Music News
Is There a Suona Player in the House?
Twin fascinations with words and opera commingled excitingly in this weekend’s San Francisco Opera announcement of auditions for “Chinese-style percussionists and one suona player.” Wisely, the Opera didn’t bother to explain what a suona is. After all, if you don’t know, how could you play it? Here’s the result of deep research for the rest of us:
Also known as laba, haidi, or shawm (this just gets better and better), a suona is, somewhat anticlimatically, the Chinese oboe, or double-reeded trumpet, with that distinctively loud and high-pitched sound that you would easily recognize even without the faintest idea what it’s called.
Suonas aplenty
It’s irresistible to note that the suona is most frequently featured in wind and percussion ensembles called chuida or guchui. Our linguistic cup is overflowing, especially after checking in with my favorite professor of ethnomusicology, UC Santa Cruz’s Fred Lieberman:
The traditional spelling is sona or so-na, and it is a member of the generic shawm family (shawm being the preferred term for all double-reed, conical bore, folk instruments). The instrument is found throughout Europe and Asia in varying forms, usually as part of an outdoors ensemble (because it’s loud) together with drums — either kettledrums as in the Indian Naubat ensemble or bass-drums as in the balkan-Macedonian versions. The long versions are temple instruments in India (nagaswaram) and Tibet (gyaling).
Its small reed can be either double or quadruple (in the Burmese and related versions), and typically it is played more like a bagpipe than an oboe — that is, the lips do no touch the reed, but rather the lips are sealed against a round metal “gasket” and the reed freely vibrates in the mouth. The cheeks puff out for maximum air quantity, to allow for circular breathing and therefore continuous tone.
Returning to the matter at hand, souna, sona or so-na players may audition on Feb. 28, 29 (this being a leap year) or March 1. Arrangements can be made with S.F. Opera Musical Administrator Kip Cranna, at kcranna@sfopera.com. Suona players and percussion applicants should bring their own equipment and must be able to read music well.
So why the need for these exotic instruments? In preparation for the Sept. 13 premiere of the commissioned The Bonesetter’s Daughter, by Stewart Wallace, to a libretto based on Amy Tan’s novel.
Amy Tan
The story takes place in China and San Francisco, and is about a woman who, escorted by a ghost, travels into her immigrant mother’s past and discovers what they have in common. Wallace is said to have created an American opera with roots in China, incorporating the timbres and textures of Chinese music into a highly theatrical and lyrical score. The opera features a Beijing Opera percussion section, led by Li Zhonghua, and two suonas, one of which is played by Beijing rock singer and master wind player Wu Tong.
Steven Sloane will conduct, Chen Shi-Zheng is the stage director, set design is by Walt Spangler, and costumes by Han Feng. In addition to Chinese singers, the San Francisco production will feature Zheng Cao, Catherine Cook, and James Maddalena.
Zheng Cao
More Free Concerts From SFCO
The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra will feature the well-known guitarist David Tanenbaum and “debut artist” pianist Audrey Vardanega at SFCO’s next series of four free concerts. Audrey should not be concerned about the comparison: After all, the 12 year old is a seventh-grade student at Crowden School in Berkeley. In spite of her tender age, she is described by reliable sources as “brilliant.” Incidentally, she is also a violinist.
These “Basically Baroque” concerts — of Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in A Major, Bach’s Piano Concerto in F Minor, Brandenburg’s Concerto No. 2, and Roberto Sierra’s Pequeño Concierto — will be conducted by Benjamin Simon at San Francisco’s Old St. Mary’s Cathedral (March 6, 5:30 p.m., a “rush hour” event), Herbst Theatre (March 7, 8 p.m.), Palo Alto’s St. Mark’s Church (March 8, 8 p.m.), and Berkeley’s First Congregational Church (March 9, 3 p.m.)
As mentioned, admission to these concerts is free, a fact of continued fascination and wonder.
Crowden School scene: source of “Debut Artists”
Free Web Site for Musicians
The way I found contralto Wiebke Hoogklimmer singing Luise Adolpha Le Beau’s Kornblumen und Heidekraut was by stumbling onto KIAC Internet Radio. But there is more to this than a remarkable voice and a little-known 19th-century female composer.
Although IACMUSIC.com features mostly pop and rock, it is in fact wide open to all musicians, as both Hoogklimmer’s example and the site owner’s note prove. To my question about allowed/encouraged genres, the reply came: “Yes, in fact we’d like more classical artists at IAC, send them our way, they will get extra exposure because that genre is thin in artists compared to pop and rock.”
What the Independent Artists Company offers is a free music portal, a Web page of your own to post information and music, which is all under your control — according to the organization’s promise: “We are about the music and indie culture. IAC is colorful and magical, to reflect the creativity of the artists themselves. If you choose, you can sell your downloads, set your own price, and you get 100 percent of the take. You can build digital CDs, called DMDs, which include the revolutionary IAC Ultrapage. IAC’s dedicated support department is always there to answer your questions.” (I tested the availability of support, at ridethekiac@aol.com, and received a quick reply.) There is a direct shortcut to start a free page.
Louise Le Beau
Berkeley Symphony Season, Guest Conductors
Berkeley Symphony’s next season will mark Music Director Kent Nagano’s 30th and final year at the head of the orchestra, which is just nine years older than his tenure. After Nagano conducts Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, at the opening concert on Sept. 18, there will be a run of guest conductors who are also candidates for the music director’s position.
On Oct. 23, William Eddins conducts a program titled “Paris Before the War,” consisting of Germaine Tailleferre’s Valse des Dépêches (Waltz of the dispatches), Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (Girl with the flaxen hair), Lili Boulanger’s D’un Matin du Printemps (Of a spring morning), in addition to Scottish-born Canadian composer Allan Gilliland’s Rhapsody (with Eddins playing the piano solo), and Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No. 1. Eddins, originally from Buffalo, N.Y., is music director of Canada’s Edmonton Symphony.
On Nov. 20, Paul Haas conducts Joshua Penman’s Songs the Plants Taught Us, Barber’s Violin Concerto (with Danielle Belen Nesmith), and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. San Francisco-born Haas is founder and artistic director of Sympho, a New York-based concert production company whose multimedia programs include “Rewind,” which he presented here last month with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.
On Dec. 18, Joana Carneiro conducts Magnus Lindberg’s Chorale, John Adams’ Shaker Loops, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Carneiro is assistant conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A native of Portugal, she also serves as principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon and guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
Nagano will return in May 2009 to conduct two concerts with his new Berkeley Akademie. All Berkeley concerts will be broadcast on KALW-FM, 91.7, and kalw.org.
Guest Conductors William Eddins, Paul Haas, and Joana Carniero
Janos Gereben (janosg@gmail.com) is a regular contributor to San Francisco Classical Voice.
©2008 By Janos Gereben, all rights reserved.