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Janos Gereben on March 28, 2016

S.F. Ballet: Celebrations and Farewells

Gennadi Nedvigin as Lensky in Onegin | Credit: Erik Tomasson

 

As the San Francisco Ballet, America’s oldest professional ballet company, is approaching the end of its 83rd season (with a reprise of Cranko's Onegin April 30-May 8), the company is generating a great deal of news.

On Friday, the S.F. Ballet Orchestra celebrated its 40th anniversary with a concert in Herbst Theater — more about that further down. April 17 marks a significant, bittersweet event at the Opera House — a gala farewell performance by three of the company's great principal dancers.

Joan Boada, Pascal Molat, and Gennadi Nedvigin will perform, be feted, and say goodbye after a combined service of (a hard to believe) 50 years. Nedvigin, from Russia, trained at the Bolshoi School, and joined SFB in 1997. Boada, from Cuba, danced with Le Jeune Ballet de France, the Australian Ballet, and Royal Ballet of Flanders, before joining SFB in 1999. Molat trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School and danced with a number of companies in his native France, including Royal Ballet of Wallonie, Royal Ballet of Flanders, and Ballets de Monte Carlo; he joined  S.F. Ballet in 2002.

Earlier this month, Atlanta Ballet announced the appointment of Nedvigin as artistic director of the company, effective Aug. 1. He will succeed John McFall, another distinguished former SFB principal dancer. (Among other successful alumni, Ashley Wheater is artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, Christopher Stowell formerly headed the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Mikko Nissinen is the artistic director of Boston Ballet, Victoria Morgan directs the Cincinnati Ballet.)

Information about the gala program and tickets will soon be posted on the Ballet's website. The program will include works by Johan Kobborg, Yuri Possokhov, Helgi Tomasson, and Renato Zanella, among others.

The Ballet Orchestra with Martin West, music director | Credit: Erik Tomasson

 

The celebration of the SFB Orchestra was a joyful event. Before its birth, the Ballet used freelance musicians, many of whom also played with the Oakland Symphony. In 1975, SFB established its own permanent orchestra - one of the few ballet companies in the country to do that - with 38 musicians. Initially called the Performing Arts Orchestra, the ensemble debuted that year under the baton of Denis de Coteau. The ensemble officially became the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in 1983.

Shinji Eshima, composer, associate principal double bass, and a member of the orchestra since its founding, says of the anniversary concert:

It revealed why we won two Grammys. Leslie Ann Jones, recording engineer at Skywalker, who won with our orchestra for best-engineered classical recording, was in the Herbst audience, and she brought the Grammy to the concert for us to see.

The concert began with the premiere of Conversations with Nijinsky by Chris Wheeldon's collaborator and a dear friend to SFB orchestra, Kip Winger.

Martin West gave a fully committed and spirited performance of this new work, also recorded by SFB Orchestra and soon to be released. Acting Associate Concertmaster Wen Ye (married to Eric Sung, principal 'cello) delivered her solos with precision and flair.

As the centerpiece of the concert, concertmaster Cordula Merks gave a passionate account of Poeme by Chausson. Cordula gave it her all and continued to lead her violin section throughout the performance. She is a true world-class soloist and a virtuoso with technique to burn; she is also a most kind person who has won over the hearts of the orchestra.

Last on the program was Firebird by Stravinsky. Again Martin West rose to the occasion and energized the audience. Beautiful bassoon solos by Rufus Olivier took us to the glorious horn solo of Kevin Rivard in the "Hymn" of the finale. The audience responded with a standing ovation."


Musicals Aplenty Coming to Town

The full cast of the new Into the Woods | Credit: Joan Marcus

 

Once a bastion of Andrew Lloyd Webber, with an ostinato of Cats, Phantom, etc., SHN is really going places in its current season and the next one, which will include such musical gems as the new Broadway production of Sondheim's Into the Woods and the great, new Broadway sensation Hamilton.

Hoping against hope that the Sondheim will not be overamplified in the Golden Gate Theater and Hamilton's fascinating lyrics will come across well in the cavernous Orpheum Theater, I am really looking forward to the next season. (Our own Ray of Light company has proved that Woods can be dynamite with a small cast — the Broadway production coming here has a cast of 10 — and utmost care for communication with the audience.)

Last weekend, SHN (née Shorenstein Hays Nederlander) Chief Executive Officer Greg Holland said the 2016–2017 season will have, in addition to the previously announced Hamilton (March 2017, Orpheum Theater) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (June 27–July 13, 2017, Golden Gate Theater):

  • The Lincoln Center's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical (Nov. 15-Dec. 11, 2016, Golden Gate Theater).
  • Finding Neverland, based the Oscar-winning film with Johnny Depp, about the playwright J.M. Barrie and his creation of the Peter Pan characters (Jan. 18–Feb. 12, 2017, Golden Gate Theater).
  • Into the Woods, the Fiasco Theater production (March 7-April 2, 2017, Golden Gate Theater).
  • Roman Holiday, based on the 1953 Audrey Hepburn-Gregory Peck film, with Cole Porter songs. The musical premieres in San Francisco before going to Broadway (May 24-June 18, 2017, Golden Gate Theater).

