Latest news with #SanFranciscoOpera
San Francisco Chronicle
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Opera reaches new contract agreement with its orchestra
The San Francisco Opera and its orchestra reached a new agreement just before the close of its 2024-25 season, securing wage increases, enhanced retirement packages and updated healthcare benefits for the company's musicians. The two-year contract with the American Federation of Musicians, the union that represents more than 70,000 professional musicians in North America, was ratified by the orchestra on Thursday, June 26, the day before its first-ever Pride concert. The collective bargaining agreement spans Aug. 1, 2024 through July 31, 2026. 'We're happy to have reached this Agreement and are especially proud that our musicians, along with our healthcare consultant, identified and delivered major cost savings that will benefit the entire Company,' Gabe Young, chair of the orchestra's negotiating committee, said in a statement. 'We look forward to negotiating a longer-term contract in the coming years in collaboration with Opera leadership.' The Opera and its orchestra expect to begin negotiations on a multi-year contract during the next round of talks. The Opera's 2024-25 season opening gala last September was nearly disrupted by unresolved contract negotiations, but the orchestra musician and the company's management were able to reach a short-term agreement just before its performance of Verdi's 'Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball).' Prior to that, orchestra musicians had been without a contract since July 2024 and were ' deeply concerned ' about stalled discussions with Opera leadership. 'I am very grateful to both the musicians and the staff who worked with great commitment, care, and thoughtfulness to reach this new agreement,' Matthew Shilvock, the Opera's general director, said in a statement. 'We deeply value the extraordinary talents of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the transcendent music making they realize in both our theater and in the community.' With the new deal in place, the Opera is set to return to the War Memorial Opera House for its 2025-26 season with Verdi's 'Rigoletto' on Sept. 5. Across the street at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco Symphony labor negotiations have remained tense, with musicians and choristers staging multiple protests over artistic direction, compensation, and financial transparency. Frustrations escalated ahead of the departure of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, who cited disagreements with the board as his reason for stepping down. The Finnish conductor gave his final performance with the orchestra on June 14. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Ballet, who also performs at the War Memorial, reached a new three-year contract agreement with its orchestra at the start of June, seven months before its previous one was set to expire.
San Francisco Chronicle
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. Opera's first Pride concert fills the house with color and community
Every June, the exterior columns of the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House become a symbol of LGBTQ Pride as they're illuminated in a rainbow scheme. Now, for the first time, the interior of the historic auditorium is a canvas. For the San Francisco Opera's first Pride Concert on Friday, June 27, stage artist Tal Rosner created immersive projection experiences that leapt off the stage. Rosner and San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock were both excited by the technology's possibilities. 'Its an old building, it's beautiful and intricate,' said Rosner. 'Everything I do is part of the emotional journey of the audience, but we're also really celebrating the architecture of the building in a fun way. All these different songs have different environments.' The Pride Concert was presented in partnership with San Francisco Pride (the organization that organizes the parade and Civic Center festival) and showcased music by LGBTQ composers and songwriters. The night's singers were baritone Brian Mulligan, who is gay; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who is bisexual; and Nikola Printz, who is trangender and nonbinary. San Francisco Opera Music Director Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone conducted the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, while 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 16 runner-up (and classically trained opera singer) Sapphira Cristál emceed. The night included a bevy of community co-partners: The Tenderloin Museum, the National AIDS Memorial, Compton's Cafeteria Riot, the Marigold Project, the GLBT Historical Society and the Castro landmark the Twin Peaks Tavern. Among the special happenings were a pre-show discussion with S.F. Pride director Suzanne Ford, a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and queer history art installations and exhibitions. 