San Francisco Classical Voice

Hans Vonk

Hans Vonk, 63, who recently completed six years as music director of the St. Louis Symphony, died in his Amsterdam home on Sunday, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Much acclaimed for his work in opera, Vonk appeared in San Francisco only with the Symphony, leading the Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in 1974, Schumann and Tchaikovsky symphonies in 1975, participating in the SFS Beethoven Festival of 1980, and finally conducting the US premiere of Diepenbrock's Wandering Through the Woods in 1995.

Vonk made his debut at Netherlands Opera with Fortner's Don Perlimplin, conducted his first opera in the US in 1979 (a San Diego La traviata). He became music director of Netherlands Opera in 1976, serving in that post for a decade, then named principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and artistic director of the Dresden Semperoper before the reopening of the house. For a detailed tribute to Vonk, see www.slso.org.

Wilson to Speak in SF, Produce the Ring in Paris

It may be known in Europe, but it's news to me that Robert Wilson will be in charge of a new production ("will direct" won't cut it, of course) of Wagner's Ring in Paris in 2005-'06, based on his 2002 Zurich Opera presentation. His 2004 activity included revivals of his Madame Butterfly in Los Angeles, and of Pelléas and Melisande in Paris; new productions of La Fontaine's Les Fables at the Comédie Française, and I La Galigo in Singapore.

Wilson and American Conservatory Theater artistic director Carey Perloff will speak at a free Prologue event today in San Francisco's Geary Theater at 5:30 p.m., before the evening's premiere of Wilson's The Black Rider. See www.act-sf.org.

Looking for 'Stars of Opera'

West Bay Opera will hold a competition for young singers at its second "Opera Superstar Competition" on October 23, inviting applications to be submitted before September 23; see www.wbopera.org for details. Taking a cue from Simon Cowell's "American Idol" paradigm (albeit without his rudeness), the West Bay Opera event will have three judges providing instant feedback to the contestants, the company counseling singers to stay away "if you are squeamish about hearing comments about yourself" in front of a live audience.

The judges will be soprano Erie Mills, Lyric Opera Cleveland artistic director Jonathon Field, and Eugene (OR) Opera artistic director Robert Ashens. Fifteen singers will be selected from among applicants, who must be between 20 and 30 years of age, to participate and compete for a $3,000 first prize.

Flimm to Head Salzburg Festival

German theater director Jürgen Flimm was appointed on Monday to a five-year term as artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, beginning in 2006, when the current director, Peter Ruzicka, leaves the position. Flimm, an often controversial director, has been in charge of the festival's drama presentations for the past three years, but also staged operas.

Among candidates mentioned for the post was San Francisco Opera general manager Pamela Rosenberg, who will leave her position here in 2006, when the new Intendant is to start at the festival. Rosenberg was in Salzburg last week, attending the festival, and giving an interview to the Salzburger Nachtriten in which she contrasted the world of opera in Europe and in the US.

"There are only 111 opera houses in the US, scattered over this enormous country," she said, most of them presenting only 4-5 productions (against the year-around seasons of many companies in Europe). "In order to make a production profitable, it is saved over a long time. When I came to San Francisco, I found productions that were 30 or 40 years old." Describing the San Francisco company's financial problems, Rosenberg said she spent "about 60 or 70 per cent of my time with fundraising . . . leaving only about a third of the time for leading the company." Having to reduce the staff by 20%, Rosenberg said she "could not sleep at night, having to fire colleagues." A result of the financial situation and the reason for her decision not to stay, Rosenberg said, is that "there is no new production in 2004-'05, I called all (planned) new productions off," substituting an existing Cosi fan tutte for a new one, replacing Macbeth with Tosca, and postponing Les Troyens.

Asked about her favorite directors, Rosenberg mentioned Stefan Herheim ("unbelievably exciting") Sebastian Nuebling, Daniel Slater, Kasper Bech, and "in the USA, there is a young director named Roy Rallo whom I find amazing." Rallo was engaged by Rosenberg to direct the SFO Center production of Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera in early 2002, soon after she started running the company. Said the Classical Voice review of the production: "Mr. Rallo's decided aim to show the nature of sadism was clear from the beginning of the work to its very climax. The singers are made to crawl, roll around on the floor, be upside down, backward, take their cloths off, be blindfolded, tied up and have all manner of indiscriminate sex while trying to sing Mozart's vocally demanding music."

Lo! the Traveler Returns to Perform

The young pianist Jannie Lo, who had impressed with her piano and string performances in her early teens at San Domenico School and with the SFS Youth Orchestra, is returning home from Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory long enough to give a couple of free recitals. Lo, 18, will play the music of Brahms, Scriabin and Chopin at a 2 p.m., September 4 Hellman Hall concert, and at the September 8 Noontime Concert event in St. Patrick's Church, across from Yerba Buena Gardens (www.noontimeconcerts.org).

Proms, Edinburgh Festival on Your Computer

While live broadcasts of the BBC Promps concerts continue through the September 11 "Last Night of the Proms" at www.bbc.co.uk/proms, Radio 3 is offering highlights of the 2004 Edinburgh Festival, available on the Internet at www.bbc.co.uk. Among the many intriguing programs from Edinburgh: Steven Osborne's cycle of Tippett piano sonatas, Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon, Euryanthe and Der Freischütz.

At the Proms concerts: André Previn's Violin Concerto 'Anne Sophie' with Anne-Sophie Mutter (a.k.a Mrs. Andre Previn), Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, Bernard Haitink conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle, Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic (and, for old times' sake, the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus) in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; with soloists Christiane Oelze, Birgit Remmert, Jonas Kaufmann, and Merola graduate John Relyea. Program dates and information are available at www.bbc.co.uk/proms.

On September 1, Leonard Slatkin, the Proms' outgoing music director, celebrates his 60th birthday conducting Britten's The Prince of the Pagodas, John Corigliano's festive Clarinet Concerto, and Slatkin's own guided tour through lesser-known orchestrations of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Conductor 'Retires' at 26

Welsh National Opera music director Tugan Sokhiev, appointed last year at age 25, has resigned last week, just months away from the planned opening of the company's new home, the $190 million Wales Millennium Centre. Local media reported the controversy, heated debates, and Sokhiev's "apparent inability to take the pressures of the job" were among reasons for his resignation. He had blamed cast illness for his being "unable to realize my artistic vision" after critical reviews of La traviata under his baton. (The only younger music director is the Finnish National Opera's Mikko Franck, apparently still in the saddle in Helsinki.)

No Ode to the Moon, Director Gets Away With 'Rude Gesture'

Brazil's Supreme Court has quashed charges of obscene exposure against avant-garde theater director Gerald Thomas, who mooned an audience after a performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde he directed in Rio de Janeiro a year ago. When taking a curtain call to loud jeers, "Thomas shocked the audience and members of his cast by pulling down his pants and displaying his buttocks in response." According to the Supreme Court decision the gesture "may have been rude and in bad taste," but it was not "obscene." Were the court decide otherwise, Thomas would have faced a possible jail sentence of up to a year.