Songs and Schemas

In two weeks, I will be singing Mephistopheles in the staged premiere of David Ahlstrom’s opera Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, on a libretto by Gertrude Stein. This is a production of City College of San Francisco‘s Music and Theatre Arts departments. David Parr will direct and Michael Shahani will conduct.

This is a 50-minute opera in three acts that envisions Faust as Thomas Edison. Here, Faust has sold his soul to invent the electric light.

Mephistopheles, the Prince of Darkness, is not happy with this turn of events, but finds that he has limited options available in this deal gone wrong. This is a tenor devil, after all, not the traditional baritone or bass devil.

The second act includes a Very Grand Ballet of Lights. With this subject matter, this is an opera very appropriate for the San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas.

Richard Scheinin and others have written about lack of melody in contemporary opera. This opera does not fall into the all-too-common trap of having most of the vocal music written in a recitative style. Instead it is full of melodies, often quite upbeat and jaunty, so it is very possible you will leave humming at least one of the tunes.

Rounding out the program are songs from another Ahlstrom work, America, I love you on texts by e. e. cummings. Performances are Friday, October 10 and 17 at 8:00 pm; Saturday, October 11 and 18 at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 pm. All performances are at the Diego Rivera Theatre at Phelan and Judson at City College of San Francisco’s Ocean campus. General admission tickets are $15, or $10 for students and seniors. Call (415) 239-3100 for reservations and more information.

JoAnn’s next performance will be in West Bay Opera’s production of Carmen, where she will sing in the chorus. Sarah Barber sings the title role. I have not heard her before, but the chorus is saying great things about her. I have heard Ben Bongers and Jason Detweiler, and am very much looking forward to their portrayals of Don José and Escamillo, respectively.

Opera in a small house like West Bay is a lot different than at the big houses. The performance is more intimate, and the passion really comes across when you aren’t so far removed from the stage. Performances are October 17, 19, 25, 26 at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto. The Friday and Saturday performances are at 8:00 pm, the Sunday performances are at 2:00 pm.

So reads the headline of Janos Gerberen’s rave review of Fremont Opera’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at San Francisco Classical Voice. He did not mention the chorus other than to say that we were not large, but there were only 5 of us and we were on stage for maybe 15 minutes. My friends thought we sounded and looked good.

This was the best mix of outstanding singing and really funny comedy that I have been privileged to participate in. The cast was really strong in all the different roles. Thanks to everyone who attended! The audiences were great, with the Friday audience laughing from the very first jokes during Eleazar’s orchestral serenade.

I’ve performed in Sweeney Todd too, so I tried to think of interesting potential mash-ups along the lines of the review title. But these two works are about as far removed from each other in spirit as you can get! The world could use more top-notch comic operas these days.

Next weekend I will be singing in the chorus of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at Fremont Opera. Jonathon Field is stage director and David Sloss is conductor. This is the same artistic team that I have performed with in Mahagonny and The Rake’s Progress at West Bay Opera.

The publicity describes this as a semi-staged production, but as far as I can see the only semi- is the absence of full sets and costumes. The staging for both principals and chorus has little else semi- about it.

Performances are at the Smith Center for Performing Arts at Ohlone College in Fremont on Friday, August 22 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, August 24 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $44 and $48 and are available online. It should be a great show; opera is so good to see in smaller houses like this 400-seat theater.