Away

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 17 May 2016 06:33:00 +0000

Matthew Aucoin

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra wrapped up its orchestral season this weekend with a notable concert that set the stage for a very big season to come. Next fall will mark the start of Music Director Jeffrey Kahane’s 20th and final season with the orchestra and by the sounds of things this weekend, he’s leaving the ensemble in very fine form with promising times ahead. One of those legacies is LACO’s Sound Investment program where patrons contribute directly for newly commissioned works from young composers selected by Kahane. The program’s recipients are a who’s who of young American composers, and the latest work in the series received its premiere this weekend. The composer is Matthew Aucoin whose name is associated with just about every major American classical music organization these days. He’s received commissions from the Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Metropolitan Opera, and he was recently appointed artist-in-residence with the Los Angeles Opera as well as one of the Dudamel conducting fellows with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. (He'll conduct Glass' Akhnaten for LAO in the fall.) Somewhere in there, he found time to compose a fifteen-minute or so, single movement work for LACO, Evidence, that received its world premiere on Saturday under his own direction. The three-sectioned “journey” has interesting moments and promised much greater things. Aucoin clearly has a grasp of operatic scale and the language of the 20th Century musical landscape. This comparatively small chamber work busted at the seems with gestures better suited for a larger scale but any work that leaves you wanting more is a worthwhile one, and the crowd seemed excited with what they’d heard.

But Aucoin wasn’t the only notable guest this weekend, and the highlight of the night belonged to pianist Marc-André Hamelin who performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with Kahane and the orchestra. This is an early staple of Mozart’s keyboard works, but Hamelin never does anything in the most conventional way, and this LACO performance was no exception. Hamelin’s cadenzas built subtly and what started out as a little jaunt soon became a roving, wandering beauty. He veered off and away in a grand manner that didn’t come off as jarring or inappropriate but made it clear that this was a beautiful and thoughtful adventure. After the meditative glories of the second movement subsided the third arrived almost as an alarm reminding the audience that we were, in fact, not entirely removed from where we started. It was daring, beautiful playing. Hamelin followed it up with jazz-influenced Gershwin that made sure the point wasn’t lost. It was a bold and surprising performance from one the piano greats of our times. The night ended with Kahane giving a polished rendition of Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. It was a lovely way to end an evening and a penultimate season.

Wade in the Water

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 01:25:00 +0000

Artistic Director Grant Gershon conducting the West Coast premeire of Julia Wolfe’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 6, 2016. Photo: Patrick Brown

The years just get bigger and bigger for New York’s Bang on a Can collective. Never wanting for recognition, both the composers who founded the group and the magnificent All-Stars, the musicians who make up the group’s performance ensemble have been grabbing larger headlines in recent months even by their prior standards. David Lang popped up behind Chris Rock on this year’s Oscar telecast following his nomination for Best Song from Paolo Sorrentino’s film, Youth. (Though he was denied the common courtesy of having his work performed during the telecast.) Meanwhile his fellow colleague Julia Wolfe has been on a tear of her own recently winning last year’s Pulitzer Prize for music. It was a big and well deserved win for a “downtown” artist (in the parlance of Kyle Gann) and a rare acknowledgment by the judges of compositions by women (she is only the 6th woman to win in the Pulitzer’s history). The prize winning work, Anthracite Fields, received its West Coast premiere Sunday night with the assistance of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, their Artistic Director, Grant Gershon, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. It was a stunner and probably the best single performance the Walt Disney Concert Hall has hosted this season. And after a weekend full of Gustavo Dudamel’s bloated, ponderous Mahler with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wolfe and her collaborators provided a much needed aesthetic antidote on just about every level.

