San Francisco Opera Gala Opening Night Event One Week Away

Iréne Theorin will portray
Puccini's icy princess.

"It’s not too late to part-take in of the most prominent events in the San Francisco musical and social scene. On September 9th, join Encore!, the San Francisco Opera’s club for opera aficionados, as they host the opening night gala at City Hall. As the second largest opera company in North America, the San Francisco Opera has been host to opera’s jewels like conductor Sir Georg Solti, director Francis Ford Coppola and lirico-spinto soprano Renata Tebali. The 2011/12 season will feature John Adams’ Nixon in China, a long sought after program. This magical evening will begin with cocktails at 5PM, followed by an elegant seated dinner at 6PM in City Hall and then attendees will head to the War Memorial Opera house and enjoy a performance of Puccini’s Turandot. The festivities continue back at City Hall at around 11PM after the performance with dessert and dancing into the wee hours of the night. One must first join Encore! and then purchase tickets for the gala which at this point start at $425 for Dress Circle Rear placement. A table for 10 Patron tickets is $6,000 (call (415) 621-4403 for orders and use this form) and if you can only make the performance, tickets are still available starting at $129." [Source]

Check out an image from the Hockney production and watch a clip of Iréne Theorin singing the "Riddle Scene" from Turandot at Covent Garden after the jump.

"Puccini’s final masterpiece opens the season under the baton of Music Director Nicola Luisotti, who conducted this melodically rich, colorfully orchestrated work to great acclaim at London’s Royal Opera House in 2009. This passionate tale of a princess whose cruelty masks her fear of love features some of the composer’s most glorious music, including the stirring anthem “Nessun dorma.” It will be performed by an outstanding cast led by Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, “the world’s reigning Turandot” (Opera Britannia); Adler Fellow Leah Crocetto, an “outlandishly gifted soprano” (San Francisco Chronicle); and Marco Berti, “one of the preeminent Italian singers of his generation” (MusicalCriticism.com). The lavish production, featuring David Hockney’s “dazzling sets” (San Francisco Chronicle), returns in November with an equally impressive ensemble led by soprano Susan Foster, whose “acting is as impressive as her powerful, well-controlled, emotionally compelling voice” (Washington Post), and Walter Fraccaro, a "husky-voiced" tenor whose singing is "burnished and impassioned" (The New York Times)." [Source]

Taking a Second Look at American Soprano Jennifer Ann Wilson

"Dich teure halle"
Tannhäuser (Wagner)

"It was as recently as 2002 that Jennifer Wilson made her professional debut as Turandot with the Connecticut Opera but she has in the short intervening period already successfully established herself as one of the world’s leading dramatic sopranos. Following on the heels of her Connecticut success, Jennifer Wilson went on to debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Helmwige/Die Walküre and make her first European appearance in the leading soprano role in Schulhoff's Die Flammen at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw conducted by Edo de Waart. In the 2003/2004 season, Jennifer made a short-notice debut at Houston’s Grand Opera, again as Turandot, which led The Houston Chronicle to declare her "A star in the making." In the 2005/2006 season at the Paris Chatelet, she made her European operatic debut in Bob Wilson’s production of Die Walküre, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. In addition to further successful productions of Turandot for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera

"In questa reggia"
Turandot (Puccini)

Australia and at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece, Jennifer Wilson enjoyed a huge personal success with her first Brünnhilde/Die Götterdämmerung at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, also performing Helmwige, Gutrune and the Third Norn in their 2005 Ring Cycles. A house and role debut as Senta at the artist’s home house – Washington National Opera – followed, and last season saw successful further house debuts at Covent Garden (Turandot with Nicola Luisotti) and at Hamburg’s State Opera (Die Walküre with Simone Young). In the 2006/2007 season, Jennifer Wilson began a multi-season collaboration with Zubin Mehta, the Palau de les Arts, Valencia and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence as she embarked on new productions of Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung which culminated last season with her highly-acclaimed first complete Ring Cycle performances. “She sings with great sensitivity and tenderness. Wagner would have loved her." Also a versatile concert artist, Jennifer Wilson's extensive repertoire includes R Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Beethoven's Symphony No 9 and Verdi’s Requiem alongside less frequently performed works by composers such as Durufle', Haydn, Saint-Saëns and Vaughan-Williams. Last season saw her debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano firstly as Elisabeth in concert performances of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, returning for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No 8. A native of Fairfax, Virginia, Jennifer Wilson is the recipient of a major grant from the Olga Forrai

Scenes from the Valencia production of
Der Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner).

Foundation, as well as the 2003 Robert Lauch Memorial Grant from the Wagner Society of New York and the Liederkranz Foundation's Ethel Bleakley Daniels Award for Wagnerian Voices. She is the recipient of the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Career Grant from the Wagner Society of Washington, with whom she has sung a number of concerts including major scenes from Lohengrin and the final scene from Siegfried. The current season includes Jennifer’s debut as Aida for Opera Australia, a role which she will repeat at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts under Lorin Maazel, Gutrune in the Los Angeles Opera’s new Ring Cycle with James Conlon, as well as concerts in New Orleans, Montreal and Tel Aviv. Future projects include Isolde with the Leipzig Opera and at the Hong Kong Festival, as well as debuts at the opera houses in Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Tokyo." [Source]

Read two wonderful interviews with the soprano here and here. Watch excerpts from Der Fliegende Holländer (Wagner) at Washington National Opera after the jump.

Lise Lindstrom Likes to Wear High Heels to Feel Dominant

Check out the interview Lise Lindstrom gives to Italy's Grazia magazine while she is at La Scala singing the title role of Turandot:

Ci sono molto produzioni razionali di quest’opera, ma secondo alcuni registi dall’approccio più moderno Turandot è un archetipo di donna con la sciabola, un’assassina sul genere di Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill”. Tu come affronti questo personaggio?
Sta tutto nella transizione tra vita vera e teatro, essere un’attrice oltre che una cantante, e abbracciare il ruolo scritto perfettamente da Puccini. La qualità della musica è così alta che l’aggressività della protagonista sta già tutta nella musica, nelle parole. E’ come indossare un bellissimo costume già confezionato.

Sei molto alta: questo a volte diventa un ostacolo sulla scena, accanto agli altri cantanti?
E’ una scelta del costumista, di solito, ma essendo quasi sempre la più alta di tutti in scena cerco di indossare scarpe basse. A Berlino però ho cantato coi tacchi, bellissimo! Mi sentivo molto dominatrice.

Turandot non canta fino a metà del secondo atto: che cosa fai sulla scena fino ad allora?
Certi registi vogliono Turandot in scena fin dal primo atto, ma se non è così cerco di arrivare in teatro appena prima dell’inizio dell’opera così mi resta un’ora per il trucco e il costume e la parrucca. Ho anche bisogno di tempo per scaldare la voce, quindi più tempo c’è, meglio è.

E’ il tuo debutto a Milano: cosa ti piace della città?
La gente qui è davvero elegante, e ho notato che questo ha un effetto sulla mia presenza in teatro, in scena: è una cosa che adoro. Mi permette di dare ancora più potere a Turandot.
[Source]