San Francisco Classical Voice

In the world of orchestras, a 10-year run is considered the norm ... if all goes well. Nagano's three decades at the Symphony are all the more amazing in light of his international career: His previous top positions were in Lyon, Manchester, Berlin, and Los Angeles, and he is currently acting as music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as well as the Montreal Symphony. Compared to those organizations, Berkeley's small regional orchestra — its $1 million annual budget versus Munich's $100 million — could never hope to engage or keep someone of Nagano's stature.

But Nagano stayed, in spite of frequent speculations that he wouldn't keep up with the extra demands of the Berkeley job, however minor (six or seven concerts a year). Why? Because he was born there, has lived in San Francisco, and felt grateful to have received his first opportunity to lead an orchestra — even the original Berkeley Promenade Orchestra, minuscule as it was. During his long tenure, Nagano has put the Berkeley Symphony on the map. And he created a rare exception among small orchestras with heavily contemporary, and some boldly pioneering programs.

In view of the emotion-based relationship between conductor and orchestra, and considering Berkeley's fiscal limitations, it's puzzling that Nagano's successor is to be found through "an international search." Would the young, unknown Nagano have gotten that first job under those circumstances? Will an established "international" conductor be willing to serve for what is basically a public-service arrangement that Nagano has been getting? And why no mention of Bay Area talent, including Associate Conductor George Thomson, who has spent more than a decade with the organization, but isn't credited even for his "Under Construction" program?

Following Nagano's announcement, Classical Voice has learned that Thomson resigned his positions as associate conductor, artistic coordinator, director of the music education program and of "Under Construction," effective immediately. His resignation was accepted on Saturday, "with regret." Thomson conducted the orchestra's last concert. He is artistic director of the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, and director of San Domenico School's Virtuoso Program.

The search will result in six candidates being selected "to lead subscription programs over the next two seasons" — that leaves only three concerts per season to Nagano.

Why make the change now? Nagano told Classical Voice that in the past couple of years, he has experienced a change in his relationships here, what with "shifts in demographics ... the difficulty of keeping a finger on the pulse of the community ... huge shifts in the population." All of which has made it "difficult to present the right literature."

When he was asked if that two-year period also meant his ascension to the job in Munich, leading one of the oldest, most famous, and largest opera companies in the world, Nagano said it's a "myth." He says that he didn't have free time as the result of that position (plus heading the large and challenging Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal). More than just being too busy, Nagano says, he had a problem with the lack of availability of Zellerbach Hall, the venue where Berkeley Symphony performs and that Cal Performances mostly uses.

Besides, he says, "many things have coalesced. The organization has a deep and supportive board, a remarkable board chair, great fiscal security, a new general manager who is flexible and makes decisions that are not formula-based." During the past two years he previously mentioned, Nagano says, he has become concerned about a "major rupture, the end of an era sort of thing." That's why he decided to make the announcement now.

Nagano is starting a new project, the Berkeley Academy Ensemble, the name of which is probably influenced by the Munich Opera's Musical Academy and the Munich Philharmonic's Orchestra Academy. It is to be formed "largely of players from Berkeley Symphony." The Ensemble is to "serve as a center for research on the latest musicological approaches to the selected repertoire." What that all means will be disclosed, along with specific programs, when Berkeley Symphony’s 2007-2008 season is announced in a couple of months.

Opera and Technology: Met by the Bay

What were those hundreds of people doing Saturday morning, standing in line at the box office of an Emeryville multiplex? They were plunking down $18 a head to watch Tan Dun's new opera, The First Emperor, in a high-definition simulcast from New York, with Plácido Domingo in the title role.

This was the first time the United Artists Emery Bay 10 offered a live opera-cast — and yet, it had to open another theater because the scheduled one was filled to the rafters long before the 10:30 a.m. screening. Visually and acoustically superb, the simulcast was a great success. Plenty of popcorn was sold as opera lovers' usual intermission munchies (champagne? caviar?) were unavailable.

What of the opera itself? Act 1 was impressive, a glorious spectacle worthy of Emperor stage director Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, playing in the very next theater of the multiplex. There's visual and aural exotica, Zhang's dramatic direction (the unforgettable opening scene of massed drummers against a vertical matrix of the richly costumed crowd), and excellent orchestral and — especially — choral performances (conducted brilliantly by Tan Dun). Elizabeth Futral and Domingo do well, and pretty much everything comes together, notwithstanding a poorly written, ineffective libretto.

After a lively intermission (and Beverly Sills' hilarious reference to the world's best-known soccer great, David Beckham, coming to Los Angeles to play hockey), it all went south, suddenly, consistently, and awfully. It's clear that the opera had to be finished and Tan Dun had no material to use. I cannot remember hearing an entire act of an opera consisting of nothing but empty musical calories. A grand duet went nowhere; the bit chorus about building the Great Wall recalled the painful childhood memory of a thousand odes to Stalin. And the dramatic resolution arrived suddenly and with ridiculous bloody melodrama.

Truth to tell, there was one bright moment in the damned second act, just before the final "anthem" (ugh!), and that was a clear, unmistakable orchestral quote from Turandot. A "real Chinese" composer paying tribute to the greatest pseudo-Oriental composer of them all? That's something to remember. It was the finest musical double-reverse since The Yellow River Piano Concerto.

Since San Francisco Opera boss David Gockley introduced televised simulcasts from the War Memorial last year, thousands have flocked to Civic Center Plaza for free outdoor telecasts of Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Verdi's Rigoletto. Peter Gelb, new general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, has an ever bigger game going to spread the gospel of opera. His high-definition simulcasts from New York are beamed to hundreds of movie theaters in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Gelb has also added broadcasts over the Internet and on digital radio. All of this is in addition to the decades-long tradition of live broadcasts Saturday mornings, and telecasts on public television.