Anthracite Fields is an hour long oratorio about coal mining in Eastern Pennsylvania, a region very near where Wolfe herself grew up. It functions on some levels as an oral history of laborers working in these mines and can swing between elegy and a call for social and economic justice. But before diving into Wolfe’s grand choral work on Sunday, the Chorale presented a number of American folk songs from the Sacred Harp collection. More often associated with a raw sound or edge when performed in a more typical community setting, these folk songs were beautifully performed with a restraint lent by the polish of a professional ensemble. It was a smart introduction for what followed, though, in that while Anthracite Fields concerns the lives of coal miners, Wolfe did not tied the piece musically to elements of traditional folk music of the Appalachian region. Instead Wolfe uses a more contemporary language and sound inspired more by late 20th-century minimalism and rock’n’roll. Anthracite Fields unfolds over five movements starting with Foundations, which opens with low rumbling invoking a journey into the depth of the earth. This is soon replaced by the repeated names of injured coal miners, all starting with John followed by monosyllabic surnames, which provides a back drop to imagery of the formation of coal in the earth and what the miners endured to pull it out of the ground. The focus of the work pulls back over subsequent movements, including passages that set the words of labor leader John Lewis, and later builds on a couplet from early 20th-century advertisements for coal-powered trains. The piece concludes with a masterful movement called Appliances. Here the names of injured miners have been replaced with daily living functions we all participate in from turning on lights to calling a friend. All of these activities consume the power these miners have suffered for through their labor. And the final image above this sonic backdrop is of the imagined New York socialite Phoebe Snow traveling by train in the ads of a locomotive company from over a century ago. She arrives with her white dress pristine and unblemished thanks to traveling under the power of coal. This deft and insightful imagery packs a punch and it highlights Wolfe’s ability to deliver a huge amount of material with relatively minimal words.

In just over an hour, the Master Chorale and Bang on a Can All-Stars had taken us out of the ground but we were no longer able to clean the metaphorical coal dust from our own hands. The performance was accompanied with video projections designed by Jeff Sugg consisting mainly of photographs and animation of coal miners and their work environment from the early to mid- 20th century. It worked well without overwhelming the content of the musical performance. The Chorale masterfully wound around the many turns in the score from the soft moaning and whispers that laid the ground work of each movement to the raucous and rhythmic passages when the power of motion of the energy produced in this particularly American history of labor was in full operation.

It was a great night for the Chorale overall and it continued their great work with the Bang on a Can artists. Next up in the collaboration will be the release next year of the Chorale's first recording for Cantaloupe Music featuring David Lang's the national anthems and his own Pulitzer winning the little match girl passion.

Critical Mass

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:22:00 +0000

Artistic Director Grant Gershon conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale's performance of the Verdi Requiem featuring guest soloists soprano Amber Wagner; mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung; tenor Issachah Savage; and bass Morris Robinson on Saturday, January 30, 2016, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo: Patrick Brown 2016

It was a weekend of big gestures and major staples this weekend at Walt Disney Concert Hall. While Esa-Pekka Salonen was reminding everyone of what the Los Angeles Philharmonic has been missing for a long time with some clear-headed adult-sounding Mahler, the Los Angeles Master Chorale was doing what they do best delivering a varied and powerful version of Verdi’s Requiem. The piece is a perennial favorite; omnipresent despite the large resources that go into its performance. Opera companies and symphonies trot out this choral masterwork for anniversaries, memorial services and sometimes for absolutely no notable occasion whatsoever. But who needs an excuse with music that so magnificently straddles the world of the sacred and the more profane theatrical realm of opera. It’s a flexible piece with tons of interpretive space within its sturdy frame for conductors to run within, taking off in any number of directions. LAMC Music Director Grant Gershon did just that, having it all with this past weekend’s performances. At times the piece sounded appealingly ecclesiastical. The opening Kyrie was so reverent that the performance seemed out of place outside of a church. But while Gershon milked the stately mass version of the piece, this wasn’t a one note performance. He and the chorale would later turn to the more theatrical and often cited operatic overtones of the piece giving a performance that was equal parts sacred and profane.

