More than a few operatic and other vocal diversions may beckon you in the coming spring. Here are just a few of the surprises.
OPERAS
A Modern Orpheus
The first of Philip Glass’ three settings of films by Jean Cocteau, Orphée uses the entire script of Cocteau’s take on Orpheus’ journey to the underworld and back. Ensemble Parallèle intends to use multimedia imagery and circus artists to transfer cinematic magic to the stage. With an excellent cast that includes local favorites Eugene Brancoveanu, Marnie Breckenridge, John Duykers, Susannah Biller, Philip Skinner, and Thomas Glenn, this is a must-see.
Ensemble Parallèle presents Orphée, Feb. 26, 8 p.m., and Feb. 27, 2 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $25-$85.
Frothy Renaissance Fare
A madrigal-comedy, composed by Orazio Vecchi in 1597, L’Amfiparnaso (The twin peaks of Parnassus) is actually an embryonic opera whose music is as touching as it is amusing. The superb early-music ensemble Magnificat is mounting a staged version, perhaps along the lines of that performed by the Baroque ensemble I Fagiolini. Joining Magnificat’s four vocal soloists are famed lute player Nigel North and the actors of the Dell’Arte company.
Magnificat presents L’Amfiparnaso, March 18, 8 p.m., St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park; March 19, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley; March 20, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, S.F., $12-$35.
Two by Britten
Thanks to Cal Performances, Loren Maazel’s 13-year-old Castleton Festival is traveling to Berkeley to mount two of Benjamin Britten’s chamber operas, the tragic Rape of Lucretia (1946) and the ever-delightful Albert Herring (1947). With Maazel conducting a crop of hand-picked, personally coached singers, the experience should be almost as revelatory as a trip to Glyndebourne, where both operas premiered.
Cal Performances presents Castleton Festival Opera in The Rape of Lucretia, March 24-25, 8 p.m., and Albert Herring, March 26, 8 p.m., and March 27, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $44-$90.
Desperate Lovers’ Double Feature
Leave it to West Bay Opera’s José Luis Moscovich to pair two quite different love stories — one English Baroque, the other 20th-century Spanish. Both feature dying female protagonists and great music. Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve is rarely performed in full, and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is often presented in concert format, so this should be a night of striking colors and contrasts.
West Bay Opera presents Dido and Aeneas and La Vida Breve, May 20, 28, 8 p.m., and May 22, 29, 2 p.m., Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto, $35-$60.
Featured Video
San Francisco Opera: Wagner’s Ring Cycle
Guaranteed to move you to the core (and perhaps strain your finances), San Francisco Opera’s pricey mounting of Francesco Zambello’s American take on Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung will draw Ringophiles from around the world. A major undertaking, preceded by a host of educational opportunities offered by Osher Lifelong Learning (San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley), San Francisco Opera, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, and other entities, San Francisco Opera’s Ring cycle will put the international spotlight on the War Memorial Opera House. Three complete cycles will be given, from June 14 through July 3.
San Francisco Opera presents The Ring of the Nibelung, June 14-19 (Cycle 1); June 21-26 (Cycle 2); June 28-July 3 (Cycle 3); War Memorial Opera House, S.F. $380-$1,440.
VOCAL RECITALS
This recital season is bountiful for vocal lovers. Aside from appearances by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Jessica Rivera, and Dawn Upshaw, which are covered in other SFCV season preview articles, five additional vocal recitals this spring will have music lovers bouncing happily between the bass clef and the stratosphere.
Nicholas Isherwood
Having performed with many of the world’s finest early music ensembles, bass Nicholas Isherwood jumps ahead several centuries for Stanford Lively Arts. His “Electric Voice” program, certain to be the contemporary vocal highlight of the season, is built around the U.S. premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Havona, for voice and electronics. That work is preceded by premieres of music all of which was composed in 2010. It’s an evening that will reward the adventurous music lover.
Stanford Lively Arts presents Nicholas Isherwood, bass, Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Campbell Recital Hall, Braun Music Center, Stanford University, $28.
Adler Fellows in Russian
If you’re up for two markedly different recitals in one day, you can precede Jonas Kaufmann with this concert, featuring three Adler Fellows present and past. Accompanied and coached in the pure Russian style of singing by Georgia-born Tamara Sanikidze, herself an Adler Fellow who previously won the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, Maya Lahyani and Sara Gartland team with Thomas Glenn for a most unusual Russian program. Eschewing songs everyone knows, these artists tackle both big emotional outpourings and intimate salon music by Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Medtner, Sergei Prokofiev, Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Stanford Lively Arts presents An Afternoon With the Adlers, March 13, 2:30 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University, $10-$28.
Christopher Maltman
In an era of fine English baritones, Christopher Maltman stands out for his sensitive interpretations of art song. His San Francisco Performances recital, accompanied by the wonderful Malcolm Martineau, features a tour through Venice via songs by Fauré, Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Reynaldo Hahn. As if that were not enough, Maltman dives deeper into the heart with three of Schubert’s most beloved Rückert Lieder, plus three lesser-known songs with texts by the great 18th-century poet Metastasio, and then ends with Mahler’s five great Rückert Lieder. I can’t wait for this one.
San Francisco Performances presents Christopher Maltman, March 18, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F., $35-$60.
Anthony Dean Griffey
Teaming up with his fellow North Carolinian pianist Warren Jones, Anthony Dean Griffey takes a road trip down South. Somewhere along the way, fiddler Paul Brown hops aboard. As they take a little detour west for a generous helping of Ruth Felt’s home-style fries, they also dive into new road songs by Kenneth Frazelle. With generous helpings of traditional American fare, as well as songs by Stephen Foster and Paul Bowles, these boys will have you longing for grits and black-eyed peas in no time.
San Francisco Performances presents Anthony Dean Griffey, May 4, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F., $35-$60.
Kate Royal
In her last San Francisco Performances recital, lyric soprano Kate Royal sang beautifully. This time, her repertoire consists of love songs. With Chris Glynn on piano, she becomes the third major singer this year to tackle songs by Gabriel Fauré, The very thought of the music of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Frank Bridge, and Britten in the throat of such a fine singer enraptures.
San Francisco Performances presents Kate Royal, May 24, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F., $35-$60.