'When times are bad, you find out who your real friends are,' said Horn, who is also the president of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center. 'We have seen so many people who we thought were our allies disappear, the corporations, some of the nonprofit organizations, our lawyers. But the San Francisco Opera is proud to stand up.' Shilvock said there was never a question that the concert would go on. 'This is what the arts are for, to be in community, to allow us to be who we are,' said Shilvock. 'We've always been a part of Pride and in the parade since the 1980s. The Pride community has always been linked to the Opera, now let's bring the festivities in here.' The program, curated by San Francisco Opera's managing artistic director Gregory Henkle, opened with Leonard Bernstein's overture to 'Candide' conducted by Kim. The 1956 musical has some of Bernstein's best theatrical music, and as Kim approached the delicate excerpts from the song 'Glitter and Be Gay,' there were knowing titters. Explosions of color reminiscent of painter Marc Chagall filled the auditorium, while points of colored light highlighted the architecture of the opera house. Printz warmly sang San Francisco composer Jake Heggie's 'Vesuvio, il mio unico amico' from his 2015 opera 'Great Scott,' the story of an opera diva, Arden Scott, returning to her hometown. Heggie, who is gay, agreed that the LGBTQ community has long had an association with the opera world as both artists and ardent fans. 'It's highly emotional, dramatic, and a way to see something you were feeling inside expressed on the stage,' said Heggie, whose opera 'Dead Man Walking' returns to San Francisco Opera this fall with Barton in the lead. 'Historically, gay men and women could find each other at the opera house,' he said. 'Queer people didn't have a lot of places they could go and experience that.' Mulligan's fine delivery of Yeletsky's aria from Tchaikovsky's 'Pique Dame' and Barton's dark and rich 'Mon coueur s'ouvre á ta voix,' from Saint-Saëns' 'Samson and Dalila,' were treats before the rousing Bachanale from the same opera. The pop half of the program took flight with Barton and Printz' delightfully light, yet soulful, 'Closer to Fine' by the Indigo Girls. Singing the hit, re-popularized in 2023 by the ' Barbie ' movie, there was no 'opera singer doing pop music' stiffness. Among the night's best projections were the Saul Bass-meets-mass transit abstractions as the San Francisco Opera Orchestra took on Billy Strayhorn's jazz hit 'Take the 'A' Train.' Another visual highpoint was the sweeping images of San Francisco's queer history from the GLBT Historical Society Museum as Barton gave a moving take of Melissa Etheridge's 'Uprising of Love.' Mulligan's finest moments of the night were dramatically different: a tender, haunting version of Freddie Mercury's 'You Take My Breath Away' that contained layers of nuance about repressed queer desire. He let that emotion out in Jerry Herman's anthem 'I Am What I Am' in the boundary-breaking 1983 drag musical 'La Cage aux Folles.' The audience went there with him, cheering as he sang 'it's time to open up your closets.' Printz closed the night with 'I was Born his Way' (not the Lady Gaga song, Cristál joked) but the gay disco hit made famous by gospel artist Carl Bean, culminating in a dramatic burst of color overtaking the house. Following the performance, patrons were invited to a dance party in the lobby with San Francisco drag mother Juanita More spinning. The sounds of San Francisco disco queen Sylvester bumped from the speakers as operagoers bumped into each other on the dance floor. Regardless of what politics bring, plans are already underway for next year's Pride concert, Shilvock said. Surveying the crowd, San Francisco drag legend Donna Sachet remarked: 'This is proof we exist, even as the government is trying to erase us.'
San Francisco Chronicle
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sapphira Cristál to host San Francisco Opera Pride Concert
Calling all opera queens: San Francisco Opera is hosting its first ever Pride Concert. The celebration features the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone, with soloists mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Nikola Printz and baritone Brian Mulligan. Hosted by Sapphira Cristál, the immersive setting will utilize animations by Tal Rosner, historic images from past Pride celebrations and milestones projected onto the walls of the auditorium, plus a post-show dance party. The 80-minute musical program will include selections from queer opera composers Leonard Bernstein, Jake Heggie, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Camille Saint-Saëns; as well as gay cultural classics from the film 'A Star is Born' (1954) and Jerry Herman's Broadway hits 'Mame' and 'La Cage aux Folles.' Other queer artists to be covered include Freddie Mercury, the Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge. Activations and exhibitions will occur throughout the night, concluding with a dance party with DJ Juanita More.