It was always thrilling, of course. But the show benefited from some superb soloists who represented a mix of veterans and some very inspiring newcomers. The much loved mezzo Michelle DeYoung joined bass Morris Robinson as the more experienced members of the team and neither disappointed. Soprano Amber Wagner, who has been making a name for herself in high profile Wagner and Strauss parts in Chicago in recent seasons, soared above the assembled forces with real grace and power. But the biggest discovery for me was tenor Issachac Savage. He was unnervingly good – warm, easy and unforced with plenty of power. Easily the most exciting American tenor I’ve heard in years. More of him please, right away. It’s always nice to start the year on a high point and the Los Angeles Master Chorale did just that.

The Kids Are All Right

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 05:24:00 +0000

Alexnder Treger and YASO Photo: David Johnston 2015

So how many youth orchestras does one city need? Whatever you consider the number to be, it seems reasonable to say that more is probably better when it comes to this category. Giving audiences a chance to hear live music while young musicians gain experience and training doesn’t really have a downside. So we were all in luck this weekend when the Young Artists Symphony Orchestra burst into existence at Royce Hall under the leadership of Artistic Director, Alexander Treger. Treger knows plenty about working with young musicians having led the American Youth Symphony as Music Director for 17 seasons in addition to his teaching activities through UCLA. After leaving AYS and retiring after more than 30 years with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Treger has launched into a new project with 100 young musicians in various stages of training from ages 15 through 26 culled from all over Los Angeles to make up the new YASO.

And, what better way for an orchestra to enter into its existence than with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2? There were no half measures for this first performance that featured the soloists, soprano Amanda Achen and mezzo-soprano Niké St. Clair. It was a big night for this ensemble coming together in public for the first time, and Treger’s certain hand cut through the clear nervous excitement among the players. Mahler is about big gestures and the players reveled in making the most demonstrative moments in the score. What lacked in precision was more than accommodated for by sheer excitement and force of will. Best of all here was a big glorious orchestra providing the real deal – live performance of one of the world’s greatest – all for free. What’s not to be excited about? Yes. More please. YASO has their second of four performances on Dec 6 at Royce Hall. It may just be one of the best deals in town.

Good Spirits

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 21 May 2015 17:38:00 +0000

Eric Whitacre and Arvo Pärt

The Los Angeles Master Chorale wrapped up its season this past weekend with one of their many strong suits – contemporary music. In his opening remarks from the stage, Music Director Grant Gershon made reference to numerous differences between the two living composers whose works were featured in the program – Arvo Pärt and Eric Whitacre. He’s got a point. Outside of a mutual love of richly textured clean harmonies, the two have almost nothing in common. They’re from different parts of the world and separated by almost forty years. The inspiration and subject matter of their choral works are also substantially different. Much of Pärt’s work grows out of medieval and Renaissance influences and is often informed by his Russian Orthodox faith. Meanwhile, the American Whitacre draws on a more contemporary, non-denominational sense of spirituality and is rife with explorations in technology and genres such as fantasy.

But the two share something much more than just writing great choral music. They also are perhaps two of the most frequently programmed living composers of choral music around, particularly by the LAMC. Their music is more than just a regular visitor here but a constant friend. So differences aside, this program — accompanied by little more than organ and piano — featured the Chorale at full force and with beautiful warm textured sound throughout. It was not a night for individuals to shine, but a time to really appreciate the quality of the ensemble as a whole whether singing in English or Latin.

In many ways the evening’s cross programming provided a nice counterpoint. Pärt’s preference for reverent simplicity set nicely against Whitacre’s penchant for wit and invention. The evening ended with Whitacre’s setting of e.e. cummings’ poems in the cycle The City and the Sea that was firmly tongue in cheek. Perhaps the highlight of the Whitacre portion of the evening was a performance of Cloudburst under Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton. The choristers produced a shimmering sound that evolved into drops and splashes of their own making in perhaps one of Whitacre’s most compelling artistic statements. But as wonderful as the Chorale was in these moments, they excelled with Pärt’s clear-headed spiritual sobriety. His Beatitudes is one of those moments where even the non-religious can touch a deeply felt spirituality through the human voice and it certainly did this weekend. And when you get right down to it, that’s part of what makes great music and great choral music in particular. And last weekend we were again reminded of how lucky we are to have that right here in Los Angeles.