Season tickets, $245–$850, are available from SHN Audience Services at 888-746-1799 (press 2); single tickets for all productions will go on sale at a later date.

SHN productions remaining this season include Wicked; An Act of God; Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus; Cinderella; Kinky Boots; An Evening with Carol Burnett; Cabaret; Beast and the Beauty; the Diana Ross show; Beautiful; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; The Lion King; and White Christmas.


Hanging 10: ChamberWORKS from SF Opera Lab

Brian Thorsett, shown here in Elixir of Love, will sing in a new work by Shinji Eshima | Credit: Dan Donovan

 

Of the plethora of events being presented at San Francisco Opera's new Taube Atrium venue, pay special attention to performances by the home team in ChamberWORKS, on April 7 and 20, with "musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra curating two eclectic and intimate nights of music and song, featuring tenor Brian Thorsett and Adler Fellows."

The April 7 ChamberWORKS features SFO Orchestra concertmaster Kay Stern, cellist Emil Miland, co-principal horn Kevin Rivard, pianists John Churchwell and Mark Morash, and Thorsett. The program includes works by Schubert, David Conte, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Britten, Haydn, Lou Harrison and the premiere of Shinji Eshima's Bourne to Shelley.

Eshima, veteran double bass player and composer of RAkU and other ballets, says of his Bourne to Shelley:

It combines the contemporary poetry of American-born Scott Bourne, former world champion skate boarder, turned Parisian runway model/author/poet, with excerpts from hymn by the early 19th century English Romantic poet Percy Shelley. The piece for tenor, horn and piano, part of my Frankenstein project, seeks to find an answer for the necessity of human love."

Full disclosure: I understand and value Eshima's music, but his words require some deep thought I may not master — skate boarder turned model and ... Shelley? Better attend the concert and figure it out there.

PThe April 20 concert features SFO Orchestra associate principal cellist Thalia Moore, associate principal violist Sergey Rakitchenkov, harpist Olga Ortenberg-Rakitchenkov; and current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Julie Adams (soprano) and Noah Lindquist (pianist). The program includes works by André Previn, Ernest Chausson, Richard Strauss, Marin Marais (Suite in D Minor from Pièces de viole, Book I), Carlos Salzedo and others.


Yerba Buena Gardens: a Summer of Free Programs

Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu will perform as part of a free series at the YB Gardens | Credit: Lin Cariffe

 

The 2016 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is offering close to a hundred, free programs, beginning with Grammy nominated, Cuban percussionist Pedrito Martinez and his group, with vocalist Issac Delgado on May 1, and concluding with a variety of events in October. Yerba Buena Gardens is located between Mission and Howard Streets and 3rd and 4th Streets in downtown San Francisco.

The range of programs is dizzying, covering everything from world music and dance to theater, circus, dance, poetry, and children’s programs. A highlight of the festival is the Ola Project, an interdisciplinary partnership with Patrick Makuakane’s hula school and dance company Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu performing on July 16, Will Magid’s Alligator Spacewalk + Cosa Nostra Strings on July 23, San Francisco Mime Troupe’s newest political satire on July 24, Tom Rigney & Flambeau + André Thierry on July 30, AfroSolo on August 6, Pistahan Festival on August 13 & 14, Red Baraat + Non Stop Bhangra on August 27, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque on August 20, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers present Jazz For Dancing on September 3, and the Bay Area’s Yassir Chadly and The Moroccans on September 25.

Festival Executive/Artistic Director Linda Lucero says YB Gardens is "gearing up for a jam-packed season of the most amazing artists from the Bay Area and beyond. In this gorgeous urban oasis where art and people thrive, you will experience the true heart and soul of San Francisco."

Luis Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino presents Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven, a pageant based on the sacred creation book of the Maya on May 21, JooWan Kim’s 10-piece hip-hop Ensemble Mik Nawooj on May 28, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, returns to Yerba Buena Gardens with a mix of traditional and contemporary music and dance works on June 4.

An open-air salsa dance party in Jessie Square (near the Contemporary Jewish Museum), takes place on the third Thursday from May to September from 6 to 7:30. The Children’s Garden Series, interactive performances specially designed for kids and families, is held on Fridays in the Yerba Buena Children’s Garden at Howard and Fourth Streets, including Alphabet Rockers, Caterpillar Puppets, Ka-Hon, Red Panda Acrobats, Pi Clowns, Venezuelan Music Project, Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble, The Unique Derique, and Chelle! & Friends. The series ends with the 16th annual Halloween Hoopla & Costume Walk on Sunday, Oct. 30.