San Francisco Chronicle
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Baritone Brian Mulligan on coming out with San Francisco Opera in style and song
For two decades, baritone Brian Mulligan has performed on many of the world's great stages, but his heart belongs to San Francisco. Now, in a full-circle moment, the internationally acclaimed singer returns to make history as one of the featured soloists in San Francisco Opera's first-ever Pride Concert, set for Friday, June 27, at the War Memorial Opera House. 'San Francisco Opera is unquestionably the most important opera company in my life,' Mulligan, 46, told the Chronicle by phone from his native town of Endicott in upstate New York. 'They have taken chances on me and given me opportunities that no place else in the world has done. I consider it my home opera company.' While the baritone snagged his first professional role at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2003 when still a student at the Juilliard School, he's truly come into his own in San Francisco. Since making his debut at the War Memorial in 2008's ' La Bohème,' he's appeared there nearly two dozen times, singing everything from the title characters in ' Sweeney Todd ' and ' Nixon in China ' to a series of Wagner roles (mostly recently Telramund in 2023's ' Lohengrin '). He is set to return in October to sing the role of Amfortas in a new production of Wagner's 'Parsifal.' 'I've had so many firsts in San Francisco,' he recalled fondly, listing his first major Verdi role as Count Anckarström in 2014's 'Un Ballo in Maschera' among them. 'It's incredible to go back and see people, faces who know me and have helped me over the years to deliver performance after performance.' For the Pride Concert, Mulligan is slated to be joined by a few other San Francisco Opera favorites, mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Nikola Printz, for a program featuring tunes by Harold Arlen and Jerry Herman, among others, as well as operatic fare by Tchaikovsky and Camille Saint-Saëns. Music Director Eun Sun Kim will share conducting duties with Robert Mollicone, while drag queen Sapphira Cristál serves as emcee. Mulligan spoke to the Chronicle about Pride and his passion for the Opera ahead of the upcoming concert. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Q: On the cusp of the city's 55th Pride Celebration, the San Francisco Opera is presenting its very first Pride Concert. What does that milestone mean to you? There was a long time (when) I felt my sexuality was a liability as an opera singer. Because almost all of the roles I play are straight people, being gay isn't exactly a good calling card. (But) over the years, I've proven myself as an actor. That's what being an opera singer is all about — portraying somebody else. Q: You've said that one of the reasons you leaned into opera growing up was because you were gay. Could you please elaborate on that? A: I started taking voice lessons when I was 17, and at that age, I didn't know or understand my sexuality. I knew that I was different, and (by) taking a step toward opera, which was also different, I was establishing my otherness — because most people don't know or understand anything about opera. Q: Fast-forward a few decades to this upcoming Pride Concert. Among the tunes you're preparing to sing are 'You Take My Breath Away,' Freddie Mercury's 1976 hit with Queen, as well as the aria 'I love you, dear' from Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades.' Did you make the selections? A: I had a hand in choosing the songs, but they were largely suggested by (the company). They explained that they were trying to highlight gay composers, iconic gay moments in opera and theater. (As) with any kind of recital program, it's about the order that you sing the pieces in. I'm starting with the Tchaikovsky; that will be most technically challenging because it's opera. After that, we'll move to the standard stuff. Q: Your 2022 solo CD, 'Alburnum,' features works by Mason Bates, Missy Mazzoli and Gregory Spears. You've also sung in contemporary operas, including John Adams' 'Nixon in China.' What is your attraction to new music? A: I often say to people, 'The greatest music may not have been composed yet.' There's a lot of phenomenal music that's been composed, but I have to believe that there's music that we don't know about yet. I really believe that one of the biggest draws for me in performing contemporary music is (that) often, it's written in English. I communicate best in English because it can (sometimes) be a struggle in other languages. No matter how good I get at German, French or Italian, I'm most powerful as a communicator in English. Q: As is the case with most successful opera singers today, your travel schedule is something akin to a rock star's. In the last few weeks, you were in Leipzig, Germany, before which you made your debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Where do you go to rejuvenate, and how do you keep it together on the road? A: Because I'm working more than 85% of the year, a few years ago I moved back to upstate New York, where my entire immediate and extended family lives — and I actually get to see them. So I come home to the absolute country. It's quiet. This morning, I opened the windows and I could hear all of the birds. It's incredible. I love living here. I have a small Norwich Terrier, Beauregard, who just turned 7, but he's still a puppy in many ways. He has a European passport, and he's been traveling with me everywhere — except Asia or the U.K. — since he was a baby, so he's completely used to it. I've found now that my life is centered around him, and wherever I go, I make sure it's near a place that's beautiful where we can walk. … He's improved my life, and since I need to (rest my voice) when I'm not performing, it's all silence with him. A: It's funny because I was thinking maybe I should wear some kind of glittery, sparkly, crazy Pride thing. But as time went on and I thought about it, Pride is actually more about being yourself and just owning who you are, and who I am is a simple tux kind of guy. I'm wearing a black tux with pink accessories — a pink tux shirt for part of the show and a pink pocket square.
