San Francisco Classical Voice

Major Gift for Contemporary Music Players

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players received an unusual, major donation, with a potential value of $80,000. The gift consists of William T. Wiley's new Trillium Press edition variée of 32 copies of the pigment print, called "Not the Singer, Not the Song." Priced at $2,500 each, the handworked, signed prints are on sale for SFCMP's benefit.

SFCMP's next concert, "Dazzling New Music from France," is in Herbst Theater, on Dec. 12, featuring music by Pascal Dusapin, François Paris, Philippe Hurel, and a U.S. premiere by Philippe Leroux. Music director David Milnes conducts, soloists include soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac, pianist Julie Steinberg, and percussionist William Winant. See www.sfcmp.org.

Girls Chorus Director Quits

Executive director Rachel Malan, who has led the San Francisco Girls Chorus through three eventful years — improving financial stability, increasing visibility and fundraising for Chorus, and overseeing the purchase of the new Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts — will leave her position at the end of this month. The reason given is her desire for a sabbatical, but Malan's resignation came so suddenly that the organization has yet to set up a search committee for her replacement that's needed in just three weeks. Board president Doug Ireland acknowledged Malan's contributions, but did not say why she is leaving.

Beach Blanket Star's Prokofiev Debut

Val Diamond, of the San Francisco institution Beach Blanket Babylon, will join the SFS Youth Orchestra and its new music director, Benjamin Shwartz, as narrator in the Symphony's annual encounter with Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, in Davies Hall, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., on Dec. 17. Unlike the parent organization's ticket prices, Youth Orchestra concerts are in a more reasonable range of $12-$44. See www.sfsymphony.org.

Canada Gets an Opera House

"Home at Last" is the slogan for the Canadian Opera Company's impressive inaugural season of its new Toronto venue, the first in the country built specifically for opera. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts will open in September with Wagner's Ring cycle, followed by Mozart's Così fan tutte, Gounod's Faust, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Verdi's Luisa Miller, Richard Strauss's Elektra, and Verdi's La Traviata.

On time and within the planned budget, the $150 million, 2,000-seat opera house will serve the COC, the National Ballet of Canada, and visiting attractions. The Opera's general director, Richard Bradshaw (formerly with San Francisco Opera), said the number of performances for each opera will depend on how much funding the company gets from the government. Perhaps uniquely in the history of opera houses, Canadian Opera's orchestra and chorus members contributed to the construction, donating more than $200,000.

Runnicles, the Personal Side

Since he is making his debut as music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, S.F. Opera music director Donald Runnicles is of much interest in the area. Last week, Planet Jackson Hole editor Richard Anderson got a lengthy interview with Runnicles, including information about his family background.

Richard Anderson: Did you grow up in a musical household?

Donald Runnicles: It was a very musical household. My father was organist and choirmaster at one of the major Episcopalian churches in Edinburgh ... My seminal musical experiences were in the church choir or on the organ bench, and I'm sure the fact that I now spend a considerable amount of time in opera today I owe in part to being immersed in vocal music from as long as I can remember. My father was a pianist, too, my mother is a pianist, one of my sisters is a school teacher, a music teacher, so music was always to be heard in our household.

R.A.: How many siblings do you have?

D.R.: I have three sisters.

R.A.: All back in the U.K. still?

D.R.: Yes, two are still in Scotland, one is in the north of England. My father died in 2000, and my mother is still a very vital 82-year-old, vital and resilient.

R.A.: You have two children of your own ...

D.R.: I have three children, three girls.

R.A.: Have you done anything in an intentional way to instill a love of music in them or are they just picking it up on their own?

D.R.: Undoubtedly, either on their travels with me or here in San Francisco, they are also immersed in music. They're attending the opera on occasion. They hear chamber music played a lot. Their mother, Elizabeth, is a violist who has already performed a couple of seasons in the Teton Festival, so they hear that music all the time. But we have very consciously not tried to instill too much ambition into them. Tamara and Ashley both play piano, Ashley also plays the harp, and they are enjoying it. I think they are showing average talent, but I don't think either Elizabeth or I want to put them under any pressure or feeling of obligation that you have to live up to mommy and daddy.

R.A.: Your wife Elizabeth, is she American?

D.R.: No, she is South African. We met while she was studying in Freiburg in Germany, back in 1990, when I was music director at Freiburg State Theater. When I was enlarging the orchestra somewhat to take on big ambitious pieces, she came and joined us as a freelance player, and subsequently auditioned for the orchestra and won a position.

R.A.: Was there any kind of defining moment that comes to mind that sealed your enduring love for classical music?

D.R.: I think there were two. One defining experience was attending as a program seller in the Asher Hall in Edinburgh for the orchestral concerts given every Friday night by the then Scottish National Orchestra. I remember once, having sold all my programs, sitting on the step high up ... and dreaming, just being completely captivated by the repertoire and captivated, fascinated by the power of the conductor. Of course, having my father two or three times a week standing in front of the choir at church — he was a very very authoritative, stern figure — I experienced first-hand what leadership in music was all about. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I suppose I felt I should emulate that or should be in a position to emulate that, and I think that had an enormous impact on me.

For the full interview, see www.planetjh.com.