A River Runs Through It

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 07:20:00 +0000

The LAMC plays Tan Dun's Water Passion

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has always had a flair for the theatrical. Never outstripping their core musicianship, they aren’t afraid to stretch in terms of performance technique. It’s a quality that’s been central to some of their most memorable and talked-about performances, and this weekend the LAMC revisited one of those moments with a re-examination of Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St Matthew. It’s a work that caused quite a stir when they first performed it in 2005 and it’s arguably one of the pieces they’ve become most identified with over the last decade. It’s probably the most important of Tan Dun’s works as well. There is something magical and elemental about this piece, which fuses the passion with ritual, symbolism and a sound world springing from water and everyday percussion. Tan Dun has made much of the clicks and whirls of everyday sound often in the past, and the Water Passion takes a plunge into the splash and pop of water. The work was composed in response to Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Tan Dun manages quite a feat maintaining a reverence and sense of ritual for the passage of time in a setting that evokes both baptism and rebirth, punctuating the libretto.

The chorus revels as much in Tan Dun’s towering vocal climaxes as they do in the many minute percussion chores they are asked to take on. The colorfully lit water basins around the stage form a sort-of cross of their own. The amplified splashing intertwines with the mix of voices and Chinese percussion instruments for an effect that is both profoundly solemn and organically spiritual not unlike the work of John Luther Adams at its best moments. There were two soloists. Baritone Stephen Bryant was both flexible and warm while soprano Delaram Kamareh made a visually arresting presence sometimes in contrast to the proceedings around her. But the performance, under the guidance of Music Director Grant Gershon was seamlessly integrated and just as mysterious and thrilling as it was when the group introduced the work to the region nearly a decade ago. It’s always great to see the LAMC succeed, and this weekend they again proved their aptitude and excellence in the sometimes thorny pathways of contemporary compositions.

Los Angeles Passion

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 07:23:00 +0000

Easter came a little early to the Walt Disney Concert Hall last weekend. Of course with music like Bach’s St Matthew Passion and an ensemble like the LA Master Chorale the calendar becomes a secondary issue. While the LAMC is widely celebrated for their work with contemporary composers, the depth and magnitude of the ensemble's interpretations of large masterworks of the choral repertory are world class as well. Saturday was no exception when Grant Gershon led his choristers through a performance that was at turns reverent, harrowing, and achingly beautiful. The LAMC is blessed with their ongoing relationship with the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra who again provided period performance support. And as it has been in several other cases, the LAMC shines most brightly when paired with an orchestral ensemble who lives up to their musical quality. Gershon managed to maintain a clarity and visceral excitement from the Musica Angelica players throughout in a relationship everyone here continues to reap the benefits from.

The St Matthew Passion is rife with chances for various choristers to take solo star turns over the course of the afternoon. This time around it was a superb Jon Lee Keenan who sang the role of the Evangelist. There was an earnestness to his approach and a youthful eagerness that gave the performance a sense of urgency that can easily go missing at times in lesser hands. Bass Chung Uk Lee sang the role of Jesus with a particular lightness the complimented the other major role in the work. But it was the grand chorus passages that made this a Passion to remember and one that made the listener eager to hear the group’s latest return to another Passion later this season, the Tan Dun, Water Passion which will take the stage on April 11 and 12. The performance also served to whet the appetite for some exciting events to come from the Chorale in coming seasons, which were announced at the time. Perhaps most enticing is a multi-year project revisiting some of Handel’s less well known oratorios, many of which will include starry soloists from various corners of the opera world. There’s much, much more ahead so be sure to stay tuned.