The Met movie project is only a month old, and theaters are being added on the fly. Around Christmas, the closest theater to San Francisco was in Dublin, in Alameda County. Now, there's a venue just across the Bay Bridge. Soon, theaters in the city and on the Peninsula are expected to sign up. Check the Met Web site for information.

With only three simulcasts so far, attendance has been hot and heavy. The campaign is paying off for the mother ship, as well: Ticket sales are way up at the Met, and all nine First Emperor performances have sold out.

The most successful simulcast program so far was Mozart's The Magic Flute in an abbreviated, English-language production, directed by Julie (Lion King) Taymor. It's just the ticket for veteran opera fans, neophytes, and children — perfect, in fact, for the entire consumer spectrum. The Magic Flute will be shown at participating theaters in an encore (taped) presentation on Jan. 23. Public television screenings of the Mozart opera are due on KQED, on Jan. 24 (at 10 p.m.), and repeated on Jan. 28 (at noon). All Saturday morning matinees are broadcast on radio, locally on KUSF-FM, 90.3, as well as online.

The next movie theater simulcast is Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin on Feb. 24, with Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Following that is Rossini's The Barber of Seville, on March 24, with Merola alumni Joyce DiDonato and John Relyea, alongside Juan Diego Florez and Peter Mattei.

As for the real First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang or Ch'in Shih-huang (born Zheng), the man who united China was a remarkable historical figure. He deserves something infinitely better than the lame, un-English/un-Chinese libretto of The First Emperor. First and foremost, there is the marvelous 2002 Hero (held from U.S. distribution by Miramax for two years, and released only thanks to Quentin Tarantino). Strangely enough, this is what was to become the "Met team" — it was directed by Zhang Yimou, with a wonderful soundtrack by Tan Dun that was performed by Yo-Yo Ma. The Emperor and the Assassin (1996) by Chen Kaige will do if you can't get to Hero.

The aspect of Qin's reign that the opera deals with is the subject of The Emperor's Shadow, the 1996 film, written by Lu Wei (author of Farewell, My Concubine) and directed by Zhou Xiaowen. There is an excellent Canadian Film Board IMAX documentary, The First Emperor of China, which focuses on the "terra-cotta warriors." You may safely ignore Nic Young's 2006 TV film, The First Emperor.

The Last Emperor was the 1987 Bertolucci film about Pu Yi, with John Lone in the title role. The tomb in Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb belongs, yes, to Qin Shi Huang.

Don't get too fond of the man. Besides burning books left and right, and creating a mass-killing precedent for Mao, Qin also had between 500 and 1,000 scholars buried alive, probably because they wouldn't accept his way of Creationism.

Getty Grant to City Concert Opera Orchestra

The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation has awarded Tom Busse's City Concert Opera Orchestra a $3,000 gift to help with the organization's recording project for a PBS special next Christmas. Busse is also working on an Opera Theater of St. Louis production of David Carlson's 1993 opera The Midnight Angel, which he calls a "fantastic piece that really has a chance to become something of an American Rape of Lucretia, if only it got more exposure."

As for CCOO's next production, in the spring, the unusually candid word is: "We are planning on making the premiere recording of a major 20th century American opera. The project hinges on winning some outstanding grants, so check back here to learn the status."

First Post-Schwabacher Season

Imitation is the sincerest form of a tribute. So the young lyric tenor David Portillo did well in honoring the late James Schwabacher on Sunday in Temple Emanu-El by recreating his 1962 New York recital debut. The concert — of music by Purcell, Vaughan Williams, Schubert, and Poulenc, with Scott Gilmore's accompaniment — opened the 2007 Schwabacher Debut Recitals. That important series was founded by Merola cofounder Schwabacher in 1983, and it has given vital performance opportunities to dozens of young singers.

The rest of the Schwabacher season, all in Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary, is on Sundays at 5:30 p.m.:

• The New York Festival of Song, with Steven Blier on Feb. 18. Works are by William Bolcom, John Musto, Adam Guettel, John Corigliano, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lee Hoiby, Richard Thomas, and others. This will be performed by 2007 Adler Fellows Rhoslyn Jones, Katharine Tier, Noah Stewart, and Jeremy Galyon.
• Laquita Mitchell with Jeremy Frank (piano) on March 25.
• Melody Moore with Mark Morash (piano) on April 22.

Tuvans Redux

Tyva Kyzy, "Daughters of Tuva," are returning to San Francisco, after their successful appearance here a year ago (at the Asian Art Museum), and concert tours around the world. The first and only all-female folk ensemble performing Tuvan throat-singing will perform in one of the city's prominent crossover venues, the Great American Music Hall, on Feb. 11. Besides their signature chadagan (hammer dulcimer), Tyva Kyzy will also bring with them such exotic instruments as the doshpuluur (lute), igil (horsehead fiddle), and khomus (yakutian jews harp).

Don't miss Choduraa Tumat, the group's leader and star, hit the high-C equivalent sygyt (a powerful, whistlelike overtone) while maintaining kargyraa: the low, rumbling, four-note fundamental, which shifts seamlessly into khöömei, the multiple-note, multiple-tone sound ... all performed with effortless elegance and melodic beauty.

"Lost Woman" Found in San Jose

La Traviata, the "woman who strayed," is due next at Opera San José, in eight performances between Feb. 10 and 25 at the California Theater. It will be conducted by David Rohrbaugh and Michel Singher, and directed by Olivia Stapp. The title role in the double-cast production will be sung by Talise Travigne and Rochelle Bard. Alfredo will be sung by Isaac Hurtado and Christopher Bengochea.