San Francisco Opera's Summer Season Comes to a Triumphant End

Many of the worlds leading music critics lauded the three very different productions staged by the San Francisco Opera this summer season.

Some of the highest praise came from those attending the same July 2^nd performance of Carmen seen by Cultural Currents. This show as you will recall, was a live free simulcast broadcasted to a crowd of more than 30,00 opera lovers at AT&T Park – home of the San Francisco Giants.

It featured Irene Roberts, who was radiant and genuinely dangerous in the leading role.

For those of us fond of ferries and waterfronts, it was especially gratifying to see that the setting for this production was the Mediterranean port city of Ceuta. This small Spanish territory lies just 18 miles across the water from Gibraltar in North Africa, and still attracts large crowds to its bull fights…a major theme in this tragic opera.

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Outgoing SFO General Director, David Gockley, scored another coup by securing Karitia Mattila for the role of Kostelnicka, in the rarely-staged Czech masterpiece, “Jenufa.”

Several former Adler Fellows were cast in cameo roles, too, but it was the debut of soprano Malin Byström in the title role that had many in the audience taking note.

Some opera aficionados will remember, no doubt, the brilliant conducting of Jiri Belohlavek when he led the orchestra through demanding score of another Czech classic – “The Makropulos Case – six years ago. He was equally brilliant this time around, demonstrating a firm hand and deft sensitivity to the folkloric nuances of choral arrangements.

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“Don Carlo,” a Verdi war horse not performed here for more than a decade, was the most star-studded production of the summer. Given that this opera runs to almost five hours, having the right balance of inspired voices was just the thing.

Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien was outstanding as troubled Rodrigo as was legendary bass René Pape as the misunderstood Philip. The night did not belong completely to these two veterans, however. Tenor Michael Fabiano lived up to his advance billing with a solid debut in the title role. A good actor, too, as he was completely convincing as the lovelorn prince embarking on a seemingly impossible mission.

Without being overly dramatic, one can safely say that SFO’s past summer season was a triumphant “swan song” for Gockley, who has done so much to bring operatic splendor to the Bay.