San Francisco Chronicle
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: San Francisco Opera's ‘Idomeneo' dazzles with powerful voices and striking visuals
Mozart's 'Idomeneo' will never be the composer's most popular work, but it is a great opera, full of fire and vivid characterizations. Merely 24 years old when he wrote the score, Mozart poured everything he had into 'Idomeneo,' and San Francisco Opera's excellent new production, which opened on Saturday, June 14, at the War Memorial Opera House, showed the work's dramatic power and musical beauty thanks to a fully committed cast. This is the kind of opera that Mozart dreamed of making, filled with first-rank singers down to the secondary roles. But after its Munich premiere in 1781, 'Idomeneo' had only one subsequent private performance in Vienna. It wasn't until the 20th century that the work entered the standard repertory, thanks in no small part to San Francisco Opera's groundbreaking 1977 production. 'Idomeneo' takes up the story of the titular king of Crete's return from the Trojan War. Beset by storms, he offers a rash vow to the god Neptune to sacrifice the first person he sees on shore if he and his crew should arrive safely home. Naturally, Idomeneo is greeted by his son Idamante. The prince is in love with Ilia, a captured Trojan princess, and she responds to his ardent wooing. But the princess Elettra expects to marry Idamante and is furious to discover he's considering an alliance with his enemy. Though shorn of its ballet and several arias, as is customary in modern presentations, this is a big show that the Opera is staging. Australian director Lindy Hume's production relies for its sense of scale on cinematographer Catherine Pettman's dramatic filmed images of the Tasmanian coastline. The visuals are artfully projected onto Michael Yeargan's spare set by projection designer David Bergman. Following this prompt, costume designer Anna Cordingley has buttressed the shoulders of the king's royal mantle with feathers, possibly a reference to the Palawa/Pakana first people of Tasmania, to whom the production team pays respect in the program book. Otherwise, the costuming is modern dress and predominantly black and gray, effectively showcased by Verity Hampson's original lighting, revived for these performances by Justin A. Partier. Hume's direction focuses on the characters' emotions and interrelationships, and she pulls strong acting performances from all of her seasoned principal singers. Tenor Matthew Polenzani conveyed the king's anguish and regret in a manner that felt authentic and lived. He's completely comfortable with the role's vocal demands, and if his florid runs in the centerpiece aria 'Fuor del mar' (Saved from the sea) were smudged, that's partly because Mozart unkindly put most of them in the singer's midrange. Projecting a firm sound out into the War Memorial auditorium took precedence. On Saturday, we learned from Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock that mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, in the role of Idamante, performed a little bit under the weather, but I doubt the audience would have known without the announcement. She may have felt that her energy was down, but even at 90%, she has more than enough power and vocal agility to put over her part. In dramatic terms, she was a powerful presence, especially in her recitatives and her entrance aria, 'Non ho colpa' (I'm not guilty). But the evening's singing laurels went to Ying Fang as Ilia and Elza van den Heever as Elettra. In a part stuffed with gorgeous melodies designed to show off a lyric soprano, Fang made an indelible impression, her voice in pristine condition, beautiful and well controlled. In a much broader role, van den Heever commanded the stage in her three highly contrasting arias. Hers is a huge voice, but she brought delicacy and warmth to her seductive Act 2 'Idol mio' (My dearest). Then she showed off her Straussian power by exploding from silence into her rafter-shaking final aria, rushing out to stunned applause from the audience. Out of a number of small roles, tenor Alek Shrader as the king's advisor, Arbace, must be mentioned. Hume has him deliver one of the two arias Mozart wrote for the character, and the opportunity paid off, as Shrader sang with the confidence and tonal sweetness for which he has been noted. John Keene's chorus has a lot of work in the show and performed brilliantly. Music Director Eun Sun Kim, for whom there are no superlatives left, led a tautly dramatic performance from the pit. In Mozart's expansive score, the orchestra has several moments to shine, and these musicians did.
